Innovation, Leadership, and Commercialization at Unicorn Grocery

This report delves into the innovation strategies of Unicorn Grocery, focusing on how the company leverages leadership, teamwork, and organizational culture to drive growth and competitive advantage. The report examines the importance of innovation and its distinction from invention, exploring how Unicorn Grocery's vision and leadership style contribute to a culture of innovation. It analyzes the application of the innovation mix, including product, process, position, and paradigm, and discusses the innovation funnel and the development of frugal innovation. Furthermore, the report assesses the commercial funnel, the business case for Unicorn Grocery's online mobile application, and various methods for protecting intellectual property rights. The analysis highlights how Unicorn Grocery aims to enhance its market share and customer satisfaction through strategic innovation and commercialization efforts.

INNOVATION
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Contents
Contents......................................................................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION.....................................................................................................................................3
TASK 1.......................................................................................................................................................3
P1 Innovation with its importance and its comparison with invention.....................................................3
P2 How organizational leadership, vision, team work and culture shape Innovation...............................4
TASK 2.......................................................................................................................................................5
P3 Innovation funnel and 4Ps of innovation............................................................................................5
P4 Development of frugal innovation......................................................................................................6
TASK 3.......................................................................................................................................................7
P5 Importance of commercial funnel and its application.........................................................................7
P6 Business Case for Unicorn Grocery....................................................................................................8
TASK 4.....................................................................................................................................................10
P7 various methods and tools for protect intellectual property..............................................................10
CONCLUSION........................................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................................11
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INTRODUCTION
In context of business, Innovation is known as the procedure of making business
workflows, goods, services or process more efficient. It also means implementing new ideas,
creating dynamic product or services or improving the existing goods or services so as to attain
higher competitiveness level in the market place over other rivals (Baldwin and Von Hippel,
2011). It often acts as a catalyst in terms of organizational success and growth and it also assist
business in growing and adapting as per the requirement of market in an effective manner. The
chosen organization for this report is Unicorn Grocery which is based in England. It covers how
innovation and commercialization assist the selected firm in gaining high competitive advantage.
It also encompasses innovation mix, application of new product development, frugal innovation,
business case, sources of funding and various tools that help in protecting and retaining
intellectual property rights.
TASK 1
P1 Innovation with its importance and its comparison with invention
The term “Innovation” simply means converting a productive idea into effective product
or services which create value customer or for consumer remain willing to pay more. Basically it
means coming up with creating ideas of perform same tasks in unique or innovative way. The
concept of innovation does not related with invention. Both concepts are different and covers
different aspects that support firm in attain set goals in a structured and thorough manner. It can
occur in the form of transforming business process and adaptable to environmental changes so as
to provide better and featured goods to target customers that meet their requirement in
appropriate manner. To make it more successful, every company needs to consider innovation as
an essential part of business strategy which often leads to generate culture of innovation and
promotes creative problem thinking and strategic thinking. According to Frank and Wright “An
organization who continually undergo innovation, develops more efficient and effective process
of carry out activities and increase chances of attaining higher profitability increases rapidly”. In
order to beat prevailing market competition, it is essential for each firm to come up with unique
or creative ideas that keeps their products, processes or services fresh and distinctive.
Unicorn Grocery has decided to launch its online mobile application so that they can sell
their offerings through online medium as well. With this innovation, entity will became the first
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one among all small enterprises in UK that introduce its mobile application. The main reason
behind this innovation is to take the advantage of higher competitive edge in the overseas
market. As a result, their members have come up with an idea of launching online mobile
application that strong their both customer and market base (Boudreau and Lakhani, 2013). They
are also focusing on embedding layout that makes easier for customers to get its product easily.
Following are some of the advantage of Innovation in terms of Unicorn Grocery are mentioned
below:
 With the help of Innovation, it become much easier for Unicorn Grocery to capture large
market share and gain high competitive edge in overseas market
 Assist in building brand image
 Generates higher profit and revenues
 Though effective innovation, company can easily develop its USP for specific goods,
process or services
 Rapid increase customer’s satisfaction.
 Enhanced overall performance and productivity (Drucker, 2014).
 Improved motivation level of workers and help in retain them for long time period.
Difference between invention and innovation
Innovation Invention
Deals with modernization. It is mainly concerned with developing and
create something new that does not exist.
This can be applied to existing or new
situation.
It can only be examined or felt by potential
buyers.
It is a consolidation of various services,
processes and goods.
It only deals with single product or process.
It requires technical and managerial skills Mainly scientific skills are required for
implement this concept.
P2 How organizational leadership, vision, team work and culture shape Innovation
Vision: The vision statement of Unicorn Grocery is “to delivered high value product to
customers that help in fulfil their requirements and support in retain them for longer period of
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time". According to their vision statement, it can clearly interpreted the main objective of
company is to effectively satisfy customer requirement and retain them for longer period. In
today's era where nothing is constant, needs and wants of customers are also changing that
creates an urge for the company to fulfil customer requirements accordingly. Employees of
unicorn grocery have analyzed that nowadays customer often buy product through online
shopping websites which becomes the main reason for company to launch its own mobile
application.
Leadership: Earlier, the leadership style followed by Unicorn Grocery was mainly autocratic.
Now organization has decided to embed participative leadership style in their business practices.
The reason for choosing this particular style of leadership is that it help in making stronger
employee employer relation and by encourage employees in decision making process which
make them feel valuable and enhance their morale. As a result, overall productivity and
performance of workers and company increases.
Culture and teamwork: The Company is controlled, managed and operated by its key persons
only which signifies the entire performance and operations of business is depend upon their
personnel and their efforts. There are generally 70 employees and still the company is trying to
position itself as "best independent retailer in UK". It is possible due to their supporting
management and open and healthy working environment which permit each and every staff
member to share their views and opinions (Goldberg, 2013).
TASK 2
P3 Innovation funnel and 4Ps of innovation
The innovation mix concept was given by John Bessant and Joe Tidd. The model is being
used by organization for analyzing the innovation in product, position, process and paradigm.
Below given points provides a brief explanation of all P's cover in innovation mix:
Product: It defines as the change in product or services which are bring up by company in order
to meet end user's requirement in an efficient manner. For example: Unicorn grocery can do
innovation with their product line. They can stop selling organic drink, food and vegetables.
Product innovation basically means changing the existing features of the product or adding extra
elements as per the requirement of potential buyer (Huizingh, 2011).
Process: It defines the manner by which good and services are normally delivered among target
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audience. Companies usually sell their through their physical outlet or stores. But now with
advance technology and strong competition, organizations have find out another way to sell their
product i.e. through online platform. According to statistics, almost 45% of consumers prefer to
purchase product or services through online website which creates an urge for Unicorn Grocery
to develop its own online mobile application so as to gain high competitive advantage of arrivals.
With the launching of online application, the company become the first initiator among others
SME's to do such kind of innovation. Moreover it become much easier for customers to purchase
product buy just one click.
Position: It defines the source through which good or services are communicated among the end
users. In other words, it describe the manner in which products are actually being viewed by its
potential consumer. Earlier the company use to sell its products through their physical stores but
now with increased competition they have introduced its own online mobile application.
Paradigm: It defines the change in business model that gives shape business in terms of earning
higher profit and revenues. With the introduction of online mobile application, perception of
customer regarding the purchase of particular product changes tremendously.
Innovation funnel: It describe the various steps that has been taking into account while creating
a process or a product. The main reason behind all innovation is to create a product or processes
which fulfill market needs in economic or manufacturable forms.
Use of innovation funnel: This is generally used by businesses in order to assess their
innovative product and ideas. It also assist in effectively handling and controlling the procedure
of new product development. Nowadays it has become much easier for organization to assess
diverse marketing opportunities that prevails in the market for future or upcoming product or
services. In addition to that, innovation funnel help in identifying the present needs and
expectation of individuals and how a company can fulfill it in a cost effective and efficient
manner.
P4 Development of frugal innovation
The concept of frugal innovation define as a process by which organization tries to
eliminate or reduced the complexities that are generated through cost of goods sold and
production. Available resources must be considered as an chance by Innovators instead of
considering them as a liability. However, it is not associated with the concept of selling classy
product or services, rather it deals with developing better quality solution for target audience that
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delivers high value at economical cost (Jain and et. al., 2013). There are many organizations
present in market that change their both business as well as mental model radically. Following
are the stages of frugal innovation:
Find opportunity in adversity: Under this phase, employees reframe the existing or current
problems that are present in working environment. For example: In Unicorn grocery, members
have efficiently converted the possible threat into opportunity so as to attain high
competitiveness level in overseas market. Their members knows how to take the right advantage
of particular situation. They have already analyzed that almost 45% of customers purchase
product through online websites sites. As a result, they came up with their own online mobile
application and also become the first one among other SMEs for introducing own mobile
application.
Do more with less: At this step, managers needs to first assess the resources which are available
and tries to utilize it effectively and efficiently.
Think and act flexible: It defines that it is better to be flexible instead of being rigid.
Keep it simple: Any complexity or disruption may hamper the overall performance and
functioning of an organization which is not a good sign. Thus, it is family important for
companies to have fewer choices that are better and best rather than having several choices
(Jiménez-Jiménez and Sanz-Valle, 2011).
Included the margin: It is essential for each organisation to determine the actual demand of
target customer so that company can satisfy them in an most efficient manner. They can ask for
feedback or suggestions from their clients which assists them in determining what are the
prevailing demand of targeted customers and what is their expectation from respective product
or services.
TASK 3
P5 Importance of commercial funnel and its application
Commercial funnel: It is generally refers to a cost effective process with the help of which
company tries to identify various sources that help them in offering innovative product or
services to target customer in a structured and thorough manner. The role of employees or
members is crucial as they have to select appropriate channel of distribution that help them in
generating higher profits and revenue. In case of Unicorn Grocery, the company has decided to
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establish its own online mobile application for simplifying the buying procedure of customers,
they can buy their products while sitting at home. They have to undergo the process of new
product development as they are introducing new innovative business process or product in the
market that enable them to fulfill customer needs and wants effectively. The process of
developing new product compromises of various steps which are explained below:
Idea generation: It is one of the most essential step of product development, where idea is
actually generated or originated. Idea can be originate or develop from any source. Everyday
manager of Unicorn Grocery deals with plethora of ideas.
Idea screening: Ideas are many but very few among them actually good and practically feasible.
Therefore the main responsibility of workers of Unicorn Grocery is to select those good and
feasible idea and neglect the others.
Concept testing and development: It is the third step which includes testing and development of
innovative process, goods or services. Concept testing mainly abstract the entire creative idea. It
generally taken into consideration those ideas that has been passed through the screening stage
and will now convert into concepts for testing purpose. Managers of referred firm select some
customer from the target group for checking or testing their product over them. Information is
being provided which help them in examining the innovative product. In addition to that, their
feedback also play key role as it signifies whether innovation embedded by company proves to
be successful or not and it also determines whether the product has been like by customer or not
(Rosenbusch, Brinckmann and Bausch, 2011).
Market development and strategy: After attaining positive or satisfactory result of testing, if
manager is to frame effective business strategies that help them in gaining high competitive
advantage over other competitors. At this stage, profitability of innovative product is forecasted
along with marketing mix and branding strategies also.
Analysis of Business and financials: This is the stage where manager actually examine the sales
of innovative product in the market and compare it with its predefined sales objective.
Commercialization: This is the final phase of product development in which the organization
finally launch their innovative product or services in the market place.
P6 Business Case for Unicorn Grocery
Business Case are generally used by corporations in order to identify the threats
associated with implementing innovation at workplace. It ensure that company and its member
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must think practically and logically regarding each and every aspect of innovation (Strayer,
2012). In the given report, Unicorn Grocery has planned to launch their online mobile
application for maximizing their overall profits and sales. It includes series of steps that are states
below:
Executive summary: This section is the final page which outlines the overview of company and
provide picture of the entire business case.
The need: This is the first step that mainly lead deals with identifying the need for innovation in
companies. Basically, it illustrate the reason for which company wants innovation or change in
their existing product or services. However, this can only be possible is company is aware about
prevailing issues or problems in the workplace. For example: Manager of Unicorn Grocery has
figured out that sales of their products are mainly falling because now a days people prefer to
buy through online website where they can see the detail or description of product as well. This
is the main reason why company wants to launch its own online mobile application.
Your solution: This stage defines that whether the solution framed by company is effective or
not. The manager of referred firm evaluated the reason for the declining of sales and thus decide
to launch its own online mobile application which assist them in beating the competition exist in
the market place.
Why it is innovative: In order to attain high competitive advantage over rivalry firms, the
solution framed by company must be innovative i.e. it creates higher value for customers and
enable them to pay more for the particular innovative product.
Customer research: Under this phase, company will conduct mini-research so as to determine
the current demand or preferences of target audience. Customer research can be conducted using
survey,questionnaire, interview and focus group.
Investment Requirement: At this phase, company determines number of sources through which
they can get or arrange adequate funding for the innovation. Generally there are two types of
sources for funding, one is external & another is internal. Internal source refers to the funds
which are available to organization in the form of profits, retained earnings etc. On the other
hand, external sources of funds are those which are present outside the organization and it
includes international organization, banks, creditors, angel investors, individual donor etc.
Expected benefit: This phase interprets the benefit of which an innovation provide to the
society, customers and environment (Wolin, 2016).
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The Ask: This is the last stage that mainly deals with taking appropriate feedback from
customers after implementing innovation. It help in determining whether the innovation
undertaken by company comes out to be prosperous or not.
TASK 4
P7 various methods and tools for protect intellectual property
Intellectual property are the rights which are extended to the owner or creator related to
their work so that they can protect their invention or discoveries from others. In another word
intellectual property refers to giving exclusive rights to the creator over their innovative and
unique ideas. By using these tool, creator can achieve monetary benefit and recognition for their
inventions. Following are the tools that can be used in order to protect or secure their intellectual
property:
Patent: This tool provides a privilege to person over their innovation. This tool allow Patent
holder to remove or restrict others from creating, selling and using their invention without the
permission of owner.
Copyrights: This tool provides proprietary to the inventor or creator for their artistic, musical,
literary and dramatic work. By applying copyrights, creator can modify, perform, copy,
distribute or display work done by them (Wilson, 2014).
Trademark: It refers to the word, symbol, design or phrase which help in differentiating a
particular product or services from that of its competitors. The selected sign, mark or word must
be distinctive. Main aim of using trademark is to develop a brand image in customer's mind so
that they can easily identify difference between company and competitors' product who are
selling or offering similar goods or services in the market.
CONCLUSION
According to the above mentioned report, it can be concluded that innovation is the key
for organizational growth and success. In today’s competitive era, strong competition prevails in
the market place which enables businesses to distinguish themselves from rivals by keep
innovating or upgrading their product or services. There are various tools and strategies that have
been taken into consideration while embedding innovation within an organization. Intellectual
property tools have also been used in order to protect and retain them for longer period.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
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