...According to Everett Roger's book Diffusion of Innovations, there are 5 factors that influence the adoption and diffusion of innovations. First there is relative advantage; how improved is an innovation over its predecessor. Does the innovation represent an incremental increase in ease of use or efficiency or a does it change the entire way things are done. For example, CDs represented an enormous advantage over magnetic tapes in terms of quality, durability and storage capacity. Then you have compatibility; is the ability to incorporate an innovation into an individual's life. The more readily an innovative product can be integrated by the general population, the more likely it is to be adopted. Another factor is complexity or simplicity; this is the innovation easy to use and understand or very complex. If the product offers great advantages, but is incredibly complex to use, it is unlikely to be utilized. For example, most experts would argue that Linux is a more powerful, stable Operating System than Windows. However, Windows is easier for the layman to use and thus more widely adopted. The last two are triability having the innovation available for a trial or test drive, and observability the innovation readily visible to others. (Rogers, 2003) Some methods that are available for forecasting technology include the Delphi method, forecast by analogy, growth curves and extrapolation. The Delphi Method utilizes experts who answer questionnaires in one or more rounds. At the...
Words: 678 - Pages: 3
...electrical vehicles a radical innovation or an incremental innovation? Are they competence enhancing or competence destroying, and from whose perspective? How would you answer these questions for fuel cell vehicles? Hybrid electrical cars/vehicles could be considered an incremental innovation because they build on existing engine technology, and do not require big changes in the fueling infrastructure or in consumer behavior. It is still a bridging technology from current fossil energy and just supplemented by battery-powered emission that basically charged by fuel engine. When we looing at it from major stakeholders (customers, automakers, petroleum companies)’s point of view, the technology will likely be seen as competence enhancing, though it might be seen as competence destroying to an automaker that is unwilling to develop a hybrid electric vehicle. I would consider fuel-cell vehicles are a more radical innovation that requires more significant changes to be made to the body of a vehicle, to its engine, to the fueling infrastructure, and to consumer behavior. Fuel cell vehicles are competence destroying for the petroleum companies, gas stations and perhaps even for many automakers. They might be competence enhancing for battery makers (since the vehicles will require much larger and advanced batteries). Until we know more about the changes consumers will have to make to use fuel-cell vehicles, it is difficult to assess whether the technology will be competence enhancing...
Words: 982 - Pages: 4
...Methodology to the field of surgical infection control and discovers that there exist new product concepts together with a new business strategy. The problem here is 3M should decide whether this new strategy will be a tool for 3M 's strategy towards corporate expansion and innovation. In the mid 90s, 3M realized the symptoms in its innovation approach that only incremental development is involved in its current product range instead of breakthrough ones. This approach limited the company’s competitiveness and financial performance and growing the business required to prepare the environment capable of delivering “breakthrough innovations“. Therefore, 3M’s management set a new goal: 30% of sales should be driven by new products. The new strategy focuses on understanding the real market needs to create possible developments and enhancements for a particular product which can eventually lead to a breakthrough in product offering that ultimately results in a competitive advantage. In this case, the suggested approach, Lead User Method, enables 3M to satisfy an important need (not spreading infections during surgery) by developing a specific new product or service. If there is not a new approach, the innovations that 3M makes will only be a "solution looking for a problem" approach rather than a needs-driven one. Whether to use research studies or the lead user method While identifying market needs and coming up with convenient solutions for them, it is essential to use effective...
Words: 1469 - Pages: 6
...Apple leads the world in innovation with their technology products that are distributed all around the world. Apple was founded by Steven Paul Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Gerald Wayne on April 1, 1976 and is headquartered in Cupertino, California. Apple’s various products such as the Mac, iPod, iPhone, IOS software, and more help reach sales of $199.38 billion. Apple is #1 on Forbes’ World’s Most Valuable Brands list and twelfth on Forbes’ Global 2000 list. The firms strengths include its capabilities and resources which it can use to obtain a competitive advantage (Bohm, 15). Apple Inc. is one of the oldest manufacturers of hardware and it has control over the product since it manufactures both the operating system and the computers. The company is also well known for its high quality product and this makes Apple Inc different from its competitors. Its products are well designed like the iPod which has consumer friendly characteristics. For example, the iPod is slim in shape which fits easily into the consumers pockets and its light weight enhances portability. The company has also designed many products which suits the demands of its consumers on daily basis. For example, the iPhone enables the company consumers to enjoy music, surf the web, make phone calls and watch videos. All this is done using one device. This has created a strong brand name and brand loyalty making Apple Inc. To obtain a competitive advantage over its competitors (McDaniel et.al, 46). Apple has...
Words: 1697 - Pages: 7
...TECHNOLOGICAL EFFICIENCY AND FREE MARKET ECONOMIES Evans Gwaro Kisii University 15th July, 2016 Technological Efficiency and Free Market Economies Betz (2011) defines technology as the ability to influence any piece of knowledge to suite the best interest of human nature. While, on the other hand, Zupan (2011) refers a free market to system in which the prices for goods and services are agreed freely by accord between vendors and users, in which the rules and requirements on supply and demand are not interfered with by the authorities, price-setting monopoly, or other power. Free markets have various merits. The most accepted is the extension of individual choice, through commonly appreciated give-and-take situation. Subsequently, free market differs with a regulated market, where the government intercedes in supply and demand through non-market approaches that include regulations forming obstructions to market entry and/or directly setting prices. As such, the concept of a free market is where prices are structured by the equivalent demand and supply opportunities. Subsequently, as aforementioned, the influence of choice which enshrines to the free market alignment employs preeminent use of discrete entrepreneurial skills which inspires technology advancement. Essentially, in a free market economy, there are three components that include competition, active but limited government, and the self-interest. Competition in the market place provides quality goods to consumers...
Words: 1012 - Pages: 5
...CAREERS TRENDING: Business Idea Generator // Starting a Business // Cloud Computing // Email Marketing // Starting a Website // Small Business Resource Center Reference: Innovation: Key to Successful Business by Chad Brooks, BusinessNewsDaily Senior Writer | September 23, 2013 08:20pm ET 21 33 1 Reddit 23 ideas, inventions, patents [Pin It] Credit: Light bulb idea image via Shutterstock View full size image One of the keys to any successful business is being able to come up with new ideas to keep operations, products and services fresh. The process of bringing those ideas to reality is called innovation. While thinking up new ideas is one step of the process, businesses have a much greater task in trying to turn that into an actual product or service that will benefit customers. In an article he wrote for BusinessNewsDaily, Fusion92 vice president of innovation Jacob Beckley said while innovation might have slightly different meanings depending on the industry, its core is universal. "It embodies the improvement of something that has come before," Beckley wrote. "It is the evolution of convenience, efficiencyand effectiveness." The companies that do this best, according to Beckley, are the ones that will ultimately have sustained success. "In the vast sea of innovation, companies that take the largest risk, close the biggest gaps and identify the newest opportunities are rewarded with the title of true innovators and leaders by their consumers...
Words: 1590 - Pages: 7
...Importance of Technological Innovation SYNOPSIS OF CHAPTER The purpose of this chapter is to set the stage for the course by establishing the importance of managing technological innovation strategically. First the chapter overviews the importance of technological innovation for a firm’s competitive success and the advancement of society in general. The chapter points out that 1) many firms are relying on products developed in the previous three to five years for large portions of their sales and profits; 2) globalization has increased competition putting more pressure on firms to compete through innovation; 3) advances in information technology have enabled both process improvements and the efficient generation of product variants which facilitates the execution of a differentiation strategy at a reasonable cost; and that 3) the residual growth in the GDP can be attributed to technological change. Both the positive and negative effects of technological innovation are described. Advances in food production are an example of the first and pollution is an example of the latter. Next the innovation funnel is introduced to show students that on average 3,000 raw ideas must enter the funnel in order to arrive at 1 successful new product launch. Gestione dell'innovazione 2/ed Melissa A. Schilling Copyright © 2009 - The McGraw-Hill Companies srl Second, the chapter discusses the risks and cost of innovation. On average, many more innovation projects fail than succeed....
Words: 2317 - Pages: 10
...Best Snacks Problem Solution Stephanie Curry MMPBL 550-Creativity, Innovation, and Organizational Design May 28, 2012 Sara Garski Best Snacks Problem Solution The snack food industry has become increasingly commodity-based over the past ten years, and while the competition has increased, differentiation among the competitors has decreased. This gradual change in the industry has caused sales to slip, market share to decrease, and stock prices to fall. The unwillingness of the company to change to the needs of the market has put the company in a position to lose its long-held premier standing in the industry. In addition to the financial and economic problems facing the company, the employees are distressed about the upcoming changes that the president of the company has implied will soon occur. Also, the employees believe that the company has done a poor job of promoting innovation in the industry which is why the organization if declining in many areas of the industry. For Best Snack’s to succeed, they must confront the problems they are faced with, and change the corporate culture from top to bottom. Describe the Situation Issue and Opportunity Identification Several issues face Best Snack’s in the increasingly commodity-based snack food industry. In a depressed economy, consumers are more likely to buy snacks based on price rather than brand loyalty (University of Phoenix, 2012). This turn in the economy has presented several problems to the...
Words: 3886 - Pages: 16
...Group 16 Innovation in Product Submission #2 Anant Jain B15131 Ankit Goel B15132 Anshul Jain B15134 2015 1. Introduction Innovation is refinement in a product, process, method, or a part thereof. Innovation has become a buzz-word in recent years, with increasing relevance of ‘innovation-centred business models’, and ‘innovation-led-entrepreneurism’. In fact, the success stories of Industrial America, technological Silicon Valley, American financial market, etc., are tales of constant innovations. ‘Digitization’ has shifted access to knowledge and information from a privilege to convenience: anyone who is willing and able to pay, has an access. Also, sharing of information and flow of payments and tenders through internet has changes businesses like never before. 1.1 What is Product Innovation? Product Innovation can be defined as creating a new product, or making changes in the existing product, or creating a differentiation in terms of utility or features of the product. Light Bulb, telephone, microprocessors, digital displays were great innovation in terms of making of new products, i-pods, cell phone, integrated circuits were innovations in terms of modification in existing products. Not all product innovations are technological breakthroughs- take a safety pin for example. Even candle, fountain pen, and scissors are examples of path-breaking revolution, that didn’t require significant technology, or invention capabilities. On the other...
Words: 6719 - Pages: 27
...Abstract Explores the cultural differences between Japan and the USA as they influence in the practice of creativity. Western logic reflects its Cartesian heritage of a clear, linear path of reasoning or the “scientific method”. The western approach to creativity is innovation through sponteneous originality. The Japanese approach, by contrast, is through the adaptive process. Implementing the innovation for effective production and marketing is their greatest strength. Japanese value the consensual more than differences. Proposes that US-Japanese partnerships would be the merging of opposites, the perfect complement of two diameterically opposite ways of creative thinking. If these partnerships are properly conceived and implemented, a highly efficient combine would result. Article Type: Conceptual Paper Keyword(s): Creativity; Japan; Methods; USA. Journal: International Marketing Review Volume: 13 Number: 2 Year: 1996 pp: 63-71 Copyright © MCB UP Ltd ISSN: 0265-1335 Creativity may be the most important tool in a marketer’s arsenal. Without creativity, the firm becomes predictable. The predictable firm may be at a competitive disadvantage. Creativity goes further than creative managers seeking new solutions to product problems. Creativity can also lead to new and better solutions to business and customer problems. Thus creativity may be the key to market success and improved operating efficiencies...
Words: 3583 - Pages: 15
...there is a need to restructure their business practices and become more customer-focused. All recent business approaches and techniques have generally aimed at improving performance, increasing profits, gaining market share, and most importantly satisfying the customer who has become more educated and more demanding than ever. In the last two decades two organizational development models have dominated the business world for a considerable period of time namely Total Quality Management (TQM) and Business Process Reengineering (BPR). Statement of Objective This paper aims to shed a novel light on the two most recent and prominent management approaches, namely TQM and BPR. In an attempt to examine the interaction between radical BPR and incremental TQM with respect to change management, I shall briefly discuss the two constructs and contemplate the roots and basic tenets that underlie each. BPR has been referred to in the literature as “the successor” of TQM and has been treated as an equal. I shall treat the similarities and common grounds among the two, as well as the differences between them. Next, I shall touch upon the weaknesses and highlights that distinguish each, and then move on to construct an integrated model in an attempt to reconciliate the two “opposing camps”. In this model, BPR cannot withstand, but be an integrated part of the more comprehensive TQM effort, which is the broader platform for organizational change. As such, BPR is rendered as a technique to be employed...
Words: 7625 - Pages: 31
...has become a market leader in global consumer products; but knows that innovation is vital to continue success. Paramount has used technology to create an innovative razor, but wants to make sure that it is positioned effectively. Situation Analysis: * Customers: Male consumer products have been trending upward in the last decade. The customer segments are broken up into three areas; social/emotional, involved razor users, and uninvolved or maintenance users. Social/emotional are responsible for 39% of Nondisposable razors, Involved is for 28%, and maintenance users account for 33%. In 2009 consumers razors and replacement cartridges at a higher rate than ever before. * Competitors: Competition includes direct competition as well as substitutes for Nondisposable razors. In 2010 the three major players were Paramount, Prince, and Benet & Klein (B&K). Prince mainly focuses on super-premium products. B&K entered the Nondisposable market in 1985. There are also new entrants which account for the rest of the market. In 2010 Paramount is expected to have a 21.4% dollar market share. * Company: Paramount is a large consumer products company with $7 billion in gross profit in 2009. The current Nondisposable razor line has products in both the market and value customer segments. The Clean Edge Razor is the first Nondisposable razor produced by Paramount that has a technological innovation. Paramount is relying on the Clean Edge Razor to increase sales and earn...
Words: 1586 - Pages: 7
...Samsung 3D-Television A strategic plan for a technological innovation FROM: Peter Fischer Erik Froode Alexander Johansson TO: Anu Wadhwa Lausanne, 2010-10-16 Table of content Samsung 3D-Television............................................................................................................................ 1 1. Background of the innovation ........................................................................................................ 3 1.3 1.3 1.4 The background of Samsung ................................................................................................... 3 The background of 3D-Television technology ......................................................................... 5 The competition ...................................................................................................................... 5 3D-TV technology ............................................................................................................ 6 The visible entertainment ............................................................................................... 6 1.4.1 1.4.2 1.5 What kind of innovation is 3D-TV? .......................................................................................... 7 2 ................................................................................................................................. Industry description .........................................................................
Words: 6754 - Pages: 28
...clear view of which product features customers value the most and shorten the development cycle. Some firms use the “beta testing” in the early development stage to get feedback on their product and some companies introduce “lead users” method to identify future trends of general customers. Then the company can stay focus on projects that better meet the customer’s need, resulting more successful projects that bringing successful economic return Also firms can make adjustment on their expectation of new product’s pricing by involving customer to avoid products that are too expensive to gain market penetration. Relying on customers may brings some negative influence. Customers often feel like to make incremental enhancement to the current products instead of encouraging radical innovations. It takes time and money to find the most suitable customers to be involved and to filter all the collect feedbacks, the total cost will increase. Involving suppliers is another important way for product improvement and development efficiency. Suppliers can provide additional source of information and ideas that suggest an alternative input, this may reduce cost or time to market but achieve same functionality. Integrated with suppliers...
Words: 758 - Pages: 4
...BUSINESS: It consists of transactions that are devised and carried out across national borders to satisfy the objectives of individuals, companies, and organizations The main characteristics of the international business are: - flow of ideas, services and capital across the world - new choices to consumers - acquisition of a wider variety of products is offered - the mobility of labor, capital and tech is facilitated - new challenging employment opportunities - reallocation of resources, shift of activities to a global level International business has created a network of global links that bind countries, institutions, and individuals with trade, financial markets, technology, and living standards. MULTINATIONAL ENTERPRISE (MNE): is a business –profit or non-profit – that operates in the global arena (across national borders), with no regard to the dimension of the firm The main peculiarity of an MNE is the fact that manage actively and coordinately a set of operations located in different countries. To be true MNE a company must: * have substantial, direct investment in foreign countries (not just the trading relationships of an import-export business) * and actively manage those operations as affecting their strategy and organization The MNE is a recent phenomenon, mostly developed in the post-WW II years. The United Nations has changed (1984) the definition of MNE as these companies have...
Words: 9493 - Pages: 38
