Advancement in technology and the changing lifestyles of people requires flexibility and adaptation for business to survive. Technology has affected the way business is conducted around the globe. Opportunities present are friendly to innovative people who are able to come up with different strategies to solve problems that face human beings. Innovation and sustainability have become pertinent in business’ success. Concept of Sustainability Sustainability is a term used in reference to the need to conserve natural environments. It therefore implies that all things that are important to people’s lives depend on the environment. People thrive and survive because of their environment, which allows them to gain access to water and other important resources that are pertinent to their general life ad health. Therefore, ensuring that these environments are conserved should be their obligation. Businesses and individuals need to take the initiative of ensuring that the surrounding environment is protected from bad Continue reading
Innovation Management
Open Innovation and Co-Innovation – Definition and Differences
Open Innovation and Co-Innovation Defined Innovation and innovators play a critical role in the business world. When speaking of innovators, the role of outside innovators is considered to be fundamental, and the success of companies like Apple Inc. confirms this fact. The aspect of having a reliance on outside innovators is what has given companies like Apple Inc. a name, especially when looking at the iPhone. Open innovation is the tendency of businesses to make use of knowledge inflows and outflows as the sources for ideas and acceleration of innovation strategies. Co-innovation, on the other hand, is considered to be a type of open innovation. Co-innovation is to involve the collaboration of two or more partners that work purposively in the management of the flow of mutual knowledge across the boundaries of the organizations through joint innovation and commercialization of the said innovation. Overall, open innovation allows companies to commercialize Continue reading
Incumbent vs. Challenger Business Models – Major Differences with Examples
An incumbent can be described as an individual who is responsible for his or her office in a governmental or organizational position. The concerned person has the obligation to the position or the office he or she holds. Thus, an incumbent from a business perspective is generally referred to a leader or a person who is being discussed. The incumbent in a specific industry can change in the responses to bring changes in the market. An incumbent can also be referred to as the business relationship like those that exist between a supplier which is providing materials to another business. A challenger can thus be described as the firm or a leader which has a low market share or a person which is aiming similar leadership position. Challengers are the competitors that are aiming towards for the power and authorities which is already held by an incumbent person (incumbent vs Continue reading
Role of Open Data in Business Innovation
In today’s competitive business world, organizations are constantly struggling to generate a competitive advantage over others in order to sustain their future growth. Companies are facing fierce competition from local as well as international organizations due to globalization and digitalization. In fast pace and rapidly changing industries, corporations rely on an innovative approach to generate and maintain their competitive advantage. Incumbents in industries are threatened by challengers because they use innovation to create a competitive advantage over them. In order to stay relevant and match industry demand, corporations invest in new technology to ensure that they satisfy customers’ requirements and improve their operations. Along with the popularity of internet which is fueled by the growth rate of smartphone users, the popularity of open data has grown as well. Open data is referred to an idea which provides that some data should be freely available and accessible to everyone to republish Continue reading
Creativity and Innovation in Organizations
Creativity and Innovation are two very inter related concepts, however have subtle differences. Creativity can be understood as the ability to act or think in new or novel ways, while innovation and invention are two types of creativity. Innovation is the ability to implement creativity in something that already exists, while invention is the usage of creativity to make something new. Experts often Creativity and Innovation are two very inter related concepts consider creativity as a sort of ‘muse’ for the team or individual, or a source from which concepts or ideas emerge, possibly in an unpredictable or haphazard way. Creativity is often associated with three aspects, namely: problem solving, imagination and struggle. Imagination can involve aspects such as spontaneity, unconventionality, giftedness or intuition, while problem solving can involve intellect, organization and skills, and struggle implies that creativity can be a difficult process of extracting ideas through struggle. Creativity is Continue reading
Business Innovation – Unveiling the Innovation Radar
Business innovation has been defined as the building of substantial new value for customers and the organization by creatively changing one or multiple dimensions of the business system. This definition leads to three important characterizations of business innovation. Business innovation is all about new value and not something new: Innovation is relevant if it only is creating any value for the customers and simultaneously for the firm. Therefore, creation of anything new is neither important or enough for business innovation. Customers are the only ones who make sure of the importance of any innovation by contributing to it. There is no difference made by an organization’s thought process regarding it. What actually matters is if the customers will at all pay or not. Business innovation comes in different forms: Innovation can happen on any dimension inside a business system. As an instance, the Home Depot Inc., innovated by targeting those Continue reading