Innovation And Commercialization

Task 1

P1. Innovation and its importance to organizations in comparison with invention

Before starting with the answer give a brief introduction of your chosen organization and its key activities

Innovation:Any fresh idea that adds value to the existing products and services of the company by introducing creativity is termed as innovation. Managers and leaders at Samsung Electronics must ensure this creativity in their employees as well as production process so that the firm could increase their customers all around the world and maximize their Rate of Investment (ROI)

Invention:This refers to the production and development of a unique and a new product by a company which has never been created before (West and Bogers, 2014). For instance, the Curved LED TV by Samsung Electronics was the first of its kind. It contributes towards creating a whole new market for the firm and enhances its customer base.

Both the terms are equally important for Samsung Electronics to retain its market stature and improve its competitive position in the market. In addition to this, it helps to enhance the creativity of employees and they become more productive and committed towards the firm.However, there is a vast difference between innovation and commercialization which is discussed before.

Samsung Electronics Co. is a global leader in electronic products in the world. It has a worldwide market and customers tend to consume every innovative product or service the firm has to offer. There are different sources of innovation that could be an advantage for the firm. These are mentioned below:

• Industry and Market Structure Change:Electronic industry is is one of the most dynamic industries in the world. The industry witnesses various changes almost everyday which is a major cause for innovation in Samsung Electronics.
• Changes in Perceptions:Perception of consumers is forever changing. The firm needs to develop new products to satisfy these demands.
• Technological Advancements:With more exploration in technological upfront, it is crucial for the company to innovate in order to cope up with the advancements and gaina competitive edge.

There are stages in which innovation is developed, embedded and measured in Samsung Electronics which are mentioned below:

• The first stage requires identification of goals and objectives that defines a framework upon which the firm has to perform.
• The second stage requires the innovation process to be positioned. Initial strategies are corrected so that innovation is relatively low cost and according to market trends.
• To critically evaluate the process of innovation, it is required that Samsung Electronics analyze past and current innovation performance, the abilities to create a profitable value from innovation, and future innovation potential.

The importance of innovation in the company is briefly discussed below:

• Effective response to unforeseen situations:Innovation allows the companies to prepare for unforeseen situations. It enhances their capabilities to forecast the future and create products and services for tomorrow. For instance, Samsung Electronics are creating televisions that do not emit harmful radiation so that in future their customers stay healthy.
• Reduction of complexity:There is an ongoing occurrence in complex situations electronic industries. Innovative production methods would allow Samsung Electronics to deal with their complex situations easily.
• Competition:With intense rivals already present in the industry like Apple, Panasonic, etc., the threat of competition is everlasting for Samsung Electronics. This is because not just these companies, but new firms with agile and lean methods are continuously entering the market. Innovation would give the firm a stronger competitive advantage in front of these competitors which would enhance its sustainability in the market.
• Establishing innovative culture:Innovation causes the employees to think differently and enhances their creativity. Samsung Electronics would establish a culture with the help of innovation that would regulate this flow of new and innovative ideas in its employees.

P2. How Samsung’s vision, leadership, culture and teamwork would shape innovation and commercialization

Process through which new product or service of an organization is introduced in the market is known as commercialization. This process is responsible for building a perception of the product or service presented by the company to its customers. Following is the influence of Samsung’s vision, leadership, culture and teamwork in shaping up innovation and commercialization.

• Vision and Innovation:Samsung’s vision statement says, “Inspire the world, create the future.” The company is known to work in a manner that this vision is fulfilled. The managers of the firm must communicate this vision to their new and existing employees to enhance the innovation happening in the company currently.
• Culture and Innovation:Culture plays a vital role in innovation. It is very important that creative practices get recognition and encouragement in a company. Samsung’s approach in enhancing this creativity in their employees is a bit different. The firm has established a lab by the name of Samsung C-Lab (short for Creative), where company gives its employees tools to work on their own business ideas (How Samsung Helps its Internal Innovators to Spread their Wings,2018). Such practices encourage their creativity which contributes to the company’s success.
• Leadership and Innovation:Leaders and managers at Samsung Electronics are responsible to push their team towards enhancing their innovative capabilities. They ensure that each employee working under them give their contribution towards the company’s innovation processes.
• Teamwork and Innovation:Teamwork is essential as no task in a magnanimous company like Samsung Electronics could be accomplished at an individual level. Each activity in the company requires teamwork to be completed effectively. It is necessary that employees indulge in effective teamwork and take ideas and innovative concepts of each other into consideration. This will allow the firm to increase development of their innovative products and services.

Task 2

P3.4Ps of innovation and the use of the innovation funnel to examine and shape innovative ideas

Innovation is implemented by organizations to make their products and services more useful. Without innovation, firms would fail to sustain in a dynamic environment. To analyze and evaluate the process of innovation, 4Ps of innovation is used to help companies effectively modify their products and services. These Ps help the companies in evaluating the current state of their offerings and help them improve these existing products and services. The 4Ps of innovation are mentioned below:

• Person:Innovation in a company is heavily dependent on the creativity of its employees. Every innovation in Samsung Electronics is the outcome of creative ideas of the individuals of the firm. These employees use their skills, their creative thinking and capabilities to create a new and innovative product for the company. However, for the managers, it is very complex to measure creativity of their subordinates. To enhance the performance of its innovators, the company motivates them in various ways to make them adaptive to dynamic and uncertain environment.
• Process:This refers to the process used by the employees to create innovative services and products. It means the production as well as distribution process for development of the products as well as its positioning in the market. Managers and leaders at Samsung Electronics must consider hiring skilled employees and give them effective training and development to ensure effectiveness of their performance. This would contribute in achieving the desired alterations by the firm.
• Product:In this mix, product means the actual service and offering created by the employees of the company. According to this approach, creativity is not just limited to a person or process, rather the product itself possesses the characteristics which could contribute in generation of creative ideas. Samsung Electronics must ensure that this creative characteristic is present in every product developed by the company.
• Press:The final approach refers to the environment in which individuals in Samsung Electronics operate. These situations influence the innovations that take place in the company. Samsung Electronics must create situations that cause the employees to enhance their creative thinking and incline towards innovation.

Use of innovation funnel in Samsung Electronics

All the steps required for production of a product or services are described in an innovation funnel (Sengoku, 2015). The agenda of Samsung Electronics for using this concept is to produce those offerings that match needs of the market. There are four major stages of innovation funnel used by Samsung Electronics that are described below:

• Opportunity Assessment:The organization analyzes the market needs through online questionnaires which determine the customer expectations from the company and their needs. This becomes an opportunity for the firm to introduce a new offering in the market.
• Insights-based ideation:After the identification of the most appropriate opportunity, the next step considers ideation of different offerings that could be offered to the market to satisfy their needs
• Conceptualization:This stage undertakes the designing of actual concepts based on the most apt ideas derived from the ideation stage.
• Evaluation and Benchmarking:These different concepts are tested in the market and the satisfaction levels of the customers are then evaluated.
• Go/No Go:After detailed evaluation, the concept which received maximum positive response from the customers is selected in this stage.
• Launch:Finally, the product or service is launched in the market.

Illustration 1: Innovation Funnel

(Source: Innovation Funnel, 2016)

P4. Developments in frugal innovation and how it is used in Samsung Electronics

Frugal innovation refers to the process which reduces unnecessary costs and decreases the complexity from the offerings of the company. It helps the firms to be more advanced technologically which helps them to improve their competitive position in the market (Mazzarol and et. al., 2014). It also provide assistances to retain more customers which could enhance their customer base. In addition to this, cost reduction would enhance productivity and profitability of the firm. This model could best serve companies that lack in resources. For a company like Samsung Electronics, frugal innovation could help the firm increase its Rate of Investment (ROI). One such innovation for the company could be use of holographic technology. It could be a complete standout for the firm in the field of innovation. Moreover, it would save the firm the costs incurred in buying hardware for televisions.

Frugal innovation could really help the company in getting ahead of the competition. Moreover, it improves the strategy making of the company. Samsung Electronics could use effective ways to promote this holographic technology and stay ahead of the competition.

In frugal innovation, advanced technology is implemented which enhances the way people perceive the offerings of the company. Samsung Electronics could really increase the importance of its new products by making them simpler and cheaper (Manso, 2011). This would enable the company penetrate new markets and more people would access the advanced technology used by the company. Through frugal innovation, company would enhance customer awareness about latest technological advancements happening around them.

Task 3

P5. Importance of the commercial funnel and the application of New Product Development (NPD) processing for commercialization of innovation

Commercial funnel refers to the sales stages that customers go through while purchasing the offering of a company. It is also known as sales or revenue funnel and the idea behind this concept is that almost all the buyers go through similar processes altogether while buying a commodity or a service. Efficiency of this commercial funnel could be well evaluated by companies from the prospects determined in each stage.

This concept is really important for Samsung Electronics and could shape up the operations in the company. This is because for any firm, it is important to expand their circle so that more potential buyers could fit in. Samsung Electronics wants to maximize its Rate of Investment and profitability in the market. For this purpose, the company is planning to introduce a new product in the UK market. The electronic industry is getting more popular in the country as well as the world and more customers wants to enhance their experience of viewing content on television. With rise in technologies like OLED, quantum-dot and 4K; a new wave of excitement and need in the customers to access these technologies has been witnessed lately (Hemphill, 2014). To fulfill this need and provide a great experience to the customers, the company is planning to build ‘Samsung Pocket H-TV’ which would be a holographic television as small as a pen-drive. Viewers would only need to place it near a wall, and with just a switch, it would give a full 42-inch 4K display. This display would be crystal clear regardless of the texture or paint of the wall. Such high inclination towards technology would enhance the customer base of the company. Moreover, it would attract customers all over the world. The company could really use this product as an opportunity to overtake its competitors like Panasonic and LG. The company must concentrate on effective commercialization to capture a bigger market share (Hang Do and et. al., 2014). The stages of commercial funnel for New Product Development (NPD) are as follows:

• Idea Generation:The initial stage of NPD emphasizes on the generation of new and innovative ideas that could help the company in maximizing its ROI. At this stage, the firm would introduce various innovative concepts like that of H-TV (short for Holographic Television).
• Idea Screening: This stage requires the company to measure the feasibility of each new idea for NPD. Through effective screening, the company found the idea of H-TV the most suitable for their purpose (Greenaway and Rudd, 2014).
• Testing Concept:Managers of Samsung Electronics would determine the demand and preference of their target customers regarding H-TV. The effectiveness of this product will be determined by the level of positive perception from its customers regarding the offering.
• Analyzing Needs of Product Development: At this step, the managers of Samsung Electronics would analyze the success of their product plan. This will be beneficial for the firm to produce and implement stronger strategies needed for the product.
• Commercialization:This is the last stage of Commercial Funnel and under which the firm finally would launch Samsung H-TV in the market. However, the firm would monitor its effectiveness and how successfully it increases the Rate of Investment (ROI).

P6.Innovation Business Case for Samsung Electronics

The innovation introduced above could help Samsung Electronics to maximize their ROI by enhancing the customer experience of content viewing. In the field of technology, the firm would establish itself as a global leader. It will also help the company to introduce frugal innovation that would list the company amongst the most innovative as well as smart firms in the world (Gawer, 2011). The business case for Samsung H-TVis mentioned below:

Task 4

P7.Different tools for Samsung Electronics to develop, retain and protect knowledge and intellectual property

Samsung Electronics is a market giant in the field of innovation. The company is responsible towards introducing some of the world’s most innovative products in the market (Cross, 2011). For example, the firm has introduced the OLED and Curved televisions in the market which was perhaps the most desired and appreciated innovation of the company. In addition to this, Samsung Electronics is inclining towards use of new technology for its production processes that would help the company in enhancing its production capacity. Therefore, to protect this unique work of its innovators, the top management of the company must develop effective understanding of intellectual property. The methods through which Samsung Electronics could serve this purpose are described below:

Copyright: It is an intellectual property protection which is provided by the laws and regulations of a country. This protection is available to protect the original works of the employees of the company (Anderson, Potočnik and Zhou, 2014). Samsung electronics could use copyrights to protect the originality of the design of a television, the technology used, even methods that could enhance their durability.

Patent: A patent is another form of intellectual property that provides the creator with the right to exclude other people from developing, consuming and even selling the commodity invented by him for a limited span of time (Ahn, Minshall and Mortara, 2015). The timeline of a patent is usually 20 years. However, this right is granted in exchange for enabling public disclosure of the product in question.

Trademark:This refers to the design, expression or sign distinguishes the products from the similar other products in the market. Samsung Electronics could use trademark to establish itself as a brand owner of a specific offering. This would allow the company to take legal action in case it faces a case of trademark infringement.

Conclusion

Thus, it is concluded from the above report that innovation is of vital importance to every organization regardless of its size, methods, products and services. Innovation and invention both are necessary for the firm to acquire larger share in the market. The vision, teamwork, culture and leadership of a company could help in modifying the nature of a company. The innovation mix is responsible for correct use of innovation practices in companies. Frugal innovation and innovation funnel provide a detailed access of market trends, as well as are responsible for making the products cheaper and more valuable. Commercial funnel could help companies in developing strong and effective strategies to launch a new product. Lastly, it is very necessary for a company to protect its intellectual properties that could really help protect the innovative work of the employees of the firm. Thus, innovation is the root cause for an organization’s success in the market.

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• How Business Strategy Leads to Achieve Goals | RM Solutions Study
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References

Books and Journals

• Ahn, J.M., Minshall, T. and Mortara, L., 2015. Open innovation: a new classification and its impact on firm performance in innovative SMEs.
• Anderson, N., Potočnik, K. and Zhou, J., 2014. Innovation and creativity in organizations: A state-of-the-science review, prospective commentary, and guiding framework. Journal of Management. 40(5). pp.1297-1333.
• Cross, J., 2011. Informal learning: Rediscovering the natural pathways that inspire innovation and performance. John Wiley & Sons.
• Dincer, I., 2017. Importance of research, innovation and commercialisation for technological success. International Journal of Research, Innovation and Commercialisation. 1(1). pp.8-22.
• Gawer, A. ed., 2011. Platforms, markets and innovation. Edward Elgar Publishing.
• Greenaway, D. and Rudd, C.D. eds., 2014.The Business Growth Benefits of Higher Education. Palgrave Macmillan.
• Hang Do, T. and et. al., 2014. Predicting anticipated rent from innovation commercialisation inSMEs. European Journal of Innovation Management. 17(2). pp.183-208.
• Hemphill, T.A., 2014. Patent assertion entities: do they impede innovation and technology commercialisation?. Technology Analysis & Strategic Management. 26(7). pp.717-731.
• Manso, G., 2011. Motivating innovation. The Journal of Finance. 66(5). pp.1823-1860.
• Mazzarol, T. and et. al., 2014. Perceptions of innovation climate and the influenceof others: A Multi-country study of SMEs. International Journal of Innovation Management. 18(01). p.1450009.
• Sengoku, S., 2015. Innovation and commercialisation of induced pluripotent stem cells. Stem cells in regenerative medicine: Science, regulation and business strategies, pp.423-446.
• West, J. and Bogers, M., 2014. Leveraging external sources of innovation: a review of research on open innovation. Journal of Product Innovation Management. 31(4). pp.814-831.

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