A Review - Architectural Innovation: the Reconfiguration of Existing Product Technologies and the Failure of Established Firms

Innovations form the main sources of competitive advantages and are always of significance for the growth of a company. Companies or organizations put their greater efforts in improving their performance by finding new ideas and knowledge on the best way of beating their competitors and therefore give satisfaction to their customers. There are various factors involved in the innovation design system which can be either internal or external.

Alongside the entrepreneur spirit, Innovation is the process of taking new ideas and implementing them into the market. Key word being “new”, an innovation can be sometimes viewed as the application to better solutions that meet new demand-requirements, inarticulated needs or existing market needs. Innovative ideas range from: goods, services, products, processes, services, technologies or ideas that create value for which customers will pay for. For an idea to be an innovation, it must be replicable at an economical cost and must satisfy a specific need. This means is that one must be ready and willing put their new idea to the test. On the other hand, there is recognition that “innovation is also critical to cultural, environmental, social, and artistic progress as well” (Bullinger, 2006). With this stated, high-tech innovation is ultimately the reason why we can be thankful for the many new conveniences of the 21st century. Although we might see the forefront of innovation being very prominent in today’s world, innovation is truly nothing new. From the start of modern man times, innovative ideas have paved the way for civilization to advance and develop into what we are today and at the same time, we have barely begin to chip away at the tip of the iceberg of our true human potential. Some scholars believe that innovation is a

In the late 1960’s Canon initially adopted a business level strategic vision of focusing on the small copier niche that was left underserved by the organisations rivals using an innovative technology that was different from that of their competitors. Strategic planning at Canon fundamentally involved identifying areas within the market that were not well served by existing members of the industry, such as Xerox, and allocating resources to exploit this market opportunity. This aspect of their strategy was an attempt to avoid competitive threats; this is reflected in Porters generic competitive strategies model. The ‘focus strategy’ involves a firm concentrating on particular niche markets and, by understanding the dynamics of that market, developing uniquely low cost or well-specified products for that segment. According to the case study Canon independently developed a new technology for copiers, unlike the technologies already existing in the market. This decision allowed Canon to

In addition, I will review how certain processes and systems could hinder innovation. Lastly, I will explain what organizational structures or processes could foster a culture of innovation at my present employer. [Good work suggesting the scope and purpose for the assignment. I’ll look to see how you make your points including your research and support for your analysis.]

This is the first case study report for the course ED5317: Strategies for Managing Innovation that is based on the Harvard Business School case titled ‘Design Thinking and Innovation at Apple’. The report consists of the following question:

Tidd et al (2000) states, “the innovation is a business process of revolving opportunity into new ideas and of putting these into widely used practice. In term of the nature, there are five major types of innovations: novelty, competence shifting, complexity, robust design and continuous improvement. While in term of the extent of change, innovations can be divided into incremental, radical and

Tidd and Bessant (2009) argued that “Unless an organization is able to move into further innovation, it risks being left behind as others take the lead in changing their offerings, their operational processes or the underlying models that drive their business”.

Innovation refers to finding new ways to improve the existing products, services, processes, technologies, and employee performance in an organizational setup. In today's competitive business environment, organizations have to focus on bringing innovation in each and every aspect of their business operations; like products or service offerings, enterprise resource planning systems, marketing and promotional efforts, and organizational structure. The market challenges and competitive pressures also force organizations to use a blend of all these innovation processes in their business activities. Therefore, it is vital to give an equal focus on product innovation, process innovation, marketing innovation, and organizational innovation within the limited organizational resources and capabilities.

These technologies grow and develop within the company over time, and are utilized in successive products. The collective body of the company's technology experience broadens with the emergence of every new product. This broadened experience has turned out to be the base for appraising the "incremental newness" of the technology personified in the subsequent new product.

After taking a close look at the photography industry, it is evident that there has been a significant shift from the use of traditional film cameras to a market fully fledged and saturated with modern and updated digital cameras and digital photographic tools. As more consumers adapt to this technological change, the demand for digital cameras in the market grows substantially, which leads to greater competition between suppliers in the growth stage (being that this is still new technology).

The case study of “Disruptive Innovation” is a studying that concentrated and described an innovation as the affordable price products for people in the entire world to use. This research indicated about certain disruptive innovations such as the laptops, the routers, smartphones or desktop photocopier that are the substitutions for other companies’ commodities. Furthermore, Porter five forces strategy is a structure to examine the level of competition in today’s market and to make an improvement for the business strategy. Likewise, these forces are including: the threat of new entrants, when suppliers have power, when customers have power, the threats of substitutes and intensity of competitive rivalry. Therefore, this report was assigned to analyze Porter’s five forces strategy for applying toward the case of disruptive innovations and demonstrating on how it affects or relates to most of the companies worldwide.

The second stage is selection. It is well known fact that innovation is risky. In order not to fail, firm has to thoroughly assess the opportunities, so innovation will be held within the frame of company’s technological and marketing competences and will be coherent with overall business strategy (Tidd, J., Bessant, J., 2009). There are three components in this phase. The first component comes from previous stage and implies the analysis of opportunities, both marketing and technological, procurable for the firm. The second component includes the distinctive features company possesses, which are knowledge base, employees, equipment and experience (Prahalad, C., Hamel, G., 1990). The third component is suitability to the overall business strategy. This implies the fact that proposed innovation should be beneficial for firm’s performance, in other words, be in company’s competence base, otherwise it could lead to the failure (Cooper, R., 2000).

The importance of innovation architecture is to start with a vision and generate a company platform designed of new processes, create an open-culture and pursue a unique management system. All three of these components support and work well with innovation architecture. Google, Netflix and Ikea have built a framework designed of new company culture, management systems and process that have capitalized their business on innovation and intrapreneurship.

Through the years, Canon has demonstrated several core competencies that have enabled them to propel themselves to the top of the market. First and foremost, Canon has employed a pool of extremely talented engineers who made up Canon’s Research and Development team. Through their research, Canon was able to uncover new and innovative products. This varied product line, which included cameras, calculators, and photocopiers, demonstrates Canon’s diversified product line. This diverse line of merchandise is integral to the company’s survival and has enabled Canon to take a multifaceted approach to technological competition. The more diverse type of products that are offered, the more chances there are

This report is focusing on the strategies adopted by Canon and the strategies when Canon is facing competitions. This report shows that how Canon survives in the market and keeps its long lasting growth in market and profit.