Improving Creativity And Innovation Management In Arcadia Group Essay.

The scenario: You just completed your undergraduate studies and managed to land your first job at a large company (make your pick). Upon meeting your line manager, she was fascinated to hear that you have done a course on Innovation Management and said excitingly that she’s just thought of your first task! The managing director of the company recently mentioned in a meeting the need to capture good ideas for new products/services and improving processes that may originate from within or outside the company. Currently the company has got no system in place to do this and it was something that they should think of implementing in the near future. The problem is that nobody in the company has any experience or knowledge in this regard, and this is where you enter the picture. Your task is to write an essay of no longer than 2,000 words in which you advise them regarding ‘best practices’ on idea management. You should also propose which system(s) they might use and why, and how implementation and use by employees can be ensured. That’s all she said before she took a call on her mobile and excused herself, but before she disappeared she turned around and said “on my desk please, next Wednesday before my Thursday Management meeting”. Over to you – this is your chance to make a good first impression.

Encouraging Creativity in Arcadia Group

Innovation Management comprises of management along with innovation process and it is indicative of product, business, process along with that of organizational innovation. Innovation management comprises of tools that can allow the management in responding to internal along with external opportunities. The organization can make use of the creativity that can help them in introduction of new ideas and processes. This essay expounds on the ideas that Arcadia Group can make use of that can help in improving the process related to the company. It also proposes a system that can be made use of that can help in improving the services of the company.

Creativity can be fostered in the organization with the help of encouragement coming from the organization. The encouragement of the leadership in relation to Arcadia Group can play a dominant role in encouraging the process of creativity in the organization. An institutional strategy should be provided by the top management that can help in encouraging the employees. The managing director of Arcadia Group has pointed out the importance of new ideas for improving the products and services of organization. There is no system currently in Arcadia Group that they can implement in the near future for the growth of the organization. The employees of Arcadia Group does not have sufficient knowledge on the aspect of idea management and how crucial it can prove to be for the growth of the organization. A special program can be introduced in Arcadia Group that can help in improving creativity in relation to the individuals. A system should be introduced in the top management that can help in rendering transparency to the organization. Integrated thinking can be made use of by the management of Arcadia Group that can help the leaders in removing the constraints. The leaders of Arcadia Group should spend more amount of time in removing the constraints in relation to the employees (Arcadiagroup.co.uk 2018). Procedures should be established that can help in measuring innovation performance. The innovation portfolio can help in covering all aspects related to innovation projects. The programs can be aggregated that can help in assessing the value in relation to the projects. The composition in relation to portfolio should be evaluated by Arcadia Group. The evaluation criteria can be put into practice by making use of charts along with bubble diagrams (Nambisan et al. 2017).

Creativity is essential for an organization as it acts as a pre-condition in relation to innovation. A company will be able to gain competitive advantage with the help of creativity. Breakthroughs in every aspect in relation to Arcadia Group can help them in emerging as a competitive organisation (Martín-de Castro 2015). It is important that more and more people are involved in the process of creativity that can help in tackling the increasing challenges. Creativity can be fostered in an organization with the help of technical along with intellectual knowledge. Arcadia group can make use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) that can assist them in the arena of predictive forecasting along with that of capacity planning. The consumers of Arcadia Group will be able to provide better product that can easily be available to the consumers. Implementation of an approach can help in ensuring that Arcadia Group rises above their competitors owing to the innovations that are adopted by the organization. The AI based approach can help in the reduction of the forecasting errors by around 50 percent (Goffin and Mitchell 2016). It can also bring forth supply chain benefits as it can lead to the creation of a smooth browsing experience that can improve the process of customer retention. The retailers with the help of artificial intelligence can leverage the data in providing a seamless experience for that of the customers. It can help in increasing the conversion and lead to repeat purchase from Arcadia Group. Augmented reality is another technology that can be made use of for improving the services of Arcadia Group (Westland 2016).  It can act as a novelty factor for the company and it can help in solving real problems pertaining to the fashion industry. Augmented reality has low barriers in relation to adoption. It does not need any kind of dedicated software as it can work with that of smartphones. Augmented reality proves to be convenient and it can assist in the elimination of testing the physical products within the stores. They can also open that of a digital dressing room that can allow the customers of Arcadia Group to try the clothes without entering the stores. This can thus provide a pleasurable experience for the consumers. Facial recognition can be combined with that of augmented reality and the customers can check how they are looking in different kinds of clothes (De Massis et al. 2018).

Fostering Intellectual and Technical Knowledge

Intellectual creativity along with skill can be made use of in the fashion industry that can act as a source in relation to competitive advantage. Copying is another issue that is rampant within that of the fashion industry. The textile design is a form pertaining to art that shows the soul in relation to an artist. Trademarks can help in maintaining the prestige premium in relation to Arcadia Groups (Bergman, Jantunen and Tarkiainen 2015). A bond can be developed with the customers with the help of brand names and these should be protected by making use of registration pertaining to the trademarks. Trademark is of crucial importance for the fashion industry and Arcadia Group should make use of the trademarks that can help in protecting the intellectual knowledge of the learners (Lichtenthaler 2015).

Cognitive flexibility along with divergent thinking can prove to be a merit for Arcadia Group. Creative thinking skills can act as a key component in that of the 21^st century and it can help the employees in remaining flexible (Bernardo 2014). It can help them in dealing with the opportunities along with the challenges that can prove to be crucial in relation to fast-changing world. Creativity thinking can be imbibed in the employees by encouragement of the process of divergent thinking. The different opinions of the employees should be properly attended to by the top management of Arcadia Group and it can prove to be a crucial step that can help in providing encouragement to the employees (West and Bogers 2014). The problem-solving abilities of the employees should be encouraged in the organization that can help in paving the path for creativity in relation to Arcadia Group. Incentives along with bonuses should be there that can help in providing the employees with enthusiasm so that they would be able to deliver effective performance for the organization ( Lee and Lee 2017).

Innovation Protection strategies can be made use of by Arcadia Group that can help the firm in capturing a large amount of revenue. Arcadia group should perform inventory in relation to the licences both inside and outside the company. Arcadia Group should review the licences that can help in ensuring that the maintenance in relation to licensed products has been carried ou in the proper manner. The procedures in relation to internal patent management should be entrenched within that of the organisational culture (Morris 2017). It can help in the protection of the competitive advantage in relation to each business unit and it can help Arcadia Group in focussing on that of the economically valuable aspect in relation to the company. Arcadia Group should be careful regarding which are the inventions that should be protected and one how one can protect in relation to the invention. The process of making the decisions should be continuously collected and organized. Those inventions should be filtered out that may not prove to be advantageous for Arcadia Group (De Vries et al. 2017). There are some processes that proves to be costly and are not aligned with that of the corporate business strategy of Arcadia Group. They should be identified at the nascent stage and curbed so that it does not hinder the progress pertaining to the organization.

Protecting Intellectual Property

The innovation management should focus on the aspect of customers that can help in leading forth incremental ideas. The marketing department of Arcadia Group should be able to manage the aspects related to innovation that can prove to be a stronghold for the company. Emphasis should be laid on the customers needs and Arcadia Group should focus on customer loyalty that can help in leading innovation within the organisation (Storey 2016). The quantity challenge can be addressed with the help of fair evaluation along with that of motivational feedback. The quality challenge in relation to Arcadia Group can be addressed with the help of mentoring along with working together within a team.

There should be effective communication pertaining to business value in relation to Arcadia Group. It should target the communication mechanism that can help the organization in achieving the best results. The principles in relation to Arcadia Group should focus on the aspect of information infrastructure. The information system should be adapted to the organization and different ways should be implemented which the users can accept. Communication between the actors in Arcadia Group can prove to be important for the sharing of experiences along with knowledge. Consideration should be put on the informal and social line pertaining to the organization in order to bring about innovation in Arcadia Group.

An important measure in relation to open innovation is quantity of the ideas that are submitted. There can be many ideas that can obstruct process in relation to reviewing and making the decisions on timely basis. Arcadia Group should take recourse to a strategy that can assist the organization. Only those ideas pertaining to innovation should be selected within Arcadia Group and the unsolicited ideas should be filtered that can greatly help in the aspect of idea management in relation to the organization. The ideas that are of great quality should be worked upon by Arcadia Group in an efficient manner that can help the company in earning profits. The filtration process of Arcadia Group can be successful when open innovation team creates criteria that can help Arcadia Group in sorting through the submissions. The innovation should be processed rapidly that can reduce that of time-to-market. The strong evaluation criteria should be established that can help in bringing value to that of the business. The open innovation program should have a strong internal structure. The ideas should be reviewed in the timely manner and the internal structure should make use of people along with that of technology.

Conclusion:

Creativity should be encouraged in Arcadia Group that can provide the employees with encouragement. The leaders should be encouraged that can help in bringing creativity within the organization. Artificial Intelligence can be used by Arcadia Group that can assist in the field of predictive forecasting. Augmented technology can also be used by Arcadia Group that can bring improvements in relation to the services of Arcadia Group. Trademarks can help in the protection of the innovative ideas related to Arcadia Group. The employees should have an attitude of problem-solving that can pave the path for creativity in the organization. Innovation protection strategies can help Arcadia Group in the field of earning revenue. It can perform inventory pertaining to licenses inside and outside that of the company.

References:

Arcadiagroup.co.uk (2018). Arcadia. [online] Arcadiagroup.co.uk. Available at: https://www.arcadiagroup.co.uk/ [Accessed 6 May 2018].

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