The Potential of Revolutionary Ideas - Coursework Example

Your Name Professor’s name Subject Date Sources of New Ideas and Methods of Exploitation of the Sources Introduction Innovation is an important tool in assisting firms to be competitive. Various researches have indicated that the success of most businesses within the current competitive environment is dependent on how well an organization is able to identify new innovative ideas and successfully implement them better than competitors (Fuglsang 29). Identification of new revolutionary ideas is therefore often a strategic priority for most CEOS. The potential of revolutionary ideas to generate enormous wealth is evident in many instances as was the case with Apples iPod that replaced Sony’s walkman and Intuitive surgical that involve use of robotics-assisted procedures to undertake surgery from long distances among other innovations. Organizations are required to identify different sources of ideas besides utilization of various approaches to exploit the creativity of the sources. In the paper, different sources of new ideas including customers, suppliers, partners, and employees are identified and explored. The role and value of these sources is also acknowledged. Additionally, methods for instilling and exploiting the creativity of the sources are identified. Using the example of an interior design company (Hilex Home Interior design: a vintage interior décor company), examples of practical applications of different sources of innovation and examples of innovative ideas such as faux painting are explored. A. Identification and justification of sources of ideas for innovation Sources of New Ideas The sources of new ideas include external stakeholders who may have useful knowledge or skills. These include suppliers, customers, competitors, and universities. Customers Firms seek to identify and produce new and innovative products and ideas. Customers play a central role in the front-end innovation phase, which is also the most expensive phase of innovation (Gassman et al 48). Firms may integrate customer’s knowledge in the innovation cycle to produce advanced products and ideas that are likely to satisfy and reflect customers’ needs. Customers act as pull agents that drive innovation through their demands. The customers were keen on the faux painting project and asked for its introduction. They argued that this was done elsewhere and thought they needed the firm to supply a similar product. Customers regarded faux painting as appealing and suitable due to its role in cost reduction in the interior design in the developed countries. The idea could also be applied in almost all homes as well as the offices to make them look more cozy and attractive. Customers further viewed faux painting methods as simple enough for a beginning homeowner to create, with little instruction and without the need to hire a professional faux finisher. Changing a faux finish was also preferred because it is easily painted over, compared with the trouble of removing a wallpaper. Suppliers Suppliers are another key source of ideas for innovation. The organization can collaborate with the suppliers to improve on a technology (Shavinina 107). For instance, in the case of faux painting, the suppliers of the ingredients are crucial in improving the quality of ingredients thus contributing significantly to the success of the product. Suppliers provide the tools and materials that used by the company including faux painting. In collaboration with suppliers, the company can request for novel and high quality products that can satisfy customers needs. The suppliers decided on two types of materials that they could help the firm with, in their idea. These include the following; Glaze work, which uses a translucent mixture of paint, and glaze. It is applied with a brush, roller, or sponge and makes good textures.It is always smooth to the touch. Plasterwork is done with tinted plasters, or can bewashed over with earth pigments and mostlyapplied with a trowel. The result can be either flat to the touch on the surface or textured depending on the application method. They suppliers thought these would go a long way to express the customer’s desires as well as arouse their curiosity. They also thought these were new in the market and could offer competitive advantage over their competitors. Employees Employees are traditionally the main source of internal innovation in organizations. Employees interact with different individuals including supplier, colleagues, and customers and the process may be a source of new ideas. Shavinna (2003) asserts that even when the source of a new idea is a customer, the idea results from the interaction between the organizations employees and the customers. The process occurs where an employee with a problem or a need presents the same to an employees and the employee seeks how best to meet the demand by coming up with new concepts. In our case, the employees of the company had an agreement that the introduction of the faux painting into one of their products and services would greatly improve their rating in the interior design industry. Having the new service onboard would improve on the services they offered to their clients and this would mean that they would have to apply some of their knowledge and skills that they had not used before. The employees were also excited that this would mean that they were ahead of their competitors. In addition, the employees would be able to satisfy the customers curiosity as they had seen the services been offered elsewhere, and now they would provide them with the knowledge. METHODS TO INSTILL AND EXPLOIT THE CREATIVITY OF THESE SOURCES STRATEGIES USED IN AQUISATION OF NEW IDEAS Brainstorming Customers who had a meeting together to discuss these issues of new services in home decorations used brainstorming. They put ideas together from various groupings they had made. Each group brainstormed on pros and cons of the idea introduction. The groups had members of about 30 people who had to make these decisions and then compare them with other groups. The idea of faux painting is a new concept, which varied with customers’ preferences and tastes and therefore needed extensive marketing. Faux painting is simple compared with other paintings such as stencils and therefore will be affordable to most of them The idea being new will pick up sales faster following marketing of new products and its stages. From a marketing perspective the introduction of new products shows that the sales pick up faster as well as revenue until the decline of the product. The advantage of brainstorming sessions is that the method deducts conclusive ideas and then pooled to a common idea. This ensures that the customers have a common agreement on new product introductions and a deeper understanding on how it would affect the organizations (Bessant 18). The disadvantage of this brainstorming is the fact that it is time consuming and will therefore require much of their time to draw a conclusion. Collaborations This is where a group of researchers come up with ideas in order to improve the on their products and services (Gassman 48). These researchers agree on ideas related to ways of improving these services. They can also involve stakeholders in a company who would want to improve their services as well as their products. Partners who were in the meeting used this approach. The issues were presented prior to the meeting and had the opportunity to think of ways to improve the firm’s services. On the meeting day, they had to present their ideas so that it was agreed on the best one. These were the ideas; 1. Introduction of new products such as accessories instead of service improvement. These were accessories included cozy seats, wooden chair and so on. 2. Faux painting had the majority 3. Expanding the firm instead of introduction of new products 4. Introduction of new and vibrant workforce to chip in new ideas 5. Investing in other businesses rather their own, say stock exchange They therefore concluded that faux painting was more appealing and would bring on more sales as a new product. The decision was unanimously decide by the majority. It was also argued that faux painting would not require much of the resources like introduction of accessories. Collaborations advantages include providing good ideas which can be drawn from researchers and experts in the field (Gassman 49). For example the partners were experts in their own fields, thus provided much of these in this meeting. On the contrary, too much of this expertise can result into conflicts hence prolonging decision making process Workshop and Seminars HID employees’ were treated to a workshop organized by the firm. The workshop had professionals and various experts in home interior decorations. They were then introduced to the idea of faux painting and given reason s why it represents the future of home decorations. The professionals taught of this new concept and how the idea is cost effective and had competitive advantage over their competitors. The employees were then asked to give their views as well as their ideas as to how the concept will affect their future. From the discussion the marketing department agreed while the technical department saw it as an opportunity to expand their skills. The marketers who are closely attached to the customers will organize seminars for them where they are going to be educated on home interior designs such as the home expo seminars. This will be an added advantage to the customers because they will only pay a small fee for those services and will have a lot to learn. For the potential staff, there is need to train them and always update the kind of technology that the firm will be using. After the meeting the ideas was agreed on by the employees and were excited to other these to their customers. Workshops and seminars provide an opportunity to learn new ideas and training for the employees thus exposing them to technological advances (Gassman 49). This is what many companies are investing in their workforce to ensure growth and employee development. However it’s costly to both the company and the employees if the situation demands they output. Supplier associations These associations are held by suppliers in order for them to introduce new services and the products to their clients. These suppliers had seen a future of faux painting as well its growth and therefore were ready to offer it services to their clients. For continued success, a business should plan to introduce new sophisticated designs and services so that its customers can always expect more and anxious of vintage designs. The business will position its services and products differently in comparison with other service businesses in the same industry, for example, services according to the income of the client; Unique paints which are affordable and exotic decorations. The suppliers thought there is a need of highly experienced interior designing personnel who are aware latest trends in the market or have worked entirely in the designing field. The differences that are currently existing are; more interior decor practices are engaging in the market, this is because of the latest variety of courses in interior designing that are being offered. Finally, supplier associations prove to be an effective way to come up with better ideas as they are fast and effective (Gassman 50). This is what the suppliers did in the meeting and new ideas were plenty. However, to some companies, this does not exist where there are no suppliers involved. Conclusion The management of HID how is the HID believes that to ensure continuous success of the firm they must have an effective program which identifies competencies, experience and qualification required under the job description. By improving product quality, the business sales and market share will increase, which in turn will permit the business to increase its investment in improving product quality. Improvements in quality will not only help generate profits by increasing sales but also decrease costs and increase profits. Works Cited Gassmann, O., Sandmeier, P. and Wecht, C.H. (2006) ‘Extreme customer innovation in the front-end: learning from a new software paradigm’, Int. J. Technology Management, Vol. 33, No. 1, pp.46–66. Bessant, John, Barnes, Justin, Morris, Mike and Kaplinsky, Raphael (2003). Building and sustaining learning networks. EUROMA 2003, 16-18 Jun 2003, Vicenza, Italy. West, Joel and Bogers, Marcel, “Leveraging External Sources of Innovation: A Review of Research on Open Innovation,” forthcoming in the Journal of Product Innovation Management, January 2, 2013, http://ssrn.com/abstract=2195675 Fuglsang, L. (2008). Innovation and the creative process. Towards innovation with care. Northampton: Edward Elgar Publishing. Shavinina, L. (2003). The international handbook on innovation. New York: Elsevier. Read More