Different approaches to encourage innovation
The concept is generally concerned with the gradual and the regular changes brought in the processes and the procedures and also creating and developing the more effective mechanisms, products, services and ideas. For business corporation’s innovation could mean of implementation of ideas, making changes to the business model and structure and also adapting different approaches to bring a change in the working environment so the company will become capable of delivering better quality of products and services. Innovation can be considered as anything or any change which boosts the speed and growth and also brings development in t he organizational structure, culture, processes and the procedures an in all the operational activities an functionalities which are required to be carried out essentially with a high level of effectiveness so as to provide the best quality of products and services which will tend in the maximization of the level of satisfaction of the consumers (Davenport, 2013). This in whole leas to an increase in the extension in the brand equity and also there is an expansion in the market base and also the goodwill of the company is also increase. The below presented report has been focused on the analysis which has been carried out on for Wesfarmers which is a multinational brand name in the sector of retailing, chemicals, fertilizers, coal mining and industrial and safety products. Moreover the report will be also focusing on the evaluation and adaption of the different approaches an models for the encouragement of innovation in the workplace. Also the key factors involved for the process of successful adaption of the innovation.
The below mentioned are the approaches which can be use by Wesfarmers for bringing encouragement of innovation within the organization:
Involvement of the employees: The top most point to be considered by the business entity can be the involvement of the workforce in all the managerial and other operational activities. If the workforce is not connected to the company then their education level will be low comparatively. So it is the duty of Wesfarmers to make sure that the employees are linked to the strategies and plans and also inputs or the feedbacks provided by them are considered as relevant and significant (Davila, Epstein & Shelton, 2012). This will motivate them and a feel of responsibility and dedication will be increased in them which will tend them to provide the best quality of outputs and their active participation will develop more and innovative ideas.
Role of innovation in attaining competitive advantage
Encourage Brainstorming: A separate team should be develop by Wesfarmers which should be made engaged in providing training development sessions to the employees. The workforce should also keep some spare time or allocation of time should be done so as to motivate the emergence of new ideas. For instance Wesfarmers should keep sessions of brainstorming and which will include practical workshops, also arrangement of the team days out. The teams made involve will be more likely to provide effective sets of results and which will enhance the quality of thinking and generation ideas.
Importance of innovation: It is the duty of the managerial staff and the superior authorities to explain the importance of innovation and new ideas within the working organization. Until an unless the employees wont realize the significance of generation of new ideas they will not give their 100%.
Training to the staff: Some of the employees or the staff members must be having set of new ideas but will be facing the problem in executing and expressing the same to the seniors. So here the company is required to provide training for the necessary skills which will be used by the workforce in the presentation an execution of the ideas (Brown & Osborne, 2012).
Encourage changes: The Company need to broaden up the experiences of the employees which will create a spark in ideas. For instance Wesfarmers can do short-term job swaps, which will generate freshness to the perception of the employees towards their job roles. Browning the perceptions of the staff members will also help in the generation of the new and better ideas which will surely lead to innovation.
Rewards and incentives: The employees should be praised and encouraged for the outputs and the ideas presented. The seniors should offer some sought of incentives and also rewards should be offered to the workforce (Kumar, 2012). This will motivate the employees to provide improved and better results and also an increase in the interest and dedication level will be observed. For instance should motivate the team by rewarding them who have come-up with the winning ideas by actively recognizing the innovation.
Implement strategy to execution: The company should provide relevant and proper resources so as to develop and implement the ideas worth acting upon. And is the business entity fails in doing so then it not only means that the firm will fail to benefit from innovation, but flow of ideas may well dry up if employees feel the process is pointless.
Key factors involved
Attainment of the competitive advantage over its rivals is to be considered as the ultimate goal for any of the business organization (Franz, Hochgerner & Howaldt, 2012). For instance Wesfarmers should be able of outperforming against its competitors in terms of profit, market base, sales, productivity etc. Now-days the markets and the trends are ever changing and that to with a rapid speed. The key factors who play a significant role in the change are the consumers whose demands are never ending, the competitors who continuously come up with new offerings for providing a greater level of satisfaction to the consumers and also make the use of the contemporary mechanisms and technologies which is growing day by day (Boutellier, Gassmann & Von Zedtwitz, 2013). And if the firm will not cope-up with the ever changing trends and the environment then there may be a possibility of “strategic wear out”. And as mentioned above the markets are constantly changing, innovation and the potential of the firm of producing new and distinctive products to the world has become one of the main mediums which are to be adapted by the companies for the attainment of the competitive advantage. On the basis of the research carried out it has been observed that there is a relationship between sales and profit and the level of innovation of a company; For instance Wesfarmers can obtain increased sales and profits with pioneering products and services (Ismail & et al, 2012). As per the analysis it has been observed that the Blue Ocean strategy has been considered as one of the most significant aspect of the concept. The strategy was introduced by Kim and Mauborgne and also an argument was made that the business corporations who start compering head to head, these companies results in less growth and no profits and they end up at competing in a bloody red ocean as their fight continues and tends their profits to shrink down (Themarketmogul. 2017). Furthermore, argument has also been presented that growth in success and attainment of the competitive advantage does not come from battling with the rivals, but from making the competition irrelevant by creating blue oceans of uncontested marketplace. The following described is the example which shows that the creation of blue oceans will results in profit and growth, In 1908 the multinational brand Ford came up with a new innovation and which was created by Model T, and also the changes and the innovations in automobile industry are felt and experienced by today’s world were also created by Model. T (Noorani, 2014). In order to gain a competitive advantage it has become very much significant for the business organizations to be innovative and also innovation has come up as a critical determinant in the process of business performance.
The below presented are the key factors which are involved by the business corporations in the attainment of the competitive advantage:
Cost leadership: The concept of Cost leadership has to be considered as the first key factor in the attainment of the competitive advantage which the businesses corporations often attempt to gain. In this case the business entity will be able to attain the cost leadership advantage when the company will have the potential of serving the same quality of products as its competitors, but that to a lower price in comparison (Tj. 2014). Cost leadership can occur when the company will be able in finding the belter ways of production through the perfection of production methods or by the utilization of resources in a more efficient manner than competitors (Dess, McNamara & Eisner, 2016). There are also some other relevant factors which are considered as significant one such as the proprietary technology and which are considered as vital in the attainment of the competitive advantage.
Differentiation: This factor has to be considered as the second strategy which the business organization can adapt for achieving the competitive advantage. This strategy sets and keeps the business organizations apart from the competitors’ products and the services. Low cost is the only variable which has been considered as the most vital factor which in keeping the business corporation in setting aside from the competitor (Elnaga & Imran, 2013). The business entities who are into developing a distinct image typically look for one or more marketable attributes which will aid them in establishing and setting them apart from their competitors. After that the company does the segmentation of the market and offers their products and services to them. The process can also be worked by considering the other direction and also by conducting research and surveys for the determination of the variables which are considered to be the most important one and at last developing a niche market for the products and the factors.
Defensive factors and strategies: Utilization of a defensive strategy can be considered as another way for gaining competitive advantage (Karuoya, 2014). The competitive advantage thus gained by adaptation of this strategy will allow the business organization in the further expansion and also to maintain safe distance from the competitors. Tis some-what closely related to the differentiation and the cost leadership strategy because it is a mechanism which is utilized by the business corporations for keeping those advantages in place once they have been attained (Maital & Seshadri, 2012). Apart from this strategy the other are considered very much offensive by nature in comparison this strategy becomes an actual advantage as it becomes increasingly difficult for so-called competitors to offer any real opposition to the business.
For instance Wesfarmers has recognized the significance of and value which can be developed and brought up by diversity in the organization and which includes (sustainability.wesfarmers. 2016): enhancing and developing the skills and experience of the workforce from which the company can attract the top potential for the business and also providing great alignment to the customer needs. Whereas Tarocash is a multinational brand name and operates its business activities in a number of regions which enables the business organization to have a diversified range of employee in the organizational structure. This makes the company a strong and loyal brand as the entity follows the sense of diversity in products range.
Conclusion
From the above carried out analysis it has been concluded that innovation and change are the two aspects which are very much vital for any of the business organization. The above presented report has been focused on Wesfarmers is the multination brand name in the sector of retailing, chemicals, fertilizers, coal mining and industrial and safety products. Evaluation has alo been done on the approaches and the strategies which can be utilized by the business corporation so as to encourage innovation within the organizational culture. Moreover the significance of innovation and also the key factors involved in attaining the competitive advantage are determined.
References
Davenport, T. H. (2013). Process innovation: reengineering work through information technology. Harvard Business Press.
Davila, T., Epstein, M., & Shelton, R. (2012). Making innovation work: How to manage it, measure it, and profit from it. FT press.
Brown, K., & Osborne, S. P. (2012). Managing change and innovation in public service organizations. Routledge.
Kumar, V. (2012). 101 design methods: A structured approach for driving innovation in your organization. John Wiley & Sons.
Boutellier, R., Gassmann, O., & Von Zedtwitz, M. (2013). Managing global innovation: uncovering the secrets of future competitiveness. Springer Science & Business Media.
Noorani, I. (2014). Service innovation and competitive advantage. European Journal of Business and Innovation Research, 2(1), 12-38.
Ismail, A. I., Rose, R. C., Uli, J., & Abdullah, H. (2012). The relationship between organizational resources, capabilities, systems and competitive advantage. Asian academy of management Journal, 17(1), 151-173.
Dess, G. G., McNamara, G., & Eisner, A. B. (2016). Strategic management: Creating competitive advantages. McGraw-Hill Education.
Elnaga, A., & Imran, A. (2013). The effect of training on employee performance. European Journal of Business and Management, 5(4), 137-147.
Karuoya, L. N. (2014). Factors influencing sustainable competitive advantage among cut flower companies. International Journal of Current Business and Social Sciences, 1(1), 1-17.
Maital, S., & Seshadri, D. V. R. (2012). Innovation management: strategies, concepts and tools for growth and profit. SAGE Publications India.
Franz, H. W., Hochgerner, J., & Howaldt, J. (Eds.). (2012). Challenge social innovation: potentials for business, social entrepreneurship, welfare and civil society. Springer Science & Business Media.
sustainability.wesfarmers, 2016, 2016 sustainability report, https://sustainability.wesfarmers.com.au.
Themarketmogul, 2017, The role of innovation in firms competitiveness, Assessed on 19th April 2017, https://themarketmogul.com/role-innovation-firm-competitiveness/.
TJ, 2014, Factors of competitive advantage, Assessed on 19th April 2017, https://www.shyentrepreneur.com/general-business-principles/factors-of-competitive-advantage/.
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