Innovation and Business Development: Vodafone and Amazon

This report analyzes the innovation and business development strategies of Vodafone and Amazon. The report begins by examining Vodafone's consumer-centric approach, its adoption of technology, and its use of the ITIL methodology and transformational leadership. The analysis highlights Vodafone's successful ERP implementation (EVO) and the factors contributing to its smooth transition. The report then shifts to Amazon, identifying key factors that encourage innovation, including transformational and visionary leadership, a technology-driven environment, and significant investments in research and development. The report further discusses Amazon's disruptive innovation, using Amazon Go as a prime example of how the company is reshaping the retail industry through innovative technology and consumer-focused strategies. Overall, the report provides a comparative analysis of the two companies' approaches to innovation and business development, highlighting their key strategies and success factors.

Running head: INNOVATION AND BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
Innovation and Business Development
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s note

1INNOVATION AND BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
Question 1:
According to the passage above, explain the different characteristics that make Vodafone a
successful and innovative company.
Vodafone quickly gained popularity in the Egyptian market owing to the consumer-
centric approach of the business. The company is now the leading organisation in the market.
The business model of Vodafone is based on the value proposition and this enables the company
to take innovation as a major aspect of growth and expansion. The company operates in the
telecommunication industry and with the advancement of technology the company has imbibed
to the changes and the trends in the industry.
With the help of market analysis, the company concludes the changes in the industry and
initiates the change in the process. In order to accomplish the changes in the market the company
incorporates the approach of innovation. Innovation is the development in an idea and any
organisation that is based on technology has to innovate in order to meet the requirements of the
customer. The consumer-focused characteristic of the strategic management helps the company
devices policies and plans in a way that will comply with the needs and requirements (Souto,
2015).
The company has innovation approach not only in the product and services but also in the
process of the business. Therefore, the company also encourages an innovation driven work
culture in the organisation which helps the employees and the management to think in an
innovative way. Over the years the company has employed several policies and initiatives to

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encourage the employees and to invest in the process of research and development (İşcan et al.,
2014).
The company uses the of ITIL methodology (The Information Technology Infrastructure
Library) in order to provide the customers with efficient and flawless services. This technology
helps the company to improve productivity and provide better services to the customers. The
company focuses on improving the reach of connectivity and providing better services to the
customers in order to do so the company invests in research and development departments. The
management of the company is also based on transformational leadership style, which motivates
and encourages changes among the employees and inspires the employees to aligning the interest
with the objectives of the organisation (Roco & Bainbridge, 2013).

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Question 2:
Evaluate the strategy adopted by the company for the implementation of this new
technology and the transition that took place and discuss its success factors.
ERP or enterprise Resource Planning is one of the key components required by a
company to keep all its data at a common place and access them when it is necessary. The
Enterprise Resource Planning software or SAP ERP that was developed by Vodafone is known
as EVO, which is a short form of evolution. Many key business components were associated
within the software system so that the flow of system becomes easy. Sales & Distribution,
Financial management, human capital management and corporate Services were all integrated
within the system so that they can be accessed by the person who requires the information at any
pointy of time at any place in the world. However there was access provided to each of the
person in terms of authority and only the authorized person could access. The change was
regarded as the company’s “largest ever business transformation”. After the integration of the
software in the system of Vodafone training was given to the employees for 3 weeks by the
experts who developed the software system (Amin et al., 2016). The employees needed about 3
months for fully settling with the process however the settlement was smooth and after it was
complete the business process became compact, security increased and the international branches
were communicating much smoothly with each other. To evaluate the whole process of the
integration of the new software system into the business process of Vodafone it must be said that
the total planning of introducing the software to the completion of the training was well planned
and the software was successful in achieving its desired results ion integration of the business.

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Question 3:
Choose one of the companies located in your country of residence (or any other company)
known for its innovative strategies, and elaborate on the main factors that encourage
innovation in this company.
One of the most innovations driven company in the international market is Amazon Inc.
There are some of the basic similarities if Vodafone and Amazon: firstly the companies are
technology based though they operate in separate industries, along with these both the
company’s business approach is consumer centric. The management of these organisation
focuses on the needs and requirements of the consumers to develop their products and services
and incorporate innovation in the process of development.
The main factors that encourage innovation in Amazon are:
Leadership: the leadership style that is observed in the organisation is a combination of
transformational and visionary style. The CEO of the company is Jeff Bezos and the approaches
that are taken by the company are based on the farsightedness of his behavior and the needs and
requirements of the consumer (İşcan et al., 2014).
The industry in which the company operates induces the management to have an
innovative approach in the development of the products and services, technology driven
organisation have the scope of improvement with innovation as technology is dynamic in the
business environment is always evolving.
Another factor that encourages innovation in the organisation is the investment of the
company on research and development (Roco & Bainbridge, 2013).

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The company is consumer centric and this has been established by the CEO several times
in various interviews. Therefore the company focuses on the growing consumer trends in the
industry and tries to innovate both in the product as well as in process.
The type of innovation that is followed in the company is disruptive in nature, for
example: Disruptive innovation is the idea of innovation which has the potential of replacing
existing ideas in the market. According to Christensen et al. (2015), the organisation that can
create disruptive innovation idea can use the strategy to ensure competitive advantage in the
industry (Souto, 2015). The company has just launched the concept of Amazon Go, which is an
investment that the company has made in a new market (physical retail industry). The innovation
in the process is the technology that has been used to construct the store. The idea is making
grocery shopping hassle free. The company has installed technology that will allow the customer
to walk in and walk out of the store without paying physical money or waiting in the queue. This
is disruptive in nature as there are a number of competitions in the physical retail market but
there is nothing like the store format and the technology of Amazon Go (Amazon.com, 2018).

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Amazon.com (2018). Amazon Go. [online] amazon.com. Available at:
https://www.amazon.com/b?ie=UTF8&node=16008589011 [Accessed 26 April. 2018].
Amazon.com (2018). Our Innovations. [online] amazon.com. Available at:
https://www.amazon.com/p/feature/tv76jef8gz289rm [Accessed 26 April. 2018].
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Christensen, C. M., Raynor, M. E., & McDonald, R. (2015). What is disruptive innovation.
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İşcan, Ö. F., Ersarı, G., & Naktiyok, A. (2014). Effect of leadership style on perceived
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Roco, M. C., & Bainbridge, W. S. (2013). The new world of discovery, invention, and
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Souto, J. E. (2015). Business model innovation and business concept innovation as the context of
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