Organizational Impact Paper
Shawn Cheairs
OI/361
January 8, 2015
Mario Madrid

Innovation, design, and creativity play crucial and interconnected roles in order to determine the success for both the manufacturing and services industries. Careful thought and consideration must be taken when creating a new and innovative product or service which appeals to consumers. Organizations must also learn to involve consumers at an early stage in order to gauge their needs and wants, and the team in charge of producing something tangible or intangible needs to make every effort possible to create something that meets those consumers’ needs and wants or the product or service will be certain to fail.
Lotus
In the case of Lotus, the organization was caught with their backs against the wall when the engine manufacturer being used for the Lotus Elan closed their doors. Lotus looked back to their beginnings in racing to inspire a new idea. The idea of creating the Lotus Elise came to life and the task of incorporating innovation, design, and creativity to bring about a product that met the needs and wants of consumers. It became extremely important for various people involved with the Lotus Elise project to execute their roles in communication amongst one another. The communication and openness between those designing, engineering and manufacturing kept the project on track and problems that arose were quickly solved. Innovation, design, and creativity had led to Lotus being able to find alternate solutions, work together as a team, and still enable them to work as individuals. Von Stamm (2008) stated, “Creating an awareness for the differences and bringing designers on board as early as possible can help to maximize the benefits that can be gained by harnessing the differences.” (p. 115). The end result for Lotus was a very successful unveiling which created waiting lists of the M1-11 project which was better known as the Lotus Elise.
Barnes & Noble
The Barnes & Noble impact on strategy is to take advantage of the technology that improves the quality of the company’s infrastructure, products and services. This strategy will have certain risks associated with it. One of the possible risks can be a failure to protect the privacy of data and the security of personal information. Consumers may buy books or e-books by entering their credit cards or bank accounts online. Another associated risk can be the consumers spending patterns. The consumers’ demand for products may be low, and can therefore result in a decrease in sales and net income of the company. Competition can also be a risk when applied to the initiative. For example, Amazon also has a product similar to Nook, which is the Kindle e-book reader. However, Barnes & Noble also has products that no other company can offer, such as the amount of free e-books that the company offers to those who purchased their products. As long as these risks, initiatives, and the financial planning are effectively managed before a problem occurs, there will be greater success in implementing the strategy of the company.
Barnes & Noble has shown the propensity in the past to overcome an ever changing market due to technological advances. They have expanded their organization and grown throughout the years in spite of and in part to the advances of the internet. They were the first bookstore in the United States to advertise on television and the first bookstore to discount books that appeared on the New York Times Best-Seller list. They have included a café and comfortable seating areas so that people can relax at the store while perusing their selection. They have also increased their inventory to include music, movies, gifts and toys. These changes have been in an attempt to keep the consumer coming back to a brick and mortar business when it is truly easier to get what you need on your computer at home. These ideas appealed to the consumers desire to congregate and feel something in their hands. Barnes & Noble also appeals to communities by making their stores available to host such gatherings as poetry readings, birthday parties, book clubs and different comic book and game gatherings. They also are the nation’s leading retailer of college textbooks and are located on more than 700 college campuses nationwide (Barnes & Noble, 2015).
Conclusion
Lotus and Barnes & Noble were open to new ideas and as such have reputations which reflected those views. The organizations’ reputation is what ultimately helped propel the initial ideas to have such success because smaller and less reputable organizations may have encountered failure with the same ideas. Both organizations wanted to see the great ideas launch into something that was creative, innovative, and well designed with the least amount of flaws and so an emergent strategy was used. Von Stamm (2008) stated, “One could argue that in today’s fast-moving environment there is little choice but to follow an emergent strategy development process.” (p. 100). A niche in their sectors was found by each organization to fulfill a consumer want or need and the effective use of innovation, design and creativity also helped in the process to fine tune those desires and ultimately they have been successful.

References
Barnes & Noble. (2015, January 5). Barnes & Noble History. Retrieved January 5, 2015, from Barnes & Noble Incorporated: http://www.barnesandnobleinc.com/our_company/history/bn_history.html
Stamm, B. v. (2008). Managing Innovation, Design and Creativity (2nd ed.). West Sussex, England: John Wiley & Sons. Retrieved January 5, 2015