Leveraging External Sources of Innovation †Assignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Leveraging External Sources of Innovation. Answer: Introduction: Disruptive technologies depict an organization that adopts technologies that aim at creating new markets and value to customers and at the end they displace the existing market and the initial value that was existent. Disruptive technologies instigate new firms, more products, and business alliances. On the other hand, sustainable innovation can be defined as technologies that are of the essence of escalating the performance of a product(Reinhardt, R. and Gurtner, S. 2015, p. 138). There are various distinguishing factors between the disruptive and the sustaining technologies. To start with, the disruptive technologies are majorly adopted by small business, and the big business finds the technologies unattractive, yet at the end, the small businesses grow to own a significant market share. Sustaining technologies are applied by large companies that prove to be more conversant with apt technologies that progress the performance of the product that is on the market. Also, the sustaining innovations are cultivated from considering to the values and expectations of the customers in an already established market. The company provides products that are customized for the customers in future. The reliable company engaged in disruptive technology at its conception. The company was aware of the existence of other smoothies in the market but went ahead to produce their brands. Later on, the brand displaced the market, and it continued producing more products. In the beginning, it started with three brands that are; Sainsbury, Tesco and M S(Trott 2012, p. 443). Also, the company came up with products that had health benefits and directly responsive to the campaigns that were being made about the benefits of incorporating of plenty of vegetables and fruits in the everyday meals. The smoothies displaced the existing market where they came up with their prices that were higher than those in the market and had a particular target population that is the young and affluent(Trott 2012, p. 447). Sustainable technologies are illustrated in the case where the first company that was started by Henry in 1994 for smoothies. Initially, he inhabited in California and was fond of smoothies. When he came to the UK, he found that there were no smoothies yet there was the need for the product. The smoothies that were present were difficult to import. It is through this that Henry started his smoothie company(Wever, R., Schermer, R., Smit, L., and Vos, L. 2015). That is the entrepreneur was aware of the needs of the customers and wanted to satisfy them through availing the smoothies. Lastly, Innocent engaged in various innovations regarding the designs of the packages and the delivery vans of the smoothies. It was of the essence of creating value for the company despite the product being evidently expensive as compared to the other beverages and drinks in the market. The Innocent smoothies sell up to $1.99 for the on to go smoothies. Innocent utilized the sustainable technologies through insisting on production of smoothies that were made from natural fruits and with no additives. The innovation was to improve the performance of the product in the market. Smoothies that was extremely different from those that were being produced by the rival companies. It is also imperative to note that the company ensured the strategies or the technologies that it established still made the smoothies simple. It was the aim of instigating performance of the smoothies in the market. Open and Closed Innovation Process Open innovation stipulates the use of intended internal and external knowledge sources with the aim of accelerating the expansion of the existing markets and for institutional innovation. After the installation of open innovation, the organization opens up for partnership with other companies through availing of its resources. Via the open innovation, an organization can be able to sell its self-generated innovations in the case that the innovations are not viable in their businesses(Felin, T., and Zenger, T.R. 2014). Products can be developed through external resources. On the other hand, closed innovation is whereby businesses incorporated innovation into their operations through utilizing of the primarily internal sources of knowledge. The ideas that are brought forward are evaluated, and then the best and the most feasible one are chosen for development and majorly on its commercialization. The similarity between the open innovation and the closed innovation practices revolve around the fact that in both the circumstances, the business uses the internal sources in coming up with innovative ideas. The difference lays in the fact that in the closed innovation, the ideas that are generated, the inventions that are formulated and the product and market developments are mainly driven from within the business. While in the case of an open innovation, the business considers the external sources in its ideas generation and invention such as the use of technology(West, J. and Bogers, M. 2014). At the same time, the company still avails its own generated ideas towards strategic innovation of the products and processes. Open innovation is clear in the case, Henry during his innovation process, identified the fact that he was not deemed to market his products. He essentially relied on word of mouth in the marketing of his products. Through this, his company reduced its costs and thus it gained a competitive advantage. Due to the reduced costs, the company was able to expand its market in other places such as in Norway and Nottinghamshire. Innocent in the same way was able to gain knowledge from experts and their university friends on how to convey its designs into its smoothies(Johnsen, M.., Kristiansen, K., Raddum, M.A., and Repstad, P.J. 2016). The use of the two bins during a concert in helping the three entrepreneurs that began the Innocent was a compelling way in determining if the products could be accepted into the market or not. Also, Innocent utilized its internal resources in the innovation process. Since the composition of the starters of the company was young well educated, affluent and m odernized individuals, they were able to come up with ideas such as those of sticking on the simplicity of the smoothies and engaging in products that promoted a health value to the consumers. Closed innovation can be illustrated in the case by highlighting the fact that the company engaged its starters in the compilation of the ideas entirely at some point. At the conception of the company, the three entrepreneurs of Innocent brought forth ideas such as those of producing a product that could prevent the blocking of baths and the smoothies and later on they decided on settling on the smoothies(Johnson 2017). The product testing was entirely done by the entrepreneurs, and so is the implementation of the ideas. It is a clear indication that the business at some point depended on internal resources in acquiring knowledge for its innovation process. New product development is the process that encourages the creation of new products. The development process is influenced by factors such as marketing of the products, designing of the products, product management and research and development. A new product is mostly less than five years old in the market. Repositioning is where existing products are developed to be able to create new applications of the product(Holahan, P.J., Sullivan, Z.Z. and Markham, S.K. 2014). Repositioning of the products can be psychological to the customers that are the perception of the product in the minds of the customers is changed, and a new aspect of the product is placed. For instance, customers are much aware that Aspirin is a pain killer, but through advancements, the product can be repositioned as a drug that prevents perceived heart attacks. On the other hand, new product development can involve the complete emergence of a new product or an improvement of the product(Klimchuk, M.R. and Krasovec, S.A. 2013). New product development can also include expansion of markets or their diversifications. NPD involves an increase in the product line of a business while a repositioning does not necessarily extend the product line of a product, it can just be an increase in the uses of the product. In both of the cases, the markets may not be changed, but they may just strengthen. Innocent as it conception majorly targeted the young and affluent individuals. The products were majorly customized to serve this specific group. The company has brought about a smoothie that is apt for the children. The smoothie is sold at 99p. It is thus ideal to note that the business has come up with another class of consumers that can purchase the modified products in the market in the bid to expand its markets. Innocent was also has engaged NPD through coming up with a new product identified as Juicy water in 2003. The product development strategy that was also utilized by Innocent is to diversify its products. Initially, the products were only of 3 brands; the company has developed its brand to incorporate other seventeen brands to increase its product line. The seventeen products have created new markets for the smoothies. The company also aims at expanding its markets beyond Europe(Purvis, L., Spall, S., Naim, M. and Spiegler, V. 2016). Through continuous advertisements in the market and with the aid of expert knowledge, Innocent has been able to develop its products. For instance, through the use of the advertisements, consumer insights are instigated, and the company can determine the acceptance of the product. It can then identify the gaps that are available and fill them through the development of new products. Through the advertisements, the company can create new identities for the developed products thus new markets. Repositioning of the products of Innocent was through the establishing the fact that the smoothies were natural and pure and with health benefits. This was a new face for the smoothies. Initially, smoothies were characterized as those that were concentrated, with preservatives and with water. It was a repositioning of the product when the customers were acknowledged of another reason to purchase the smoothies(van Rensburg 2015). The other instance in the case of the position was to create the impression that the smoothie was the most suitable for the sandwich eaters. The buyers thus found another reason to purchase the smoothie. Organizational Knowledge management Knowledge management can just be defined as a process of coming up with knowledge, passing it on to others, utilizing it to allow its management of information possessed by an organization. The information in this context is viewed as an asset to the organization (Birasnav 2014). And it can be substituted by the same in the definition of KM. KM integrates the strategies and the goals of the organization in its management. Some sources can be utilized to access knowledge. The sources are not limited to individuals who are the main source of tactical knowledge. Tactical knowledge refers to knowledge that is gained naturally, and it is not easy to pass the knowledge to someone else. The other source is the fundamental knowledge that is propagated in the culture and the inbuilt processes of an organization. Then there is the organizational knowledge, which consists of knowledge that is created by groups through team work(Hislop 2013). Lastly, there is the community knowledge, where this is the knowledge that is shared by communities that have the same language or say practices and can pass amongst themselves shared values and skills. Knowledge management is essential for business for it allows it to discover opportunities and how to seize them to their benefit. The technological trajectory and knowledge base that are explored determine if an organization is in a position to utilize the opportunities. Technological trajectory refers to defined paths that innovation can utilize. Technological trajectories can be determined by the scientific improvements, economic dynamics and organization variables that are present. Lastly, a firm needs to have an absorptive capacity which is the ability of a business to access and use new knowledge(Holsapple, C. ed. 2013). Innocent needs to engage in organizational knowledge management to successfully operate in the fruit smoothie market. To start with, Innocent needs to engage external linkages and build network relationships to promote KM. It is evident that the external linkages will provide the business with professional advice on how to make the business more innovative say in the case of how to market their products, through which media and at what costs(Totterdill 2015). Also, they can aid in the process of new product development where they can help in the determination of the viability of the products and the best way to carry out the development to create new value and new markets for new products. In doing so, the business will be more competitive through the competitive advantage that the company will acquire from KM. The other strategy would be for Innocent to gather competencies that will equip the company with skills, processes and knowledge bases that cannot be replicated by another business. The innocent should be able to update its competencies from time to time to discourage other companies from replicating its skills(Oliveira, A. and Gimeno, A. 2014). Innocent has tried to implement this through its acquiring expertise skills to manage its processes. Also, the company n engaging in products that are purely natural with no added preservatives has made it difficult for some companies in the industry to duplicate its processes. Organization learning is another factor; a learning organization is that which can learn from its past experiences and the outcomes of the experiences to be able to plan for the future strategically. Through learning from the past, one can come up with viable ideas that will be able to stir innovation in the future to curb the past problems. For instance, Innocent is facing challenges of stiff competition from other market players that are more established than it. Companies such as Coca-Cola and Pepsi have unique competencies that deprive Innocent of a larger market share. KM through learning will aid in innovation that will make the company more successful in the fruit smoothie business. In organizational learning, teams can learn from their successes and failures(Nguyen, B., Wu, M.S.S. and Chen, C.H.S. 2017), the challenges of pricing that the company faces should be corrected through organizational learning. This will ensure that the company comes up with better production method s that are cost effective that will make the smoothies to be well priced in the market. However, the learning process should be consisting of every member of the organization. This is of the essence because it facilitates sharing of the same ideas and beliefs. There is a limited chance for change to be refuted. Limited rigidity by some of the employees to change accelerates innovation, and this should be the case at Innocent. The innocent should stimulate a culture that allows free flow of information. Through the sharing of ideas in the company, the company is in a position to instill new ideas, corporate values and grow leaders. Through the incorporation of such cultures, the organization will be ready for a change and will thus be in a position to carry out innovation. Through the impacting of the business with new corporate values, Innocent owners will be rejuvenated to engage in innovation to realize the new corporate values(Siemens, G. 2014). For instance, if Innocent establishes a corporate value that stipulates that a customer is at the center of the organization, then it is ideal that the company will make sure that it engages new technology in the devising of Customer relationship management. Customer relationship, management indicates that the customer is considered in every aspect of the business decisions and proper strategies are in place to facilitate a close relationship between the busine ss and the customers. The smooth flow of data can incorporate technologies such as the use of intranets and extranets in the organization. Nonetheless, the company has to engage data that is filtered to be able to make more informed decisions. Innocent has to put in place measures that will essentially reduce the processing of large loads of data at a time. To be in a position to make significant decisions then there should be forums that will allow the sharing of information that is filtered and supports best practice(Kianto, A., Ritala, P., Spender, J.C. and Vanhala, M. 2014). Informed decisions accelerate the ability of a company to engage in innovation because it will be in a position to implement only ideas that are viable for the business and thus the creation of efficiency. Moreover, the company could prompt quick idea generation that avoids duplication of the previous failures as a way of knowledge management. It is significant for the new product development teams to utilize organization learning in the generation of ideas. In the context of Innocent, it can engage idea generation that will instigate efficiency such as cutting down the time to market the smoothies. Time efficiency is a determinant of a company that is innovative or not. Through KM, knowledge can be captured and thus instances of forgetfulness are mitigated. Furthermore, it is ideal for a business to implement methods that will allow safeguarding of data that belongs to the organization. It is imperative to share ideas or to be transparent. But there are processes or ideas of a company that is private and the leaking of information can be destructive to the much-toiled efforts of a company. When the rival firms access the confidential information of the company, they can use the information in destroying the victim company completely. Systems should be in place that will inculcate a culture of securing access to data. Data should only be accessed by authorized individuals. The strategies that should be included are; physical controls and the access controls. The innocent should put in place these measures to ensure that its data access is restricted and thus its competencies are not at stake in any dimension. Use CIM to Illustrate Innocents Innovation process The CIM integrates forces that impact each other in a cyclic form. These forces include; scientific research, product development, market transitions and technological developments. The model is the idea that innovation is flexible that is it can be carried out at any place at any time and creates value. Innocent utilized the CIM in their innovation process. To begin with, a cyclical interaction first takes place where the technological research is at the center. In the case of Innocent, technological adoption, took place in the sciences cycle in aid of life sciences. The change that occurred with technology was as a result of the company engaging different experts to help them in the innovations(Schenkl, S.A., Behncke, F.G., Hepperle, C., Langer, S. and Lindemann, U. 2013). For instance, the company consulted experts in the designing of their new products and also in the advertising of their products. The experts included Turner Duckworth who helped in the design of the first shape of the product. Also, the company engaged an agency in carrying out an advertising campaign in Ireland. Also, the three entrepreneurs that started Innocent were learned individuals, one who was skilled in management, and thus this helped in the stirring of technological changes through the art of science. The next cycle is the combined cycle; in this case, product development is carried out through various strategies such as changing the design of the products package(Yates, D. and Price, J. 2015). In the case of Innocent, the company had to maintain and come up with simple designs that were catchy and fun. The entrepreneurs had to design the package in such a way that the consumers could find it more convenient to handle. That is as smoothies were produced essentially to be accompanied with a sandwich, it was ideal to have a package that made it easier to use while taking a sandwich. Also, technologies were to be applied to the packaging of the product so that the shelf life of the product could be prolonged. Lastly, the logo of the product was too well designed on the products that could identify the product from the other products on the shelves. There is an indication that the technologies in the science cycle are instigated by new scientific ideas that can be identified as science push. Another factor to note is that technology was driven by the functions of the products like in the case of prolonging the life of the product. It is thus evident that technological dynamics are as a result of emerging insights in science and the requirements for new products. Double dynamics are also present around the market transitions. In these double dynamics, there are two cycles are closely linked. The context in this scenario involves a market change contrary to the previous double dynamics that incorporated technological dynamics at the center of the cycle. In this case, the demand in the market takes the central role. The changes in the demand in the market are seen in the science cycle. With the insights from the behavioral and social aspects, social and technical remedies can be encompassed promptly and still maintain economic efficiency. In the case of innocent, the company was able to identify the changes in the attitude of the customers towards products that were believed to cause obesity. Also, it was keen on the campaigns that sensitized individuals on the significance of incorporating fruits and vegetables into the diet(Trott 2012, p. 445). The societal needs thus drove the entrepreneurs into availing products that were made primarily from natural fruit and with no added preservatives into the market. Smoothies that was not only tasty by those that were healthy and still affordable to their target population. It is also imperative to identify that the smoothies that were introduced by Innocent were as a result of recognizing that the customers lacked a smoothie that was natural and that which could suit the lifestyle of the individuals that were slightly of a high class, young and with female characters. This made the company be encouraged to come up with the product. In the other cycle that consists of the services cycle. Innocent utilized the democratizing innovation where it contacted most of their perceived customers through email to be able to identify if the p roduct design was viable and they depended on their comments to make decisions on the smoothie packages(Petit 2017). Bibliography Birasnav, M 2014, 'Knowledge management and organizational performance in the service industry: The role of transformational leadership beyond the effects of transactional leadership', Journal of Business Research, vol 67, no. 8, pp. 1622-1629. 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