Innovation Guide For Small Retail Businesses: An Essay.

Learning outcomes targeted:

1. Able to critically reflect on written and verbal communications between themselves and others, of varying seniority and level of technical expertise.

2. Able to evaluate complex choices and reflect upon the options and consequences of actions arising from recommendations followed.

3. Able to employ and evaluate a range of presentation techniques in building cases in support of or in opposition to innovations and initiatives.

4. Able to evaluate and reflect critically on the various ICT operations principles at the heart of architecture and network developments and deployments
 

Introduction to the Innovation Guide

Innovation guide has been considered as a helping tool or mechanism for the individuals that are planning for launching up an idea of business (Sheldon 2000). As per the given scenario, a small high-street retail is the business entity that is specialized in developing software and electronics for the gaming industry. The innovation guide will be proven very much advantageous for the business entity as it will aid the firm in learning more about the innovation process. This will aid the business corporation in developing knowledge about the process of how to bring a new product to the market with a high level of effectiveness.

After analyzing the guide it has been observed that the innovation guide has been segmented into three main sections. From which the first part comprises of introduction to the new product development. This introduction also includes the highlighted critical information about the actual innovation project and this will be proven beneficial for the small high-street retail SME before proceeding. Part two and three are considered as variations based on the same theme (Morabito, 2016). A methodology is provided by these sections and also a roadmap is offered for making the product to reach to the market. These both sections offer a series of steps for assisting the business entity in going through commercialization process, from the idea stage to the launch of the product in the market. There is the main difference in both these sections and that is the part three is a more formalized process. 

One of the crucial and critical tasks is commercializing a new product. On the basis of the research, it has been analyzed that measures and precautions can be adopted for improving the chances of a successful launch. The number of measures and prevention approaches are present in this innovation guide.

The term innovation is a broad concept and possesses different meanings for different people. According to the Conference Board of Canada has defined innovation as “ a methodology through which the extraction of economic value is done from knowledge by generating, developing and implementing the ideas for producing or advancing products and services. The term innovation comprises more of Research and development and technological change and making use of knowledge and transforming it in wealth and success (Wolfe, 2017). Innovation does not come out of the blue as it will require commitment towards the varied range of practices such as R&D, training, commercialization etc. Generation of innovation is done from a concussion, purposeful, search for new and better opportunities. On the basis of the research executed by Peter Drucker, that is the best selling author and management Guru, it has been stated that the term innovation is conceptual and perceptual.

Segmentation of the Guide into Three Main Sections

On the basis of the studies, it has been indicated that the entrepreneurs who have a well-developed plan for launching a new product are proven more successful as compared to the one who does not have a plan (Johnson, 2016). As today’s top business entities are making use of systematic approaches for transforming the ideas into products and hence the A small high-street retail SME should also make use of the same approaches. One of the best approaches that can be used for new product development is Stage Gate approach developed by Dr. Robbert G Kooper. This approach consists of 5 stages. A 3 stage version of stage-gate approach has also been developed for smaller-lower risk projects.

The first step in this process is checking the relevancy of the business idea. In this, A small high-street retail SME will have to monitor all the related aspects of checking that the business idea is fitting the philosophy of the company. The next is the market research and technical feasibility under which the entity will have to conduct a detailed research on the market and the significant aspects of the same (Nicoletti, 2016). Checking technical feasibility is developing a tactical plan under which the entity will be producing, storing and delivering the products and services. The next stage is searching for a marketplace on which the product will be targeted. The further step comprises of the development of the product and testing the same.  After this, the market sale of the prototype is looked and a decision is taken whether to move towards the full-scale production. And the last stage is of product launch and start full-scale production. 

The new product of small high-street retail SME is the development of business operations through online and offline mediums that is bringing bricks and mortar to “clicks and mortar” organization (Morabito, 2016). New products range from updates of the existing products to “new to market” products that are first of their kind. There are both chances of being successful and unsuccessful of launching the new product in the market. The below mentioned are some of the tips or guidelines that can be used by small high-street retail SME for product development process:

• The time and resources that are required to be utilized for bringing the product to the market should not be underestimated (Pisano, 2015).
• Experienced investors should be attracted
• Board of directors is also required to be professional and experienced
• The small high-street retail SME is required to assess all the options for commercialization

The steps for new product development are considered as the guide throughout the overall process of product development. Identification of mentor or a business associate is recommended for working through the process (Guimaraes et al., 2016). The new product development process has been segmented into four stages and that are market validation, product development, and testing, the third and fourth stage is all about full-scale production and market launch respectively. The below are the main stages of new product development process:

Commercializing a New Product

Market validation is the process of determining the new product idea and the chances of succeeding in the selected market region (Wolfe 2017). This stage consists of a varied range of business practices such as identifying a target market, holding focus groups for making identification of requirements of consumers, assessing the competitors etc. As per the given scenario, small high-street retail SME is planning to move to online and offline platforms by making use of innovation. The below mentioned are some aspects that can be done for validating the market:

• Make identification of users requirements (Goffin and Mitchell, 2016)
• Identifying and determining a target market   
• Identifying competition
• Potential market barriers (Johnson, 2016)
• Clarifying features and advantages of a launched product
• Feedbacks from leaders of the sector 

This processor stage has been considered as a time consuming and capital intensive stage. The product development to its best and also testing of the same is done at this stage. And this is done so as to ensure that the product is meeting the expectations of the customers when introduced in the market (Howaldt, Domanski, and Schwarz, 2015). This stage is all about moving the idea or transforming the idea to the real concept. The product development process is different for each company. As small high-street retail SME is a small business firm the product development will also be small with minimum stages. Testing the product is the last phase before the product is launched in the marketplace (Planning, 2015). A delivery of final validation is also required for ensuring that product is ready to move to production. The activities that small high-street retail SME can execute for testing the product before launching it are testing the product with the customers so as to ensure that it will be accepted in the market and in labs the testing will be done so as to ensure that the quality will be meeting the expectations of the customers. In general, the common activities that will take place at this stage are in-house product tests, extended customer field trials, 

The whole concept of production is revolving around the establishment of a manufacturing plant and some of the integral operations that are required to be executed are industry experience and a strong track record will be proven greatly advantageous (Burns, 2016).  A good team of experts will be considered as the core ingredient of the production process and that will ensure quality in production. Market launching activities can be considered as the initial promotional activities for the product. As small high-street retail SME is planning to move to both online and offline platforms and is diversifying the scope of activities and operations. And hence it is very essential for the firm to promote the products for generating awareness and thus increasing the demand (Martin, 2014). 

References

Burns, P., 2016. Entrepreneurship and small business. Palgrave Macmillan Limited.

Guimaraes, T., Thielman, B., Guimaraes, V.C. and Cornick, M., 2016. Absorptive capacity as moderator for company innovation success. International Journal of the Academic Business World, 10(2), pp.1-18.

Howaldt, J., Domanski, D., and Schwarz, M., 2015. Rethinking social entrepreneurship: The concept of social entrepreneurship from the perspective of socio-scientific innovation research. Journal of creativity and business innovation, 1(1).

Johnson, G., 2016. Exploring strategy: text and cases. Pearson Education.

Goffin, K. and Mitchell, R., 2016. Innovation Management: Effective Strategy and Implementation. Palgrave Macmillan.

Martin, M., 2014. The effectiveness of Business Innovation in Emerging Economies; Exploitation of Relative Profit Growth Model. World Review of Business Research, 4(2), pp.34-48.

Morabito, V., 2016. Future of Digital Business Innovation. Springer International Publishing.

Morabito, V., 2016. Trends and challenges in digital business innovation. Springer.

Nicoletti, B., 2016. Digital Insurance: Business Innovation in the Post-Crisis Era. Springer.

Pisano, G.P., 2015. You need an innovation strategy. Harvard Business Review, 93(6), pp.44-54.

Planing, P., 2015. Business model innovation in a circular economy reasons for non-acceptance of circular business models. Open journal of business model innovation, 1, p.11.

Sheldon, P, 2000, E-commerce innovations What’s now and what’s next, Assessed on 16^th March 2018, https://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/68106.html.

Wolfe, D., 2017. Impact and Effectiveness of Public Support for Business Innovation. Mimeo. Innovation Policy Lab, University of Toronto.

Wolfe, L, 2017, How to write a technical feasibility study, Assessed on 16^th March 2018, https://www.thebalance.com/writing-technical-feasibility-study-3515778.