...Research Proposal: Leaders focused on innovation will see opportunity in good and bad times and as such will be able to lead organisations resiliently through crisis and prosperity. Prepared by: Mervyn J Fraser (78043808) Due Date: May 2, 2014 0 MBL925R Individual Assignment No. 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS CONTENT 1 INTRODUCTION 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 3 PROPOSED METHODOLOGY 4 KEY QUESTIONS / CONCEPTS 5 STUDY LIMITATIONS 6 STUDY VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY ISSUES 7 ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS 8 STUDY SIGNIFICANCE / BENEFITS 9 REFERENCES 10 ANNEXURES PAGE NO. 2 3 8 9 11 11 12 l3 l4 15 1 MBL925R Individual Assignment No. 1 1. Introduction (Center for Creative Leadership, 2009) said that not long ago, strategy was king. Forecasting, planning and making smart bets created the power sources within organizations. The future of a business could fit into an established framework or system. If managed well then success would be the end result. In today’s business world uncertainty is palpable. Planning for next quarter is a challenge. Even more difficult is committing to decisions that will play out in one to five years. What is the new process, the innovative product, the game-changing service or the compelling vision? Most senior executives are claiming that they have lost the crystal ball. Because of the dynamic nature of business today problems come up daily that requires the right leadership and behaviours to steer organizations through these challenging times....
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...characterize the roles of incentives, training, and education in promoting innovation in my organization according to the level of achievements within the organization. In my organization, everyone has to be accountable for their own actions and responsible for their own success and failures. However, because the leadership is so strong and thought of every aspect of the organization, following the simple steps to running a successful organization is a proven system that anyone can do. With that being said, if you are great at playing follow the leader, there will be no reason for a great deal of innovation because all that needs to be done, has been done. The one innovation that is promoted is the way to build confidence and posture. Something leaders teach but each individual has to find it in them what it takes to motivate them to implement the changes that need to be made. The leaders, which are the founder, the vice president of sales and the master distributor do more focusing on the creation of the innovation in my organization. The leaders that have been in the trenches and made a substantial amount of success within the organization focus more on managing and sustaining the innovation in my organization. According to the structure of the organization, not much innovation is needed to be successful. The structure is designed to be simple and easy to duplicate throughout the entire organization, making it possible for anyone that has a desire to make it to the top to...
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...Benefit and Drivers for Riordan Manufacturing David Morgan, Jamie Perez, Marial Lawson, Renatta Coonor OI/361 Nov. 9, 2014 Alvin Keen Jr Benefit and Drivers Paper Riordan Manufac turing has several internal drives of innovation. Their customers are their main focus because if the customer needs and wants are not taken care of on a regular basis. The company will be at risk of losing their loyal customers. Riordan Manufacturing strives on keep a long term relationship with their customer. The company focus on maintaining a rigorous quality control, reasonable pricing, innovative solutions and a responsive business attitude. The company has another internal drive of innovation which is their staff. Riordan Manufacturing maintains an innovative and team oriented working environment (Apollo Group, 2013). Their employees are equally trained, have the essential support they need, and the employees sustains the chance to make a good environment for the company long time success. Keeping the employees well informed and properly supported is a great internal innovation drive (Apollo Group, 2013). Riordan Manufacturing realizes that for the company to maintain a high level of profit the company needs to have a stable financial innovation drive. The Riordan Manufacturing company mission statement is “Our R&D is, and will remain the industry leader in identifying the industry trends (Apollo Group, 2013)”. Riordan Manufacturing realizes that their staff is their number one internal...
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...Sustainable Innovation as a Corporate Strategy M. Rashid Khan and Mohammed Al-Ansari Intellectual Assets Management, Saudi Aramco, Dhahran 31311, Saudi Arabia. 1. Introduction Something amazing happened in the corporate world. The idea to innovate has captured our imagination. As an example, in 1996, Lucent Technologies’ award winning “Creativity Center” was industries state-of-the art that provided leadership, passion, outstanding marketing, training and communication. Similarly, Enron was the industry “darling” for its innovation program; Enron’s major intranet program “eThink” was recognized with awards for excellence in communication. Yet four years later Enron went bankrupt, the programs of many companies were in ruins joining the ranks of Polaroid, DuPont, Reynolds, Ford and many others. What happened? We watched many companies failed while other organizations remained successful. What made the difference in the innovation process? While many companies failed, others were successful adding value fostering innovation and creativity. Many companies such as 3M, IBM, Disney, Microsoft, and Sony continued to innovate. This paper attempts to explain the reasons behind the failures and successes. 2. What is Innovation? Innovation is discovering new ways of creating value. Innovation serves as the lifeblood of many organizations whose survival and growth depend on developing new technology, products and services. A successful organization is a creative organization because creativity...
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...One: Multiple choice questions: 1. A. a relationship between the two variables is positive. 2. A. is a logical and structured approach to problem solving and process improvement. 3. False. 4. C. a quality philosophy. 5. D. Pareto diagram. 6. B. high levels of defects, service failures, or customer complaints. 7. D. delays and malfunctions. 8. D. all of the above. 9. C. getting more done with less. 10. C. it focuses on performance excellence for the entire organization as well as on a company’s environmental responsibility. 11. A. mission, vision, guiding principles, environmental assessment, strategy deployment. 12. B. identifies and explores casual relationships among related concepts or ideas. 13. True. 14. C. the kind of knowledge that is difficult to transfer to another person by means of writing it down or speaking it. 15. D. Cause – and-effect relationship between performance measures. 16. D. all of the above. 17. D. leadership, strategic planning, customer focus, measurement analysis & knowledge management, workforce focus, operations focus, and business results. 18. D. none of the above. 19. B. customization, customer contact and interaction, and labor intensity. 20. C. inputs, processes, and outputs and the role of consumer and supplier, the interdependency of organizations processes, the usefulness of consumer research. Part two: short response questions: Question 1: What tool is used...
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...success of non-profit organizations There are three different sectors of industry: private, public (government) and non-profit. The non-profit sector’s purpose is simple, no matter what type of business it is they serve to meet the needs the private and public sectors lack thereof (McDonald). Most non-profit organizations (NPO) are programs that cater to the community or serve people in order to improve the quality of life or are seeking social change. By being socially responsible of others nonprofits are breaking down barriers to build a better global community. Non-profits exist in almost every industry or line of work. Some popular ones are women’s rights, animal rights, environment awareness, health, and community development. When there is a cause and a group of people willing to work for it, a non-profit organization can be formed. They range in size, from a small local organization of just a few members, to nationally recognized organizations with several locations domestic and international. Non-profits are known for having unique cultures compared to for-profit and government organizations because there is some form of moral compass driving the purpose of the NPO versus the sole purpose to make money. Culture in the workplace is essential to the success of nonprofits because it lays the foundation for the direction of the organization based on similar beliefs and values and it is the determinant of the behavior or actions of the people within the workplace. Culture...
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...Innovation Leadership MBA6006 Capella University Introduction When one thinks of innovation, it is a term used to describe new ideas and new beginnings. One who introduced this concept to a failing organization, was an innovative leader named. Alan Lafley former CEO of P&G, adapted the five discovery skills that were displayed in Dyer, Gregersen, & Christensen ‘s Innovator’s DNA associating, questioning, observing, networking, and experimenting. Lafley applied these skills to create an innovative organization and gave a blueprint for other innovative organizations to follow. Although, leadership is a group experience that includes interpersonal influences or persuasion, is goal directed and can lead others through certain actions or to achieving goals through influence, and has hierarchy within the group that can be formal and well defined or informal and flexible. Leaders assist in establishing goals and reaching those goals through actions, allowing individuals in leadership positions to be effective (Nahavandi, 2006). Analyzes which leadership model and practices would encourage innovation considering the global context of the organization in your chosen case. Leadership research has been and will be completed by many individuals and has led to many theories and models to be developed that have both similarities and differences. Four theories or models of leadership that have been researched...
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...Commerce’s: Manufacturing Innovation (2014), The Global Competitiveness Report issued by the World Economic Forum states that Canada ranks 22nd in the “capacity for innovation” category, falling behind countries like Qatar and Malaysia. Executives are asked the question “In your country, to what extent do companies have the capacity to innovate?”, and are ranked based on their responses. (Manufacturing Innovation: Driving Canada’s biggest sector through disruptive technologies p.3, 2014) When Canada is even mentioned alongside countries such as Qatar and Malaysia in terms of productivity or innovation, that raises several questions, one of which can be “How can Canada improve productivity?” One solution can be to increase research and development spending. Research suggests that a sustained increase of 0.1% in Business Enterprise R&D to GDP spending would eventually translate to a 1.2% higher GDP per capita. These results were found from a multi-country study conducted by the OECD, as summarized by the Conference Board (2015) website. As the website suggests, to improve Canadian innovation and productivity, business leaders must realize the risks associated with lack of spending on R&D are greater than if they actually just spent money researching and developing innovations. Canada is 15th among 16 peer countries in this case, receiving a “D” grade, spending just below 1% of their GDP on research and development initiatives. By having more of a focus or emphasis on research...
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...Group Innovation Case and Presentation Overview Students will work in groups to select, research, prepare a report and present a case study on a selected innovative business organization. The principle objective of this assignment is twofold: 1. To identify what a real world company did to become a successful innovative organization; and 2. To assess the challenges and net benefits to the organization on doing so. This case is worth 30% of the final grade and with presentations on Week Thirteen and Fourteen. In weeks eleven and twelve there will be reviews based on the progress to date that will be worth 5% each. Students must be in class to achieve their grade out of 5% for each class. The final report and presentation will be worth 20%. Critical and Creative Thinking The following sub heading “The Required Areas of Work” outlines the focus that your report and presentation should take. However, I am looking for your team to apply critical and creative thinking in your research and analysis. This means that your responses to the questions will be clear, concise and simple (and not a copy and paste of patches of content). Business requires that you provide direct and relevant answers to questions in as little time as possible. I want you to summarize your answers to the questions below as follows: 1. Give a one word or max one short sentence responses that you can speak to (i.e. provide the more detailed backup). For example, for “Why is your company...
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...Management Information Systems Reaction Paper Engaging in CIO-‐CxO "Conversations that Matter": An Interview with Peter Keen Done by: Rime OUADI Supervised by: Dr. BENMOUSSA Table of Contents Introduction: ..................................................................................................................... 3 My reaction: ...................................................................................................................... 3 Conclusion: ........................................................................................................................ 9 References: ...................................................................................................................... 10 2 Introduction: Known as “One of the top 100 business gurus in the world and thought leaders with impact” in 2003 according to The Global Speakers Bureau’s website, Dr. Keen is a distinguished international consultant, educator, public speaker and writer in many prestigious universities, such as Harvard, Stanford...
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... | | |School of Business | | |OI/361 Version 2 | | |Innovation, Design, and Creativity for a | | |Competitive Advantage | Copyright © 2012, 2008 by University of Phoenix. All rights reserved. Course Description This course will provide students with a solid foundation in innovation, design, and creativity. Additionally, students will be prepared to apply relevant principles, tools, and techniques to promote and sustain organizational innovation for competitive advantage. Policies Faculty and students will be held responsible for understanding and adhering to all policies contained within the following two documents: • University policies: You must be logged into the student website to view this document. • Instructor policies: This document is posted in the Course Materials forum. University policies are subject to change. Be sure to read the policies at the beginning of each class. Policies may be slightly different depending on the modality in which you attend...
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...The Challenge of Breakthrough Innovations Table of Contents “The Breakthrough”…………………………………………………………………………………2 Dilemma/ Struggle of Established Firms……………………………………………………………3 Rules for Innovation………………………………………………………………………………….4 Building An Ambidextrous Organization………………………..…………………………………6 Conclusion and Recommendations………………………………………………………………….8 Reference……………………………………………………………………………………………...9 Appendix…………………………………………………………………..………………………...12 “The Breakthrough” One dictionary definition of breakthrough is: "a significant and dramatic overcoming of a perceived obstacle, allowing the completion of a process." But what really makes an innovation a breakthrough (radical, disruptive) one, rather than incremental, from a marketing point of view? According to Boston Consulting Group report, breakthrough innovations are defined as “innovative products that offer consumers significant new benefits through advances in technology, formulations, or applications or through more convenient packaging (Boston Consulting Group (BCG): A Disciplined Approach to Breakthrough Innovations). Christensen (1997) argues that a necessary condition for an innovation to be disruptive is that it “captures new markets in an original and unexpected way.” Academics of marketing literature differ in their opinion about a relationship between a significant new technology and disruptive innovation. Some authors believe that radical innovation goes hand-in-hand with a significant...
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...Analysis of Leaders in Innovation Introduction Innovation, is a term used to describe new ideas and new beginnings. One who introduced this concept to a failing organization, was an innovative leader named Vineet Nayar. In 2007, Nayar was named CEO of IT Services and Outsourcing Firm HLC Technologies. With his strategic vision and global outlook, he catapulted the then dismal firm into the leader of the organizational pack in a short amount of time. In the beginning of Nayar's 2010 article "A Maverick CEO Explains How He Persuaded His Team to leap into the Future”, he describes his appointment as President of HLC technologies as a “leap to safety.” (Nayar, 2010) It became apparent that there was something he needed to do to change the interface of this company. He began to create a vision, but knew that it would not take place without some major adjustments. Vineet formulated the” employee first, customer second approach” and took HCL to be one of the most successful IT outsourcing businesses in the world. It worked magic at HCL and the company created 34% percent revenues even at the time of turbulence (sparks.wisdomjobs...
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...It is important to find the right leadership style that fits with a company and its goals as well as its culture. If the company chooses the wrong leader, it could cause the company to go in the wrong direction and not meet the company goals Charismatic leadership is leaders that have key characteristics that classify the leaders as charismatic. Some these characteristics are: has vision and great at articulation, takes personal risk, sensitivity to followers’ needs, and unconventional behavior. Google has fostered this type of leadership. Google wants innovation and to think outside the box. A company that has the focus of making things different and creating items that do not exist needs to seek out leaders that are unconventional in behavior, takes personal risk, and has a vision and are able to articulate that vision. One problem that can occur with charismatic leaders is when the leader is charismatic with no substance or has a lack of knowledge. In Google this could cause the leaders to become larger than the company and then use the company’s resources for things that are not in the company's best interest. This could hurt Google following a charismatic leader. Transactional leaders establish goals to guide followers to clarified roles and task requirements. Transactional leaders have contingent rewards where rewards are given for good performances. Also this type of manger looks for those who deviated from the rules and corrects these deviations. Leaders of the...
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...ADMN 232 Administrative Principles Sample Final Examination Questions NOTE TO STUDENTS: This sample final examination is representative of the TYPES of questions you will encounter on the actual exam. However, it is NOT representative of the NUMBER of questions you can expect—the actual final examination will have many more questions. Answers are provided at the end of this document. Section 1: Multiple Choice Questions 1. Which of the following is one of the four conditions that must be met if a firm’s resources are to be used to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage? a. inexpensive b. easily imitated c. easily duplicated d. nonsubstitutable 2. Which of the following is (are) a major approach to corporate-level strategy? a. portfolio strategy b. adoptable strategies c. both of the above are such approaches d. neither (a) nor (b) are such approaches 3. Significant cost reductions, employee layoffs, closing poorly performing stores, offices, or manufacturing plants, or closing or selling entire lines of products or services would be characteristic of a ________ strategy. a. portable b. retrenchment c. stability d. first-level 4. Which of the following is not one of the five industry forces that determine an industry’s overall attractiveness and potential for long-term profitability? a. character of the rivalry b. threat of nonsubstitutable...
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