Section Twelve(not comepleted) Flashcards
what is innovation?
Innovation means thinking of a new idea and putting it into action. This could be in the form of a new product or a new process
what is product innovation?
making new gods/services or improving existing ones .eg car with new features
what is process innovation?
Puting in place new or improved production and delivery methods e.g. amazon prime unlimited one day delivery
what is the research and development department
new ideas can com eform anywhere in the busines, but many business’s have a Reserach and Development dpartment that drives innovation
why do buisnes’s want to inovate ?
busines are alwasy loking for ways to inovate as it can help them to stay ahead of competiton, expand their markets and increase their market share.
The presure to inonvate is greater in some industries than others-eg. in the techonology busineses ned to constantly inovate new products or they wil fal behind their competiotion
Benifits of inovation
businesses can initialy charge higher prics for inovative products and services before their competitors bring similar products to market
Being innovative can be god for a firms reputation- if they have been the first to launch exciting new products in the past, people wil natrualy be interested in their future products.
inovations in processes can help ad value to existing prodcuts and services
Businesses with lots of inovative products can take advantage of economies of scope
Drawbacks of inovation
Inovation can be a very costly an dtime consuming proces- busineses risk runing out of money if they invest to much into R&D and dont get the prodcuts to the market quickly enough
Busines can end up wasting resources by devoping something customers dont want
busines might not be able to produce the new product on a large scale at a low enough cost ther is no guarented return on investment
Busineses risk ruing their reputation if the inovative product is poor qualityo
How does innovation affect finance?
R&D for inoative prodcuts is expenisive , so the finace department mighgt ned to raise extra working capital
how does innovation affect operations?
inovation in production methods might mean that the operations department has to set some of its budget aside to spend on expensive new machinery.they wil also ned to organise trining for employes to get them up to sped with new methods
How does innovation affect marketing?
the maount of market research a complany does is increased when researching a new idea- the risks and costs are high so they ned to be sure customers want or ned the product.inovative prodcuts require changes to the marketing mix
how does innovation affect HR?
inovation can mean there’s a change in stafing neds- if a company sudenly decides to focus heavily on R&D they might need more skiled staf.HR also neds to make sure that the busines has the right culture for inovation to thrive.in a culture where staf are scared of the consequencing of failing , workers are unlikely to want to take risks.HR neds to find ways of encouraging empoyes to take risks,e.g. by rewarding people who try new things
WHAT is kaizen ?
the kaizen approach to innovation is by encouraging employees to improve the way they work and the processes they use all the time .over a long time these small kaizen changes can add up and lead to innovation
Another important part of kaizen is to give workers some control over decision making. whenever there’s a problem, workers are encouraged to ask ‘why’ until they get to the root of the problem.this creates a working environment in which innovation can thrive
benifit of kaizen
the benefits of using kaizen to drive innovation are that the company doesn’t have to spend lots of time and money on research and development, and the process becomes more efficient all the time
drawback of kaizen
the kaizen approach probably won’t t lead to innovative new products as workers aren’t really encouraged to think about the wants and needs of the customers
The kaizen mindset also means that workers are focused on making small changes to their own job rather than thinking about big changes they could be made to the whole process- this means that big innovation leaps are rare
What is an intrapreneur?
intrapreneurship is when employees within a business are encouraged to solve a problem by coming up with innovate new ideas
what do intrapreneurs do?
Business allows intrapreneurs to take risks and experiment with lots of different ideas until they find the most productive and effective way to complete a task- their solution can then be implemented across the whole department or company
The advantage of an intrapreneur?
it is done alongside the intrapreneurs regular role, so the company isn’t wasting money employing someone just to try new things.Even if the entrepreneur doesn’t find a solution to the problem. they will still have produced some work along the way
define benchmarking
benchmarking studies other business with excellent quality standards, and aims to innovate by adopting the same methods, companies can sometimes do this by joining benchmarking groups where firms agree to share information about their way of doing things
where can benchmark occur?
business can benchmark internally - they can study activities in efficient departments and use what they learn to innovate processes in the departments
it is also possible to benchmark across different industries
Advantages of benchmarking?
benchmarking tends to motivate staff.it’s more encouraging to introduce a process or a product that you’ve already seen working successfully somewhere else than it is to introduce something unknown
Provides early warnings to businesses about technology or methods that might allow their competitors to overtake them
disadvantges of benchmarking?
it won’t directly lead to new products-competitor products are likely to be protected by a patent or copyright and you need to be careful what ideas you take from them
process cant always be transferred between corporate cultures-what works for one company might not be suitable for another company with a different culture
what is a patent?
a patent is a way of regesitiring and protecting a new intenion
what is a trademark?
if you want to protect your business’s name logo or slogan you can register it as a trademark so that nobody else can use it
what is copyright?
It is illegal to reproduce other people’s work without their permission
6 stages of new product development:
Idea
The business comes up with new ideas, explores and devlops existing ideas or modifies competiors idea’s
6 stages of new product development:
Analysis and screening
the business wants to see if the product can be produced and sold at a profit
6 stages of new product development:
Development
the R&D department develop a working prototype
6 stages of new product development:
Value analysis
the business tries to make the product good value for money
6 stages of new product development:
Test marketing
the business sometimes sells the new product in a limited geographical area, and then analysis consumer feedback on the product ,price and packaging.
6 stages of new product development:
Launch
a succesfull launch requires enough stock if the product to be distributed across the market
