Innovation Management Assessment Assignment Sample

Introduction of Innovation Management Assessment Assignment 

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A decade ago, innovation management was acknowledged as one of the most potent ways to simplify internal procedures and increase corporate efficiency. According to researchers, 53 percent of global service decision-makers are investing in developing innovation and idea management tools in order to foster innovation. If you're looking for a way to generate, capture, debate, and improve useful insight or alternative thinking that wouldn't have come to light via standard procedures, then innovation management is the technique you're looking for. Innovation management for continuous development relies on capturing new ideas from workers at all levels, fostering an engaged and collaborative workforce, recognizing employee effort, and successfully communicating with all stakeholders. Executives believe that innovation is critical to their company's success, according to a new Accenture report.

Innovation-vetted ideas from a comprehensive viewpoint are typically the driving force in organizations. This provides simply a one-dimensional view of a certain business issue. In contrast, crowdsourcing innovation from workers may tap into an organization's creative potential and generate new ideas, so enhancing the company's bottom line, as well. A full review of innovation management's changing nature, its major definition, and theoretical features is conducted in the following research, with special attention paid to each innovation management model's primary usage and pros and cons.

Assessment of evolving nature of innovation management

An innovative use of technology, processes, or ideas to a beneficial end is referred to as innovation. Among the most sought-after commodities in today's business world is innovation. Over this, the need to identify areas of highest innovation and build strategies to speed up the pace of innovation is rising (Leonidou et al., 2020). Those new models are being generated by the rise of the Internet and open standards, that allow for the merging of enterprises and business operations from an ecosystem of the outside suppliers. A similar transformation occurred in manufacturing organisations when they transitioned to become technology integrators. This is a natural progression, but it might be difficult for R&D in this context. In order for R&D organisations to remain relevant, they should be more collaborative and prepared to give up the “not invented here” approach (Guertler, Kriz, and Sick, 2020).

Innovators face new hurdles due to a growing knowledge of innovation as a series of actions. There are several feedback loops involved in an invention process, even though it is often thought of as a one-to-one process. While many innovation projects follow a similar process, the unpredictability of getting results and completing a task with the requisite level of quality forces innovators to just provide feedback throughout the process in order to better the final product (Kusi-Sarpong, Gupta, and Sarkis, 2019). 'Framework conditions' are also a major factor in the sophistication of innovations, which are in turn influenced by the sophistication of the surrounding environment. Because of this, the quantity of information sources, knowledge and application domains for innovation are becoming more and more complicated. Consequently, the way we feel about innovation is continuously changing. As opposed to merely focusing on new goods and services, it has extended to include topics like business models, marketing tactics, and so on (Chen et al., 2019). An increasing number of businesses have come to realise they must innovate in order to provide value for consumers, not only to produce more goods or services. Since the idea generating stage is no longer seen as a separate entity, more emphasis has been placed on the overall examination of those ideas. In this way, the less promising individuals have been weeded out sooner and without wasting a lot of resources. Today, innovation is a consequence of creating value by enhancing one or more aspects of the company environment. By providing avenues for fast experimentation, rapid distribution of information, and breakthroughs produced via data analytics and knowledge management, the development of digitization has accelerated the process of innovation in companies (Furtado, Hekkert and Negro, 2020). Fast-moving trends need an understanding of how they interact with and impact business ecosystems. So that businesses can understand the ramifications and devise appropriate countermeasures, and in many situations, it serves as a catalyst for new discoveries and concepts. On each of these aspects, there is evidence of innovation. Firms may use scenario planning to foresee how the generation of consumer value will evolve in the future, ability to make more innovative product and service offers.

The importance of external stakeholders is also understood by innovative companies. As a result of this collaboration, they are sufficient to convey forth new and exciting ideas. In particular, the innovation funnel is made strong to guarantee that the greatest ideas move quickly and provide positive results. As the world's leading producer of home appliances, Whirlpool has transformed itself into a managerial pioneer. When Dave Whitwam, Whirlpool's then chairman and Chief executive officer, was concerned by the lack of brand loyalty amongst appliance consumers, he challenged his leadership team to make Whirlpool a provider of rule-breaking, customer-friendly innovation. With “innovation from everyone, everywhere” in mind, Whitwam's management systems had to be re-engineered, since they had been built to maximize operational efficiency.

Definition of Innovation management and Intellectual Property (IP)

Innovation has not been as prevalent as it is now; everybody is talking about it, and it's all around us. “Innovation” is derived from the Latin word “innovare,” which means “renewal.” In economic terms, innovation is anything new that has a positive impact on a company and/or on society. When it comes to business, “management” is a term that's employed often. A job is assigned to him, with the intention of accomplishing a set of objectives.This means in order to effectively implement innovation management in a business, it is necessary to plan, organise, monitor and regulate the promotion of new ideas. The tasked with managing an organization's innovation process, through inspiration through effective implementation, is called innovation management. Everything and anything that goes into creating an innovation strategy is included in this definition. An innovation management field tries to cultivate a group's innovation process or culture. Disruptive techniques of change are often employed in these innovation management endeavours.

There are several types of intellectual property (IP), comprising innovations; creative works, such as novels and paintings; designs; and symbols and pictures used in trade. Patents, copyright, and trademarks are a few examples of intellectual property (IP) protection under the law that allow inventors and creators to profit from their work. The IP system strives to establish an enabling environment and innovation may thrive by balancing the interests of inventors with those of the general public. A person is entitled to intellectual property rights if he or she has created anything using his or her thoughts. For the most part, they provide the author a term of exclusivity over the use of his or her work.

Analysis of models of innovation management and intellectual property management

“The First-Generation Innovation Model (1G) — Technology Driven”

Since the 1950s, there has been an increase in economic development, which has pushed technology forward in the first Innovation model. In the 1960s, Nasa used it as a managerial technique. “Phase review procedures” is another name for it. The aim was to simplify the often-confusing procedures involved in conducting large-scale space initiatives. Its main goal was to organise the labour and gain command of the process (Furtado, Hekkert, and Negro, 2020). Consistent monitoring of each step is required by the Phase-review-processes. This creates a sequential linear process. Its primary goal was to advance technical progress by conducting in-depth studies and experiments. Product research, production, engineering, and marketing were all aided by this method. The marketing phase was overlooked since the emphasis was solely on the creation of new concepts. Putting so much focus on R&D has the drawback of ignoring consumer input and expectations. As a result, new ideas are often overlooked by the market.

“Second-Generation Innovation Model (2G)– Market Pull”

Technological impetus was replaced by market requirements in the 1960s. As a result, the emphasis shifted to meeting the demands of the market. Factors that were overlooked in the first generation are now being taken into account (de Oliveira et al., 2020). Cost-benefit analysis and resource allocation are part of this process.

A comparable or progressively linear procedure is used here, but the focus is on meeting market demands. So, the research time is reduced. The initiatives would only endure a limited time due to the constantly shifting market demands. As a consequence, countless smaller initiatives have been created.

“Third-Generation Innovation Model (3G) – Coupling Method”.

The third-generation model has solved the constraints of the previous two linear models. During the time of high inflation and stagflation, it was widely accepted. Marketing and product development were intimately integrated. Market demands and technology advancements were combined by the inventors. Balanced technology pull and market push were key to the model's success (Furtado, Hekkert, and Negro, 2020). Even during economy's recession, cutting operating expenses was a key motivator. A non-linear feedback loop was developed as a result of this operation. However, because of the several steps involved, the model was organised in a sequential fashion.

“Fourth-Generation Innovation Model (4G) – Integrated Model”

The fourth-generation model is based on an integrated approach to business. In the end, it pursued a parallel procedure instead of a sequential one (Nestle, 2021). The development process, internal communications inside the organisation, important suppliers at the upper levels, and consumers at the lower levels all follow a similar strategy.

“Fifth-Generation Innovation Model(5G) – Network Model”

The network model focuses on distributing network processes in an efficient manner. Getting more adaptable and accelerating development were two of the main takeaways. The 5G concept combines external and internal components into a single system (Furtado, Hekkert, and Negro, 2020). As a result, suppliers, consumers, rivals, the government, and other external factors are all taken into account.

“Sixth-Generation Innovation Model (6G) – Open Innovation Model”

By the definition of Chesbrough, “open innovation” means using intentional information exchanges to both speed up internal innovation and broaden markets for outward application of new ideas. It uses both internal and exterior concepts to keep an eye on technical improvements (García-Muiña et al., 2019). The funnel depiction shows- Getting started with a lot of ideas and narrowing them down afterwards. In addition, we're using the most cutting-edge technology in the industry.

“Intellectual Property Management Model”:

A business model based on intellectual property (hereafter IPBM) works in the market for technical knowledge instead of in the market for products and services. Creating, owning, marketing, and selling intellectual property is the firm's primary skill (IP) (Furtado, Hekkert, and Negro, 2020).

As part of the Franchising Model, a trademark owner (franchisor) gives another individual or company (franchisee) permission to use and operate underneath the brand name of their own (an example of this is McDonalds) (Rosado-Serrano and Paul, 2018). Formal protection measures are only partly used by franchising companies, and informal devices are given more attention. Rather of relying on legal means of protection like patents, they choose to employ fewer formal means such as developing strong brands and expanding their distribution networks.

Purpose of evolving models of innovation management and Intellectual Property [IP]

An organization's long-term, sustainable innovation process is the goal of innovation management. Every step of innovation, from inspiration through execution in the real world, is regulated by this framework. The innovation management strategy's activities may lead to breakthrough corporate transformations and a competitive advantage (Rosado-Serrano and Paul, 2018). Thus, as pre-contextualised, each models contextualised above has been put into practice by the consideration of key models mentioned above.

For instance, the “First-Generation Innovation Model (1G)” is mainly used as a framework for technological push, Economic expansion in the 1950s led to a surge in technology in the first Innovation model. In the 1960s, Nasa created this as a managerial tool. It was also known as 'Phase-review-processes' by the researchers (Bican, Guderian and Ringbeck, 2017). The goal was to simplify the often-confusing procedures involved in space exploration. It was all about streamlining and getting control of the task in hand.

As for “Second-Generation Innovation Model (2G)”, its main purpose is the instigation of market pull, Cost-benefit analysis and resource allocation are part of this process. The procedure is similar in that it follows a sequential path, but with an emphasis on market requirements. So, the research time is reduced. The initiatives would only endure a limited time due to the constantly shifting market demands. Nevertheless, the shortcomings of the first two linear models have been addressed in the third generation which uses Coupling Method and titled “Third-Generation Innovation Model (3G)”. When the economy was experiencing inflation and stagflation, it became widely accepted. Marketing and R&D were strongly intertwined in this strategy. Technological advances were made in conjunction with market demands by the leaders of innovation (Gassmann, Bader and Thompson, 2020). Technology Pull and Market Push were used to create a well-balanced model. When the economy was in a slump, cutting operating expenses was a major motivating element for the company's growth. So, a non-linear feedback loop was generated in the process. The model, on the other hand, followed a sequential approach to innovation and efficacy which was a very beneficial take for businesses on that time.

The “Fourth-Generation Model (4G)” adheres to a business process model that is integrated from top to bottom. It switched from a sequential to a parallel workflow. The development process, internal communications inside the organization, important suppliers at the upper levels, and consumers at the lower levels all follow a similar strategy (Polónia and Gradim, 2021). The key purpose of its implications was mostly considered because of its efficacy for supportive flexibility.

Advantages and disadvantages evolving models of innovation management and Intellectual Property [IP]

It is the art of strengthening an organization's advantage and value generation by simultaneously and mutually supporting adjustments to its value offer to consumers and its underlying operational model. Value proposition adjustments may affect a company's target market, product or service, and revenue model at the value proposition level

Awareness of innovation and its overall influence on national well-being has evolved significantly during the last several decades. New or considerably enhanced products or processes, as well as novel approaches to marketing and management, are among the more prevalent definitions of what is usually referred to as technology in the business world. New knowledge creation and first-time practical application of new information are all part of the innovation process, which is a value-free phrase by definition (Polónia and Gradim, 2021). Although unpredictability is present in all phases of an invention process, innovation is concerned with meeting the needs of the target audience in a novel manner.

Companies spend a lot of money on research and development to be able to compete with new technologies and goods that are being developed by their competitors. However, this is no longer enough to distinguish oneself from the competition and to be considered one of the finest in the industry. Businesses may play an important role here in ensuring that technology advancements are financially sustainable.

Models of innovation and innovation processes has developed as a result of the growth of innovation concepts. There is a wide range of models for process innovation. They all have a shared notion that innovation activities may be comprehensively articulated and depicted in process models. An S-shaped logistic function could be used to explain the life cycle of innovation, which includes three distinct phases: emerging, growth and maturity. Other studies focus on the features of innovation that are specified at different phases of innovation development. According to Gassmann, Bader and Thompson (2020), the stages of the innovation process include recognition, development, realisation and distribution. In order to simplify the explanation of innovation processes, models of innovation often differentiate between the discovery (invention), the determination of viable application areas for the products of innovation, and the growth, design, and use of those findings.

Innovators face additional hurdles when their awareness of innovation as a series of actions deepens. While innovation is often viewed as the end result of a series of steps, this is not necessarily the case; rather, it involves a number of feedback loops. Many innovation projects follow typical activities and phases, however because of the unpredictability of reaching outcomes and completing tasks with the needed level of quality, innovators must provide feedback throughout their work. Innovations get more and more complicated as a result of these obstacles, which are also influenced by the complexity of the external environment, or “framework.”

Businesses may charge greater rates for new items before their rivals' products are even on the market. For a company's reputation, being creative is a positive thing. In the previous, if they were pioneers, people are eager to see what they have to offer in the future (Polónia and Gradim, 2021). The value of current goods and services may be enhanced through new innovations in the production process. Economies of scope may benefit businesses with a wide range of creative goods. There are several drawbacks to implementing an innovation model, including the fact that it may take a long time to adopt and is quite expensive.

Conclusion

Thus, the importance of Innovation management methods on intellectual property has its substantive importance on business context, not only does it support eccentric business operatives and flexibility but also ensure substantive progress and development in innovative ways. To this context, innovation management is considered to be apt and significant for innovation and business developments.

References

Bican, P.M., Guderian, C.C. and Ringbeck, A., 2017. Managing knowledge in open innovation processes: an intellectual property perspective. Journal of Knowledge Management.

Chen, J., Brem, A., Viardot, E. and Wong, P.K. eds., 2019. The routledge companion to innovation management. Routledge.

de Oliveira, R.A., Komesu, A., Rossell, C.E.V., Maciel, M.R.W. and Maciel Filho, R., 2020. A study of the residual fermentation sugars influence on an alternative downstream process for first and second-generation lactic acid. Sustainable Chemistry and Pharmacy, 15, p.100206.

Furtado, A.T., Hekkert, M.P. and Negro, S.O., 2020. Of actors, functions, and fuels: Exploring a second generation ethanol transition from a technological innovation systems perspective in Brazil. Energy Research & Social Science, 70, p.101706.

García-Muiña, F.E., Fuentes-Moraleda, L., Vacas-Guerrero, T. and Rienda-Gómez, J.J., 2019. Understanding open innovation in small and medium-sized museums and exhibition halls: An analysis model. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management.

Gassmann, O., Bader, M.A. and Thompson, M.J., 2020. Patent Management: Protecting Intellectual Property and Innovation. Springer Nature.

Guertler, M.R., Kriz, A. and Sick, N., 2020. Encouraging and enabling action research in innovation management. R&D Management, 50(3), pp.380-395.

Kusi-Sarpong, S., Gupta, H. and Sarkis, J., 2019. A supply chain sustainability innovation framework and evaluation methodology. International Journal of Production Research, 57(7), pp.1990-2008.

Leonidou, E., Christofi, M., Vrontis, D. and Thrassou, A., 2020. An integrative framework of stakeholder engagement for innovation management and entrepreneurship development. Journal of Business Research, 119, pp.245-258.

Nestle, V., 2021. Innovation Management and Digitization: Will Everything Remain Different?. Creating Innovation Spaces: Impulses for Start-ups and Established Companies in Global Competition, pp.33-48.

Polónia, D.F. and Gradim, A.C., 2021, June. Innovation and Intellectual Property Management in Portuguese and Spanish Hospitals Through a Mixed Methodological Approach. In European Conference on Research Methodology for Business and Management Studies (pp. 164-IX). Academic Conferences International Limited.

Rosado-Serrano, A. and Paul, J., 2018. A new conceptual model for international franchising. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 75, pp.179-188