3.9.2 Assesing Innovation Flashcards
What does innovation involve
Developing new products and processes to create products or distribute them to customers. Process innovation helps businesses become more efficient
Pressures of innovation
Political change - may alter regulations around products which open up new opportunites or forces businesses to amend current products to meet new requirements
Economic change - economic downturn causes pressure to business to improve efficiency and lower costs
Social change - trends and tastes are continually developing meaning businesses have to keep up with consumer expectation
Technological change - businesses need to keep up to date with new technology in order to compete
Competitive change - as competitions innovate businesses must also match the innovation so they maintain market share
What techniques or policies must a business adopt in order to encourage innovative practices
Kaizen
Intrapreuneurship
Benchmarking
Research and development
What is kaizen
Groups meet regularly and develop improvements that can be applied across the organisation - brings together workers across the organisation to work together on improvement
What is intrapreneurhship
Individuals given time in their working work to develop ideas and work on innovative projects. Intrapreneurs given support and authority to implement their ideas - encourage the development of intellectual property
What is benchmarking
Managers may set a target on best practice or a shining example from a similar business. This is then set as the standard that the business must aim to achieve. Works well where there is a collaboration between businesses or within an industry
What is research and development
In innovative organisations substantial investment will be invested in r&d
How can a business improve competitiveness
Better quality
Faster delivery
Lower costs or improved service
What are some problems with innovation
- innovation is constant change / sometimes a business needs to get good at what it does instead of constantly changing all the time
- innovation doesn’t guarantee success (resources / time can be wasted)
- innovation can be expensive and sometimes busines might copy and reap similar benefits
How may some businesses protect innovation
Patent - protects inventions and products if registration is successful
Copyright - literary work and creative content
Trade mark — product name, logo and jingles
Design rights - on styles shapes and objects
When does disruptive innovation occur and what problems may it cause or a business
Occurs when innovation alters a market e.g digital photography
Businesses are stuck between the process of adopting new technology, processes and products or sticking with what they know
What may be the impact of innnovaiton on business functions
Marketing - must provide the drive for innovation within a business by identifying customer needs
Finance - must take a long term commitment with innovation in terms of r&d. Profits may also need to be retained in order to finance growth through innovation
Operations - may be responsible for developing new products or implementing processes innovation to improve efficiency and reduce costs
Human resource - may encourage employees to innovate
