Addressing the Market Needs with Cynefin Framework
Dyson, a British technology company was founded in the year 1978 by James Dyson. The company is well-known for designing and manufacturing new technology heaters, bladeless fans, hand dryers along with vacuum cleaners. The company has grown from manufacturing vacuum cleaners to offering innovative, modern as well as highly functional office and home appliances. The company provides innovative products that have helped in increasing its demand across the globe (Dyson, 2022).
Cynefin framework is a conceptual framework that is used by companies in the decision-making process. The primary need that Dyson needs to consider when searching, selecting, and implementing is the market. The company needs to produce innovative products by analyzing the needs of the customers along with the new products developed by the other companies in the market. Furthermore, the company can also enhance its existing products according to the needs of the market such as its vacuum cleaners and heaters should be innovated according to the customers’ demands, which would help the company to attract new customers. The second need that Dyson needs to consider is the environmental needs. The governments of many countries have updated their environmental policies due to which it has become compulsory for the companies to practice those policies. These environmental policies would not only help in reducing the risks related to environmental issues but would also help the company to sustain its position in the market (Tidd & Bessant, 2018). The environmental policy of Dyson includes reduction, recovery, and reusing of the resources, which should be followed in the future so that the company can reduce the risks related to environmental issues. In the implementation phase, Dyson should use renewable sources of energy and should set up a proper water management system that would help in reducing the risks related to water wastage. The third need that Dyson needs to consider is its customers, as the demands of the customers are changing according to the new technologies that are invented in the market. The company should consider using new technologies that may have an impact on the future market as it would not only help in fulfilling the needs of the customers but also innovate products according to the need of the market.
The primary internal need that Dyson needs to consider when searching, selecting, and implementing is its current customers. Customers are the key to innovation; therefore, the ideas and feedback provided by the customers should be kept in mind before developing a new product. This strategy will help the company to satisfy the need of customers and analyze the current demands of the market. The second internal need that the company needs to consider is its current capacity to change and innovate. The innovation of new products within the company requires a task force to design the product along with the availability of resources. The company should analyze whether the current task force understands the needs and requirements of the market and implement new technology in order to develop products according to customers’ needs.
Addressing the Environmental Needs with Dyson’s Policy
Blind spots are unrecognized areas that a company may face while innovating a new product. The most common blind spot that is faced by the company while searching, selecting, and implementing is the leadership blind spot. In order to overcome this blind spot, Dyson implements the Leadership Framework, which is a set of principles that provides information to the managers related to the leadership practices they must consider in the company. The leadership framework is made up of three elements that are leading the organization, people, and yourself. This theory helps Dyson to consider the possible blind spots related to leadership and helps the leaders to make the desired changes in the company.
The other blind spot that is faced by the company while searching, selecting, and implementing is related to the process of decision-making in the company. The company is unaware that the decision taken by them to develop new products is good or bad due to which they face the possible risk of failure in the future. In order to reduce the issue related to failure, Dyson uses a decision-making tool that helps the company to develop all the possible alternatives related to its cost and the chances of its success or failure. The decision-making tool identifies the decision taken by the company, collects essential information, and identifies the possible alternatives and their consequences.
The method used by Dyson to address external needs and enhance its ability in searching, select, and implement is PESTLE analysis. PESTLE analysis is a framework that is used by companies to explore the external factors that can have an impact on businesses. Dyson conducts this analysis in order to identify the political, economic, social, technological, legal as well as environmental issues that can be faced by the company while developing products in different areas. This analysis also encourages the company to develop external and strategic thinking. Moreover, it also helps Dyson to analyze the business opportunities and take necessary actions to garb those opportunities.
In a similar context, the method used by Dyson to address internal needs is conducting VRIO analysis. VRIO analysis stands for valuable, rare, inimitable, and organized. This analysis has helped Dyson in identifying unused competitive advantage and transfers it into a sustained competitive advantage. Additionally, this analysis also helps the company to identify and rank the potential opportunities to provide services to its customers and analyze their needs (Tidd & Bessant, 2018).
The method that should be utilized by the company to address internal needs is using the McKinsey 7-S model, as it will help Dyson to enhance its performance as well as determine the best way in order to implement a proposed strategy. The seven elements of this model consist of strategy, structures, systems, staff, style, skills, and shared values. This model will help the company to plan and develop its competitive advantage over its competitors. It will also help in analyzing the ways in which the company’s departments and teams are structured and the necessary changes that should be conducted in the company.
Addressing the Customer Needs with New Technologies
Additionally, the method that should be utilized by Dyson in order to address external needs is using Porter’s Five Forces, which is a framework that will help the company in analyzing the potential profitability of a market in which it is introducing new products. Porter’s Five Forces consist of Power of buyers, power of suppliers, Threat of Substitutes, Threat of New Entrants, and Competitive rivalry. This framework will help Dyson in estimating the competition in the industry along with analyzing the strengths of the market. Furthermore, this framework also helps the company to analyze the potential threats that exist and can have a huge impact on the company’s goal to develop new products. This framework will also help Dyson to display opportunities that will help in expanding its business in the market and providing huge competition to its competitors.
Dyson can capture its learning regarding the external environment by implementing the theory of organizational learning innovations in which the company develops new knowledge along with the insights from the common experiences of its employees. This theory also helps the companies to improve their capabilities and develop knowledge. This theory is also beneficial for the company to develop new information or data by analyzing the external market along with the new strategies and technologies adopted by its competitors. This theory will help Dyson to innovate products and respond to the challenges faster. Moreover, it will also be beneficial for Dyson to explore new products in the market along with analyzing the market opportunities that are better than its competitors (Tidd & Bessant, 2018).
The theory of organizational learning innovation will also help Dyson to analyze its learning regarding the internal environment as this theory focuses on the process of knowledge distribution. Under this process, the employees share information, which helps in analyzing the viewpoints of the employees along with new ideas that can help in enhancing the innovation process of the company. Moreover, it is also beneficial for the company to increase interaction among the employees and the leaders, which further helps in analyzing the issues faced by the employees. It also helps in understanding the views of the employees and gathering new ideas that could be beneficial for product development.
The theory of organizational learning innovation is beneficial for the companies as it helps in capturing their internal learning as the companies in this theory adopt a cultural perspective. Cultural perspective is defined as analyzing a situation through the eyes of an individual’s local environment as well as social influence. The employees can put their viewpoints in front of their leaders, which helps in boosting creativity among the employees along with driving innovation. It also helps in analyzing the needs of the local market thereby making business more competitive and profitable. In a similar context, this theory is also beneficial for the team members as they can put their viewpoints with each other which will help in generating new ideas to accomplish the goals of the project.
The theory of organizational learning innovations not only helps in analyzing the areas of development within the company but also helps in analyzing the possible blind spots that can have a negative impact on the company’s growth. This theory would also be beneficial for Dyson to reduce the risks related to product innovation in the market. The company can face the issue related to high market turbulence, which may increase the risk related to uncertainty and investment innovation. Additionally, the company can also face issues related to both internal and external sourcing. Thus, it can be concluded that Dyson can capture its learning regarding the internal and external environment by applying the theory of organizational learning innovations (Tidd & Bessant, 2018).
Addressing the Internal Needs with Customers and Capacity
In order to address the above needs and enhance the company’s abilities in continuing to Capture Value, Dyson should propose the Diffusion of Innovation Theory. The Diffusion of Innovations theory explains the ways in which the new ideas and practices should be adopted by the companies along with the timelines that should be spread for a longer time. Additionally, the ways in which the innovations conducted by a company are communicated in the market along with the opinions that are associated with the innovations are essential to analyzing the speed of diffusion. Therefore, this theory would help Dyson to describe the pattern along with the company’s speed to develop new ideas or products among its customers. This theory would also help the company to understand as well as promote the adoption of new products (Tidd & Bessant, 2018).
Moreover, there are five main people in the Diffusion of innovation theory, which are innovators, early adopters, early majority, and late majority along with laggards. These five people are important for Dyson in order to develop a new product. Investors are the people that are exploring new ideas and technologies that are adopted by the companies to sustain themselves in the market, whereas early adopters are the leaders that share positive testimonials regarding the new products and services provided to them. Moreover, the early adopters can help the company in providing guidance regarding the use of the products developed by them. The early majority is the group of people that will read the reviews provided by early adopters before purchasing the products introduced in the market. Furthermore, the late majority are the people that would purchase a new product if they are left behind or they are missing out on the market. Similarly, laggards are those people, who prefer traditional communication and they will only adopt a new product if there is no alternative product available in the market. Laggards search for evidence before making their purchase. These people are important for Dyson while developing new products as the opinion of each one of them will help in analyzing the negative areas that can affect a product’s sales and demand in the market. This theory will help Dyson to analyze the ways in which trends occur in the market and predict the type of customers that would purchase the product developed by the company.
From the Dyson innovation process, the first value that is captured in the company’s profit making is by analyzing the internal and external needs of the market in order to develop the product. The innovation theory helps the company to analyze the external market as well as the new strategies that are used by the competitors thereby enhancing the process of the company’s profit making. Additionally, this value can be used by Dyson in moving forward by analyzing the possible risks that can be faced by the company such as the risks related to product innovation in the market. The company can use different methods or tools to analyze the current position of the market along with the needs and requirements of the customers (Tidd & Bessant, 2018).
Overcoming Blind Spots with Leadership and Decision-making Tools
The second value that is captured by Dyson’s innovation process is the support and engagement of the employees to adopt changes in the company. The engagement of the employees can have a positive impact on employee performance along with the growth of the company. The company should practice more activities such as taking group sessions in order to increase employee engagement in the company. These activities will help the company to understand the issues that are faced by the employees while developing products along with understanding their views that can be beneficial for the company in the future. The engagement of the employees will also help in developing a positive environment for the people to share ideas and deliver their work on time. This value can help Dyson in moving forward as the company will be able to analyze the demands of the customers in the market along with the strategies or products that are developed by Dyson’s competitors. Moreover, it will also be beneficial for Dyson in developing its range of products thereby providing more variety to the customers (Tidd & Bessant, 2018).
Conclusion
From the above discussion, it can be concluded that the external needs that Dyson needs to consider while searching, selecting, and implementing are its market, environmental needs, and the company’s customers. The internal need that should be considered by Dyson, when searching, selecting, and implementing innovation is the company’s current customers. The other need that should be considered is its current capacity to change and innovate. The company should implement the theory of organizational learning environment in order to capture its learning regarding its external environment and internal environment. This theory is beneficial for the company to develop new products by analyzing the external data, which further helps in adopting new technologies and strategies in the market. Under the theory of organizational learning innovations, the employees can share their views regarding product development along with discussing the issues that are faced by them. This theory is also beneficial for the company to analyze the potential risks that Dyson can face due to its competitors and develop strategies to provide competition to the company’s competitors. Moreover, this theory also helps the company to identify the blind spots that can help in mitigating the risks related to the future development of the company’s products and its growth.
In order to prepare for diffusion and absorption, Dyson should propose the Diffusion of Innovation theory within the organization. This theory will be beneficial for the company to analyze the ways in which the company can spread its innovation among the customers thereby increasing the sales of the products. The values that are captured from the innovation process of Dyson are the profit making of the company along with the support and engagement of the employees in order to adapt to the required changes in the company.
References
Dyson. (2022). James Dyson foundation. https://www.jamesdysonfoundation.com/ .
Tidd, J., & Bessant, J. (2018). Managing innovation: Integrating technological, market and organizational change (6th ed). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.