Innovation and Commercialisation

Introduction
Next Plc specialises in the apparel industry, and its first store was established in 1982 in the UK (Next Plc: at a
glance 2017). Pursuing a path of continuous innovation and providing customers with stylish and exclusive
clothing and accessories helped the firm become one of the recognisable brands worldwide. Today, Next Plc has
400 stores in the UK solely while 200 locations are also open globally with its total sales of £4.1 billion (Next Plc:
at a glance 2017).

Consequently, the primary goal of the paper is to evaluate Next Plc innovation initiatives and market potential. In

the first place, innovation theory will be discussed by relying on the BVS model. After that, the acquired

knowledge will be implemented into practice by assessing internal and external environment of Next Plc. Based

on this analysis, the recommendations will be presented, and conclusions will summarise the main findings of the

paper while offering new insights concerning the approaches to enhance Next Plc’s innovation processes.

LO1

Innovation is the introduction of new ideas and concepts. It begins with creative ideas and how they
are introduced and implemented in a business. Through this process new products and services are
developed or existing products are improved and commercialised in the marketplace. Also, it refers
to products that are new and create value to its user.

Innovation is key to building a successful business as it can help with the growth of the organisation.
Successfully implementing innovation and creativity adds value to the products and the business,
hence increasing its profit. Another importance of innovation is that it allows the organisation to stay
ahead of competitors by bringing new ideas and products in the market and satisfying their
customers. In this modern society, technology is evolving at a rapid rate meaning there are new
equipment and processes to make a more developed product. Therefore, innovation helps to take
advantage of technology to create better products, quality marketing and track performance of the
business by using analytics.

Invention refers to the making of a novel product, process, or a device whether innovation refers to
turning the invention into a product and bringing into the market to meet existing customer needs.
To invent a product, the factors of knowledge, financial aid and competence are required. The
inventor needs to have enough knowledge of the new ways of creating the product, needs money
for the resources and equipment and needs to have the correct skillset to create the product.
However, innovation needs knowledge about technical expertise, market needs and financial aspects
to launch the product in the market and determine its success. Next Plc is an innovation driven
company that aims to design unique and stylish products, receive global recognition, and satisfy
constantly changing customer requirements.

Using your chosen organisation, explain how organisational vision, leadership, culture, and
teamwork can shape innovation and commercialisation.

According to CEO of GE (Welch, No Date),” Good business leaders create a vision, articulate the
vision, passionately own the vision, and relentlessly drive it to completion”. To encourage innovation
the company must have a clear vision and define the direction of its business for people to
understand and remember. The organisational vision of Next Plc is to deliver beautifully designed
clothes and homewares at an accessible price and increase their Earnings Per Share through long
term and sustainable growth.

Organisational leadership and strategies affect innovation as leaders can influence the organisation
environment for the employees. Leaders set direction and create new ways of working and inspiring
visions. It is about being dynamic and an inspiration to the team. Leaders must be willing to grow
and change themselves to allow innovation to rise in the organisation. Recruiting employees with
creative ideas and forward thinking isn’t enough to form the baseline of innovation but needs strong
leadership with an active role.

There are many leadership styles and some of them are explained below:

Autocratic leadership is where the manager makes all the decisions and takes no or very little input
from other staff members. Leaders make decisions of their own and do not consult other group
members for advice.

Democratic leadership also known as participative leadership is about involving others in the
decision-making process. Through sharing responsibilities and making decisions together,
democratic leaders empower others to develop critical-thinking and other valuable skills.

Benevolent Leaders adopt a caring and an attentive attitude towards employees in an organisation
whereas the traditional management viewed employees as resources. Benevolent leadership allows
employees to feel more involved in decision-making and sharing their ideas or opinions with leaders.

Affiliative leadership is to form harmony between staff members and avoid conflict. This creates a
peaceful work environment by creating emotional and social bonds between team members.

Transformational leadership describes leaders with an energetic and enthusiastic personality. They
can motivate a group of people and inspire them to make positive changes. The leader is actively
involved in the process and focused on helping individual members to succeed in their tasks.

Next Plc uses a hierarchical structure and follows a chain of command from corporate level one to
three. The division of responsibilities are done using the hierarchical manner where the CEO gives
responsibility to the head of departments who then passes them onto the managers and managers
announces it to the general employees.

Add a diagram with the organisational structure.

Next Plc follows a task-based culture to motivate and supports their employees for their personal
growth. ….. explain culture

“Our priority is to provide a working environment in which our employees can develop to achieve
their full potential, both professionally and personally.”, (Next plc,2021). The company support their
employees by investing their time and resources for training and development. By building a great
team, Next leaders inspire and encourages their employees to be more creative and innovative in
achieving the company’s vision and improve the overall organisation.
There are different sources of innovations that a business may implement for improvement of the
organisation.

Incremental innovation

This innovation refers to improving a system or a company’s existing products and services by
making various small adjustments that improve the overall quality and make it accessible at a
cheaper price. These improvements help the organisation to stand out in the market against
competitors while they are working on current offerings.

Frugal Innovation

It is the process of doing more with less. According to (Radjou, 2015), “frugal innovation is the ability
to create significantly more business and social value while minimising the use of diminishing
resources such as energy.” This innovation sees the constraints of resources as an opportunity to
devise low-cost strategies, innovate and develop better products and supply it to lowincome users.

Red ocean

When a marketplace is known and already existing, it is referred to as Red Ocean. This is where the
industry boundaries are defined and there is immense competition between companies in the same
market as they try to outperform each other to attain a large share in the market.

Red Oceans refer to the known market space, i.e. all the industries in existence today. In red oceans,
industry boundaries are defined and accepted, and the competitive rules of the game are known.
Companies try to outperform their rivals to grab a greater share of existing depmand usually through
marginal changes in offering level and price. As the market space gets crowded, prospects for profits
and growth are reduced. Products become commodities, and cutthroat competition turns the red
ocean bloody.

Red oceans are all the industries in existence today – the known market
space, where industry boundaries are defined and companies try to
outperform their rivals to grab a greater share of the existing market.
Cutthroat competition turns the ocean bloody red. Hence, the term ‘red’
oceans.

Blue ocean

Sustaining

Disruptive
P3 Explain the 4Ps of innovation and explain the use of the innovation funnel to examine and
shape innovative ideas.

P4 Explain developments in frugal innovation and provide examples of how it is used in an

organisational context.

M2 Analyse and apply the innovation funnel in an organisational context.

M3 Evaluate the role of frugal innovation in an organisational context.

D1: Critically analyse how innovation is developed, embedded and measured in an organisational
context.

References