9.2b Methods of Innovation Flashcards
Ways to innovate:
- R&D
- Kaizen
- Intrapreneurship
- Benchmarking
R&D definition
Scientific investigation conducted to discover new products or manufacturing processes
How does R&D support innovation?
- Inventing new products to enter new markets
- Finding more efficient ways of production
- Improve quality of existing product
Kaizen definition
An approach of constantly introducing small incremental changes in a business in order to improve quality and efficiency
What are the two principles that Kaizen is based on?
- Gradual change
- Staff suggestions
What skills do entrepreneurs display?
- Commitment
- Determination
- Self-confidence
When does intrapreneurship occur?
When a business encourages its employees to demonstrate entrepreneurial skills within the firm
Who do the rewards from intrapreneurship go to?
The business
Ways to encourage intrapreneurship:
- Training
- Culture
- Reward
Benchmarking definition
The search for those best practices that will lead to the superior performance of a business
Types of benchmarking:
- Internal benchmarking
- Benchmarking with competitors
- Functional/generic benchmarking
What is internal benchmarking?
Collecting comparative data from similar functions within the business
What is benchmarking with competitors?
Comparison with similar businesses
What is functional/generic benchmarking?
Gathering information from a business with similar processes, although the business may be in a different field
Ways benchmarking helps innovation:
- Analyse and improve processes to gain comparative advantage
- Enhance performance by correcting mistakes
- Identify better approaches
Ways benchmarking does not help innovation:
- May encourage a business to copy competitors
- Just because an idea has been successful does not mean it can be transferred into your business
- Data may be unreliable
- May be protected by patent
Disadvantages of Kaizen:
- Probably won’t lead to innovative new products as workers aren’t really encouraged to think about needs of customer
- Focus on small changes to own job rather than how they could make big changes to whole process
Advantage of intrapreneurship:
Done alongside regular working role so company isn’t wasting money employing someone just to try new things
