Innovation Strategy for Unilever: A Lean Startup Approach

Desklib provides solved assignments and past papers to help students succeed.

MGMT20132: Innovation and Sustainable Business Development
Assessment 1: Individual report: innovation strategy
<<Insert Your Full Name Here>>
<<Insert Your student number here>>
Submission date: <<Insert assignment submission date here>>
Word count: << >>
Campus (tick one): MEL  SYD  BNE  DST  Other (write): ____________
1

Executive summary
The concept of innovation is very essential to be established & enhanced for each & every
business organization in the effective manner. The complete report includes the innovation trend
of lean startup in relation to the chosen business organization of “Unilever”. The effective
business strategies are to be executed in the standard manner which is being illustrated in the
report. The complete environment is also being ensured & analyzed of the whole business
organization. The recommendations are also being enhanced effectively in the end of the report.
Table of Contents
2

Executive summary.........................................................................................................................2
Introduction......................................................................................................................................4
Business organization......................................................................................................................4
Innovation trend...............................................................................................................................4
Organizational environment........................................................................................................5
Innovation trend...........................................................................................................................6
Innovation strategy......................................................................................................................6
Innovation capabilities.................................................................................................................6
Innovation value creation & capture............................................................................................7
Innovation strategy ensuring strategic alignment............................................................................7
Impact of an innovation trend..........................................................................................................8
Strategy tool of innovation trend.....................................................................................................8
Business model canvas of Unilever.................................................................................................9
Recommendations for innovation strategy......................................................................................9
Recommendations for ensuring strategic alignment......................................................................10
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................10
References......................................................................................................................................11
3

Introduction
The plan implemented by the various different business organizations in order to grow up the
share of the market along with the increasing level of profits with the help of the different
organizational innovated products or services is called as the effective innovation strategy. It is
very essential for each & every business organization to identify & also implement the innovated
business strategies for enhancing the high level of organizational innovation. This concept also
helps the business organizations to meet all the desired needs & expectations of all the
organizational employees. The innovation strategies also help in identifying & creating the
solution at which it seems to be the best for enhancing product improvement. In some cases,
innovation strategies fail & do not ensure organizational success. The complete report includes
the business organization of “Unilever” whose business operations are also being impacted by
the chosen innovated trend of “Lean Startup”. Selecting effective & innovated strategies is not
part of the innovation strategy. It includes the innovative creation of all the winning products of
the business organization. The different business organizations should consider the needs of all
the organizational employees in order to effectively formulate the innovation strategy.
Business organization
“Unilever” is the British Multinational Company which deals in the consumer goods including
the food products, beverages, cleaning products, beauty & care products. It deals in around 190
countries all over the World. It was established in the year 1929. The company employs around
155,000 employees & owns around 400 brands with a higher amount of sales within the business
organization. It is the “dual-listed company”. Nestle and Procter & Gamble are considered as the
largest competitors of Unilever at the international level. The company invests the amount of
around 8 billion US dollars in advertising & promoting all the organizational products &
services.
Innovation trend
The chosen innovated trend which impacts the chosen business organization is the “Lean
Startup”. The term lean startup is that method or the business trend which is being enhanced by
4

the business organization of “Unilever” in order to develop the business at the wider level along
with its organizational products & services. The main aim or the objective of this trend is to
reduce the long cycles of organizational development & also to discover the viable or the
proposed model of the business. This effective process or the business methodology was being
introduced by “Eric Ries” in the year 2011. This practice helps in eliminating the various
identified uncertainties within the business organization of “Unilever”. There are three steps
which can be implemented by the Unilever in order to effectively enhance the process of Lean
Startup (Hausman & Johnston, 2014). The following three steps include:
Understanding the problem & defining the solution: All the business organizations face various
kinds of organizational problems, similarly in the case of Unilever, in order to solve the
identified problems, Unilever implements the different business strategies in the form of
effective solutions to be developed in against of all the identified problems.
Creating an MVP: MVP stands for the “minimum viable product” which is to be created
essentially by the Unilever after finding out & also implementing the effective solutions for all
the organizational problems. The small set of features is to be identified by the business
organization for those products & services which are offered by the company. Under this step,
the Unilever can gather the most effective & relevant information in the context of improving the
organizational products & services (Anderson, et.al. 2014).
Experimenting & measuring: The experiments should be conducted by the Unilever & should
repeat this step again & again. The lower cost experiments should be validated. With the help of
this step, a wide level of business opportunities is being enhanced effectively & efficiently.
Organizational environment
The organizational environment of each & every business organization includes the different
factors at the political, economic & social level. The business environment of Unilever faces the
various economic factors including the economic downturn, exchange rates, export subsidies,
duty regulations, interest rates, inflation rates & import tariffs. The social factors faced by the
Unilever include the different preferences of the customer, hygienic products, changing lifestyles
& many more which are enjoyed by the people at the wider level. The technological factors
include the different technologies, new machines & various innovated products. Unilever is
5

being considered as the Global leader in the area of Research & Development (West & Bogers,
2014). Apart from all these, the environmental factors include the climatic changes, weather &
other diseases. Various different innovated strategies are fully dependent upon the natural
environment.
Innovation trend
The innovation trend which has a great impact on the business organization of Unilever is the
“Lean Startup”. The new, as well as the innovated strategies, are being implemented by the
business organization in order to enhance the innovative trend of Lean Startup in the context of
all the new & innovated technologies as well as the machines. Unilever enhanced the startup
Global model of “Direct to consumer Based on the value chain”. It requires innovative
strategies to be implemented in order to create the brand chain at the Global level. Apart from
this, it requires the deep as well as the effective understanding of the different consumer
preferences along with their respective relationships with the organizational brand (Kalkan, et.al.
2014).
Innovation strategy
In order to enhance the high level of innovation trend of a lean startup within the business
organization of lean startup, the business managers & leaders of Unilever frames out &
implements the effective as the innovative business strategies in relation to this. It conducts the
effective campaigns of marketing for aiming in establishing & enhancing the connection &
building up the strong relationship between all the potential customers & the organizational
brand. The company also develops & enhances the effective channels of distribution for
delivering all the innovated products & services to all the consumers directly in the standard as
well as in the appropriate manner. All these effective & innovated business strategies will help
the business organization of Unilever in enhancing the innovation trend of Lean Startup.
Innovation capabilities
The term innovation capability refers to the strong as well as the effective ability of the business
organization to generate & enhance the knowledge in the form of the “intellectual property”. The
overall performance of the business organization can be enhanced & developed with the help of
the firm’s innovation capabilities. High level of exploitation is being enhanced of all the
6

innovated products & organizational services along with the increase in the value-added
proportion within the business organization (Harms, 2015). The strong capabilities will also
enable the business organization to gain a high level of competitive advantage among all the
business competitors.
Innovation value creation & capture
All the strong, effective & innovated capabilities help the business managers of Unilever to
strongly & effectively create a higher level of value-added proportion within the business
organization. The strong focus on the organizational innovation will help the Unilever to outlook
upon the major areas of development which will lead towards the innovation value creation &
high level of innovative success within the business organization. Apart from all these, the
innovation value creation will help in enhancing the high level of understanding of all the
competitive dynamics of the organizational technology, learning about how all the business
managers can actively manage the process of organizational innovation, improving upon all the
problems of the business organization for identifying all the effective & innovative solutions
(Saebi & Foss, 2015).
Innovation strategy ensuring strategic alignment
With the help of the effective implementation of all the innovated business innovated strategies,
the strong & effective strategic alignment can be ensured & enhanced within the business
organization of Unilever. It is very essential for all the business organizations to enhance the
high level of strategic alignment as the lack of strategic alignment concept among the corporate
strategies & the organizational innovated goals can result into the ineffective outcomes. In order
to successfully enhance the innovative trend of lean startup, the strategic alignment is very
essential to be enhanced which is possible with effective & innovative business strategies. It can
be said that the innovation strategies are effective plans in order to grow & develop the market
share or the organizational profits through innovative organizational products or the services. It
is very important for all the business managers of Unilever to ensure the strategic alignment in
the effective manner as it helps in enabling the high level of organizational performance with the
help of optimizing the standard level of contribution of all the people, different organizational
processes & the various organizational inputs for realizing the different objectives & goals of the
7

business organization (Coltman, et.al. 2015). This is the main & essential reason behind the
effective efforts of reducing the waste & ensuring the effective utilization of all the limited
available resources with the business organization.
Impact of an innovation trend
The impact of the chosen innovation tend of lean startup greatly affects the whole business
organization of Unilever in the positive & standard manner. With the help of this innovation
trend, business managers can effectively enhance the higher level of attraction of all the potential
consumers towards the company. All the managers are also able to manage the emerging
business innovative technologies in order to maintain the different uncertainties & the scale of
deflation within the business organization. The high level of the pace of change can also be
enhanced & accelerated. All the consumers are able to meet up their respective needs & business
requirements with the help of ensuring the high level of satisfaction in the unique, creative &
innovative manner. As per the model of the business canvas by “Osterwalder and Pigneur
(2010)” the high level of innovation will also help in enhancing the high level of sustainable
development within the business organization along with the increased organizational
productivity & proficiency. The different innovative & unique processes also help the business
managers of Unilever to enhance the increased level of competitive advantage along with
enhancing the meaningful differentiation within the whole business organization (Paunescu,
2014).
Strategy tool of innovation trend
Strengths
 Success of the new product mix
 Tracking the innovative records
 Enhancing strong brand recognition
 Managing the talent
 Keeping high margins
Weaknesses
 Lack of loyalty among all the
organizational suppliers
 Increased cost of supply chain
Opportunities
 Increased government regulations
 Faster changing preferences of
customers
Threats
 High level of competitive pressure
 Lack of skilled human resources
8

Business model canvas of Unilever
Key partnerships
 NGOs
 Governme
nt
subsidies
Key activities
 Distributio
n
 Training
 Selection
Value
prepositions
 Hygienic
environ
ment
 Unilever
goods
 Sources
of
revenue
Customer
relationship
 Trusted
distribu
tors
Customer
segments
 Horizonta
l segment
 Vertical
segmentKey resources
 NGOs
 Unilever
 Governme
nt
Channels
 Internet
channel
Cost structure
 Product development
 Marketing
 Distribution
 Training
Revenue streams
 Subscription
 Services
 Product sales
Recommendations for innovation strategy
 The managers can effectively organize the innovation activities with the help of
discussing, generating & implementing the innovative business ideas, labeling all the
ideas & testing all those ideas in the effective & in an efficient manner.
 The different effective innovation capabilities can be enhanced such as the technological
innovative capabilities as the online applications are being widely used by the potential
customers of the business organization.
 It has also been recommended that the different innovative initiatives should be enhanced
by the business managers of Unilever such as the high level of creativity, enhancing the
emotional intelligence, critical thinking, and high level of coordination.
 Apart from all these, if the business organization is earning the maximum amount of
profits & ensuring the higher level of organizational success, then it can be said that the
business managers of Unilever are able to effectively enhance the innovation value within
the whole business organization (Efrat and Kalanit, 2014).
9

 It has been recommended that ensuring all these effective things, the business
organization will be able to gather a high level of attraction of all the potential customers.
Recommendations for ensuring strategic alignment
The business managers can effectively ensure & enhance the strategic alignment along with the
innovation trend of lean startup with the help of implementing the effective steps such as
understanding the pains of all the customers, creating the loop of feedback for making the
corrective measures, communicating the overall organizational vision along with the effective
strategies to be implemented to all the employees in an appropriate manner (Oh, et.al. 2016).
Conclusion
It has been concluded that the business managers of Unilever should follow up the effective steps
which are being illustrated in order to ensure & enhance the innovation trend of a lean startup in
the effective as well as in an efficient manner. Different trends & the overall environment of the
organization is also being analyzed along with the effective innovation strategies that should be
implemented. In the end, the report includes the standard recommendations which should be
followed by the organizational managers for ensuring the strategic alignment.
10

References
Anderson, N., Potočnik, K., & Zhou, J. (2014). Innovation and creativity in organizations: A
state-of-the-science review, prospective commentary, and guiding
framework. Journal of management, 40(5), 1297-1333.
Coltman, T., Tallon, P., Sharma, R., & Queiroz, M. (2015). Strategic IT alignment: twenty-
five years on.
Efrat, Kalanit. (2014). The direct and indirect impact of culture on
innovation. Technovation, 34(1), 12-20.
Harms, R. (2015). Self-regulated learning, team learning and project performance in
entrepreneurship education: Learning in a lean startup environment. Technological
forecasting and social change, 100, 21-28.
Hausman, A., & Johnston, W. J. (2014). The role of innovation in driving the economy:
Lessons from the global financial crisis. Journal of Business Research, 67(1), 2720-
2726.
Kalkan, A., Bozkurt, Ö. Ç., & Arman, M. (2014). The impacts of intellectual capital,
innovation and organizational strategy on firm performance. Procedia-Social and
Behavioral Sciences, 150, 700-707.
Oh, Phillips, Park, & Lee. (2016). Innovation ecosystems: A critical
examination. Technovation, 54, 1-6.
Paunescu, C. (2014). Current trends in social innovation research: Social capital, corporate
social responsibility, impact measurement. Management & Marketing, 9(2), 105-118.
Saebi, T., & Foss, N. J. (2015). Business models for open innovation: Matching
heterogeneous open innovation strategies with business model dimensions. European
Management Journal, 33(3), 201-213.
West, J., & Bogers, M. (2014). Leveraging external sources of innovation: a review of
research on open innovation. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 31(4), 814-
831.
11