Assessing Innovation 3.9.2

Question 1

What is innovation

Answer 1

Innovation is about putting a new idea or approach into action.

Question 2

What are the pressures on innovation

Answer 2

Competition, by being innovative you can improve your competitiveness and stay ahead of you rivals (better quality, improved productivity, lower costs)

Customers, pressure from customers with constantly growing demands. to keep up with these demands businesses must innovate.

Share holders, pressure form shareholders for continues growth in sales and profit. If demands cant be met then innovative products are needed

Question 3

What are the values of innovation

Answer 3

Successful product and process innovation can create a monopoly which is very beneficial for a business

More innovative products can be sold at higher prices

Creates a strong brand image

Process innovation can reduce costs

Quality improvement

Question 4

What are some methods of innovation

Answer 4

kaizen
research and development
bench marking

Question 5

What is bench marking

Answer 5

Comparing your businesses performance to the industry average

Question 6

Effect of innovation on finance

Answer 6

Businesses must invest a lot to innovate and it has a long term payback period. Can cost a lot to research into new innovative ideas, and a lot of times they don’t payback as they wont succeed in the market, or on a large scale