Innovation around Product System: A Case Study on Despite Group of Companies and Koko King
A business, no matter how large it is, cannot thrive without innovation. In a world where obsolescence, and not only physical damage, shorten the life cycle of products and services, innovation is key. Innovation, as largely defined, is the art of adding value to an already existing product, service or process or the art of creating something new. Innovation around product system implies creating value through the building of offerings that will complement the already existing ones (Doblin, 2017). This piece seeks to explore the topic, Innovation around Product Systems. The text will study carefully how the Ghanaian companies, Despite Group of Companies
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The company took the product performance innovation approach as they enhanced the packaging whilst increasing accessibility to Hausa koko (porridge). With regards to system innovation, Koko King added to its breakfast dishes (oat, eku egbeemi/grits, wheat porridge, corn porridge, tom brown, oblayo and rice porridge), sandwiches, pancakes, and akara as supplements. Moreover, the company has added lunch dishes like banku, wakye, jollof and kenkey (Koko King, 2017). These different local dishes give variety to customers and with a reliable delivery service as a compliment, they are able to capture the value created. Their innovation greatly paid off. They did not only boost sales but as well won many awards. Among these awards are Small and Medium Entrepreneur of the Year 2013, Overall Best SME (SMEGA 2013), Product Innovation of the Year 2013 and 2014, and Industrial Sector Award for Best Food Processing Company (SMEGA 2014) (Koko King, 2017).
Key Lessons Learnt After a thorough exploration of product system innovation and an in-depth examination of the cases, the authors came to the realization that innovation, no matter which type or how small it might be, pays. Society recognized and awarded both companies for their innovation and their sales soared with innovation. Again, the authors accepted the “what-should-be” the obvious relevance of product system innovation – to shield
Companies find opportunities in product innovation by providing new products and services to customers. This keeps current customers interested in doing business with the company and has the potential to attract new customers. Sometimes this is done by creating new products, greatly changing an existing product or by just changing the way the current product is presented. Another form of product innovation is branding. By creating a more positive brand image a company can keep the interest of consumers.
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
For this assignment, you will research the innovation architecture of at least three companies that are well-known for successfully supporting a culture of innovation. Write a 1,500-word paper that addresses the following:
The purpose of this paper is to show how to evaluate the impact on innovation through strategies, processes, products and services through three different organizations. The organizations evaluated are Wal-Mart, Barnes & Noble’s and the University of Phoenix. As a manager of the in original and companies, it is important that several companies find a system to pursue accordingly and maintain the focus on remaining competitive. Consumers of all three businesses will profit from innovated options such as keeping the cost of products and services at a lower cost and by offering better options for a price which will enhance savings.
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:
Given that the development of new systems can be fraught with problems and delays, there are many factors that drive organisations to develop new systems. The most important drives come directly from the companies needs and are often not related to technology, but however to technological solutions, these include:
Innovation includes making and marketing of novel. These challenges in various combinations make innovation output an extremely uncertain process. Therefore, a useful and significant way to deliberate the innovation process is the management exercise. “Innovation” is not invention or creation. Innovation is making an effective product that is recognized by the audience in the market. “Linear models of innovation” are an explanation of the process of innovation. It is an incremental and unidirectional procedure from applied and vital sciences. This essay will revolve around strengths and weaknesses of linear model and its suitability in current business setting. For “linear models”, flow of knowledge is essential in the
Using existing organizational systems often means completely missing the boat on the real customer and his real needs. This is the customer who values the products as a breakthrough. Products are frequently under-appreciated by firms when the new product is based on an existing platform. This leads to a wait and see attitude and the product is not given adequate support and often under-priced.
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.
services, places, organizations, and ideas. Product can be divided by four different levels such as core product, facilitating products, supporting products and augmented products. As example I chose Apple company and their core product is an IPhone. All of us know that Apple has kind of augmented strategy. Example is their accessibility of the product. Let’s assume my theory. I’m pretty sure that you know at least one person who told you that he or she is going to buy new version of iPhone when it will come to the store. Each year “Apple” produces and develops a new version of IPhone and presents it in autumn. They use limited accessibility in the initial
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).
Innovation offers the companies a competitive advantage. Presently and within the future, more than any time in history, the key to competitive advantage is innovation. However innovation will facilitate businesses meet all of their strategic challenges, not simply competition; to illustrate, in confronting accelerating rates of change, globalization, apace advancing technology, a additional numerous workforce, associated a modification from an industrial to a knowledge-based economy. Meeting all of those challenges helps the firm attain competitiveness, and meeting these challenges suitably depends on innovation. Innovation allows a firm to workout its challenges in distinctive ways in which build competitive advantage either through relative differentiation, a relative low-priced position, or few acceptable level of each. Innovation cannot assure success, however success cannot be achieved within the end of the day without it.