In today’s innovation-driven economy, understanding how to generate great ideas has become an urgent managerial priority. Managers should encourage and champion ideas and should help their organizations integrate diverse perspectives, which stimulate creative ideas and facilitate creative collaboration by harnessing new technologies. Innovation is the embodiment, combination and/or synthesis of knowledge into new, original, relevant and valued products, processes or services.
Meaning of innovation
Innovation can be seen as an implementation of ideas from creative processes. Innovation is the embodiment, combination and/or synthesis of knowledge into new, original, relevant and valued products, processes or services. It can be defined as the process of translating new and creative ideas or inventions into a good or service that creates value or that customers will pay for. Creativity is a process you employ to improve your problem solving. So you’re not done until your creative efforts have produced a product, service, or process that meets the initial need or solves the problem you identified at the start. It relates to the commercialization of creative invention that occurs if someone improves or makes a significant contribution to existing products, processes or services.
Most successful innovations are the result of conscious and focused research. Some regions represent more fertile ground than others. Innovation is therefore the oxygen and the central process of entrepreneurship.
Different ways to describe innovation:
The innovation described in words:
- Original
- Unexpected
- Costs
- Think differently
- never thought before
- never seen before
- Creative
- New
- Useful
Innovation described in the reactions:
- Isn’t it smart
- What a good idea
- I will buy this thing
- Why has no one ever thought of doing this before?
- Challenging conventional notions of how things have been done before
- Moving ideas from one industry to another, or from one geographic region to another
- Create meaningful points of difference for products and services vs. current alternatives
- Respond to unmet consumer needs, offering new ways to achieve goals;
- To make life or work easier, better, happier, more exciting, satisfying or more productive
- Enable brands to compete in new markets or category segments
- Delight/engage/capture the imagination of consumers to build loyalty
Types of innovation
Innovation motivates improvements in the functioning of an organization/business and contributes to its success.
Different types of innovation are recognized according to the classification criteria. For example, when the classification is based on the object of innovation, the types may include product/service innovation, business model innovation, process innovation, technological innovation, etc. . When the magnitude of change is the basis of the classification, the types can be radical innovations and incremental innovations.
Regardless of the basis of classification, the four main types of innovation are briefly discussed below:
1. Invention:
Invention can be defined as the creation of a new product or new services or the introduction of a new process for the first time. An invention is a unique or new device, method, composition or process. So from an organizational perspective, it’s always important to think five and ten years ahead and keep trying to push that boundary even though there might not be a customer today. Innovations that may not benefit customers today may meet their needs tomorrow.
Examples: Wright Brothers-Airplane; Thomas Edison – Electric Light Bulb; Alexander Graham Bell-Telephone, Steve Jobs starting to develop the world of smartphones with the iPad, Marie Curie did great research on radioactivity, etc.
2. Extension:
Extension can be defined as a new use or a different application of an already existing product, service or process. In extension, you are no longer trying to solve problems, but helping people solve new problems and find new ways of doing things. Most innovation happens here because most of the time we are looking to improve on what we are already doing. We want to improve the existing capabilities in the existing markets, and we have a pretty clear idea of the problems to be solved and the skill areas needed to solve them. A possible downside is that incremental innovations don’t necessarily have a huge impact as they are often marginally better than what already exists.
Examples: The development from the mainframe computer to the desktop computer, then the laptop computer and, more recently, the laptop computer. Companies such as Amazon have become masters in this area, with continuous experimentation of their web interface resulting in daily optimization of the user experience.
3. Duplicate:
Innovation is the result of creativity and is manifested by the new changes that are implemented in products, processes or services. Duplication can be defined as the creative replication of an existing concept. It uses your existing technology and increases customer value (features, design changes, etc.) within your existing market. Almost every company engages in incremental innovation in one form or another.
Examples: The application of the franchise business model worldwide, from the fast food industry to the education sector.
4. Summary:
It can be defined as a combination of existing concepts and factors in a new formulation or use. Most innovations are the result of conscious and focused research, not sudden enlightenment. Most innovations are not so much the product of sudden ideas as the result of a conscious process that often goes through several stages. This innovation is amazing for increasing the number of new customers as long as the new market is receptive. Most of the time, the risk of synthesis is low due to trust and the reintroduction of proven technology. Although most of the time it requires adjustments to meet the demands of the new market.
Examples: The fax, which is a combination of existing technologies giving rise to a new product technique (telephone + photocopiers = fax)
Innovation acts as a catalyst that can grow a business, improve services and create dynamic products. By actively involving the customer, organizations can give impetus to the innovation process. Radical changes in processes, products, services and ideas can open the door to success.
Here are some of the factors highlighting the importance of innovation:
Relevant products
Innovation as a source of success and provides a competitive advantage to the business by ensuring that the goods and services offered remain relevant to customers. An organization that is not creative and innovative cannot survive in the market. It gives birth to new industries (or swallows up existing ones) and involves the creation of revolutionary technologies. Innovations include everything from features offered to product quality and can involve both enhancements to existing product lines or entirely new offerings. The bottom line is whether you are looking to add significant value to your existing products or offer new products or services.
Competitive advantage
Every successful business gains competitive advantages through acts of creativity and innovation. To grow and prosper, most businesses must constantly improve their existing products and services through continuous innovation. For the survival of the company, it must create new products and services to meet still unsatisfied needs. Research shows that companies that achieve at least one new product launch per year see an increase in revenue productivity of approximately 17%, with each new product launch adding another 22% to that figure. Investing in its capacity for innovation has a significant impact on both the profitability of companies and their share price. Innovations are often a key part of the company’s core competencies and can provide a significant advantage over your competitors.
Respond to client’s needs
When innovation becomes a way of life in any organization, the mindset of the organization changes to relentless improvement, with increased awareness of product and efficiency opportunities and possibilities. . Organizations are beginning to manage the innovation process so that the best ideas and ideas are translated into innovative products, services and ideas. There’s more listening, less knee-jerk defense of old ideas, and a greater understanding and concern for unmet customer needs. Innovations improve your product or service offering, whether by making it easier to use, highlighting overlooked features, or solving common problems. Innovations begin with a deep understanding of the customer and continue through the creation of meaningful connections between you and them.
Foster a culture of accountability
As individuals begin to understand their role in the innovation process, performance standards increase, along with an increase in and ability to hold each other accountable. When a sustainable innovation approach is developed, the focus tends to shift from maintaining old successes to examining new opportunities and products – a key element in staying ahead of changing customer needs rather than always trying to catch up.
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Creation date Saturday, October 10, 2020 Hits 4297