Innovation Management - Innovation Development Activities - Coursework Example

Executive Summary

Product development will undergo various stages before it becomes a fully developed product. Market segmentation indicates that the United Kingdom will be the target market for the new innovative product. Analysis of the needs of the customer will involve identification of the needs of the users. The information about the needs of the customers will be collected at this stage through the use of interviews, questionnaires and surveys. Information will be incorporated in the design phase. It will play an influential role in determining the changes that need to be made on the prototype. All the materials will undergo testing to ensure that they are environmentally friendly. High standards of ethics will be observed to ensure that the product does not harm the users or members of the society. An ethical framework will have to be developed in order to govern all the activities of the company. The technical activities will involve assembling the components of the product. This will be carried out by the technicians at the company. Three main tests will be performed on the product after it has been assembled. This will include near testing, field testing and market testing. A schedule will be used to govern the activities of the project. It is expected that all the activities will be carried out from 1st June to 1 October. The company will obtain a patent for intellectual property protection. This will ensure that the invention is protected from any other party that may intend to exploit it for commercial purposes. The patent will ensure that that the company is able to benefit financially in case it makes a decision to commercialize the product.

Innovation development activities

Market segmentation

Market segmentation strategy involves dividing a broad target market into subjects of consumers, businesses or countries that have common needs, priorities or interests. This is for the purposes of developing the best strategies to target them (Kotler & Armstrong, 2013). This activity will form an important aspect of the project as it will be used to determine areas that the innovative products will be sold. Market segmentation strategies will be used for identifying the target customers in the market. The type of market segmentation that will be utilized during the process involves the geographic segmentation. The geographic segmentation mainly involves a state, country, city neighborhood or region. The company will target the United Kingdom as the target market. This is because the country faces similar challenges in terms of power outages. This activity will have positive impacts on the project as it will identify the areas that the new innovative products can be sold within the United Kingdom. It will provide the organization with the data about the targeted customers as well as their challenges in terms of electricity. In order to run this activity, a lot of marketing skills will be required. Data about the challenges faced by consumers in terms of power outages will also be required. Questionnaires as well as interviews may be administered to the consumers in order to obtain some of the information (Jobber & Ellis-Chadwick, 2012). A survey may also be an important tool for the activity. The company may be required to hire a research firm or use its marketing department to carry out the activity.

Customer needs analysis

Customer needs analysis is an important step that influences the design of the innovative product. It involves defining who the users are as well as the tasks, goals, experience levels and functions that they need in from a system. The customer needs analysis is useful in terms of establishing what the customers think about the functionality of the system (Percy, 2014). During the design process, the aspirations of the customers as well their goals have to be considered. The main goals and objectives of the user analysis are to ensure that customers are satisfied. This activity will be carried out in order to determine all the needs of the customers regarding the innovative product. This activity contributes positively towards the final design of the product. This is through ensuring that all the requirement of the customers is features in the product. The aspects of usability can be enhanced through the customer needs analysis. The trade-offs that needs to happen during the final design process can also be determined through the customer needs analysis (Ryan, 2014). The acceptability of the products in the market can be enhanced if all the needs of the users are considered. A multi-disciplinary team is required during the process of determining the customer needs. It requires a close consultation between the marketing team and the engineers at the company. A survey as well as the involvement of the experts is required in order to ensure that the required data is collected and analyzed. Human as well as financial resources will be required during the process of carrying out the customer needs analysis.

Sustainability

Sustainability is mainly about promoting a healthy ecosystem and environment. This is achieved through the reduction of negative impacts on the environment (Tai & Chuang, 2014). This activity is vital for the development of the new innovative product. This activity is useful to the company as environmental concerns are a major issue in the world today. All the new products have to utilize materials that do not impact negatively on the environment. The emissions from the product or its operations must be within the acceptable limits. The activities will involves research on the possible effects that the product may have on the environment. This includes the effects that the product will have on the environment when being used for energy. The disposal of a product after it is no longer useful may have negative impacts on the environment. This activity will therefore be carried out to identify the best quality of materials that can be used in the development of the product. The most appropriate methods to dispose the equipment after it is no longer useful have to be determined at this stage (Marano & Kostova, 2015). This will require scientific research on materials and their properties. Several materials will also be tested in order to determine their suitability. The process will require a lot of a lot of scientific skills and research o the materials. The materials can be taken to the lab for the purposes of testing. Outsourcing of the activity can also be done in order to ensure that it is completed within a short period of time.

Ethical and societal factors

The ethics and social issues are present in all the discoveries and innovations. It mainly involves the values that are upheld by the people in the society. The ethical standards in the United Kingdom which will be the target market have to be considered. The moral values about the people in the society have to be considered during the development of the product (Braswell, et al, 2014). The process will mainly involve the identification of the ethical issues in the society. This will require some research which may be conducted through the analysis of the primary as well as the secondary sources. How to work with the ethical issues that have been identified will also forms an important part of the research. An ethical framework will then be established after the information about ethics and societal issues has been obtained. This will play an essential role in the project in ensuring that the moral values of the society are not affected in any way during the development of the product. The ethical considerations are important in terms of ensuring that the products as well as the activities of the company are in compliant with the requirements of the community (Cavender & Kenneth, 2013). The information about ethics will also be useful in the project for the purposes of ensuring that the users are not affected in any way when using the product. All information about the product including any of its negative aspects will have to be provided to the customers as part of maintaining the ethical standards in the society.

Technical development stages

The technical development stage involves the process of putting together the components of the system. This process is vital as it leads to the development of the actual product. During the technical development stage, the design has to be followed when setting up the components. The technical processes also require the use of national as well as international standard (Czinkota & Ronkainen, 2012). The BS standards can be used when dealing with the technical activities. This is for the purposes of ensuring that it meets the requirements of the regulators. International Standards Organization (ISO) set standards will also be observed when carrying out the technical activities. The technical activities require a lot of time and resources. The human resources will require the services of technicians to carry out the assembling process. This process takes a considerable amount of time in order to ensure that the equipment is not defective. Testing of the materials and the product after assembling needs to be carried out. This process may be carried out in the presence of inspectors in order to ensure that the product is safe for use (Douglas & Samuel, 2011). A lot of expertise is required when carrying out the technical tasks due to their sensitive nature. Financial resources will also be required when carrying out the technical activities. Special emphasis has to be placed on quality in order to ensure that it meets the requirements of the customers.

Testing and validation

The process plays an important role in terms of validating the entire project. The main areas that requires testing and validation includes customer acceptance, financial merit and the productivity. Three main types of testing will be utilized during the process testing and validation. Near testing is one of the methods that will be used for testing the innovative product. This test is usually carried out in order to determine any issues or problems with the product (Davari & Strutton, 2014). This kind of testing will mainly be carried out by in-houses staff members. The members of the research and development team in most cases are usually present during the test in order to make observations. Field testing is also part of the testing process and it is usually carried out in order to obtain feedback about the product. This will be achieved by providing it to the customers who are not familiar with the company. This type of testing provides valuable information with regards to the interest of the participants and the environment in which the customers will be using the product. The information provided can be used for the purposes of improving on the design. Market testing is also one of the tests that will be carried out on the product. This type of test is important in terms of determining the presence of any uncertainties in the market with regards to the product (Chikweche & Fletcher, 2012). The tests are important in term of ensuring that proper decisions are made with regards to the products.

Scheduling of activities

Scheduling of activities mainly involves the development of a program with regarding how the activities will be carried out. A master schedule is common during the implementation of a project. The schedule is useful in providing guiding the managers and other stakeholders on when and how the activities should be carried out (Turner, 2014). The schedule will be developed in order to carry out all the identified activities. For the purposes of saving time, some of the activities will be carried out in parallel while other activities will be carried out at different intervals. The market segmentation activities and the customer needs activities are related and have some form of interdependence. This involves the activities such as conducting interviews and questionnaires. Other activities including those that involve the technical aspects will be carried out independently. This is due to their intense nature as well as the unique requirements for the activities. The allocation of time will also be dependent on the nature of activities that needs to be carried out. The scheduling of activities is important in a project as it ensures that the required times are delivered within the required timeframe (Kerzner, 2013). During the process of scheduling for the activities, priorities will have to be given to activities that require more time and those that are difficult to carry out. The activities that involve sustainability as well as the technical aspects will be allocated more time. The same skills may however be required for the purposes of carrying out some of the activities.

The table below indicates the activities that will be carried out as well as the time that will be allocated.

Activities

Timeline

Preparing the required resources

1st June – 15th June

Carrying out the interviews, administering questionnaires and surveys

16th June-30th June

Data analysis to determine customer requirements

1st July- 10th July

Developing an ethical framework

11th July- 20th July

Carrying out the design

21st July- 1st August

Testing of materials

2nd August-10th August

Developing and assembling components

11th August- 15th September

Testing of the prototype

16th September- 30th September

Intellectual property protection

Intellectual property involves the creation of the intellect for which a monopoly is assigned to the designated owners by law. The most commonly used intellectual property rights include trademarks, patent, industrial design rights and copyrights. The intellectual property rights have evolved over the years for the purposes of ensuring that the innovators and inventions are protected (Charlesworth, 2014). The intellectual property rights play an important role in protecting the owners of innovations and inventions. This is because another party may end up developing and selling the same product which makes it impossible for the owners to benefit from the invention. The company will protect its innovation through the intellectual property protection. This is mainly for the purposes of limiting the exclusive rights for disclosure of the invention. The intellectual property protection will play an essential role in ensuring that company is able to benefit financially from the invention. This is considering that it will be the only company that will be selling the product in the market. The presence of a unique product in the market plays an essential role in providing an organization with competitive advantage (Charlesworth, 2014). The financial benefit will ensure that the company is able to make profits as well as recover the costs that were spent on research and development of the product. The intellectual property protection will ensure that the product is not developed in any other part of the world as it will be considered illegal.

The company will use a patent for the purposes of intellectual property protection. A patent is mainly a form of rights that is granted by the government to the inventor (Kerzner, 2013). This gives the owner of the innovation the right to exclude others from selling, offering to sell, importing or using the invention for a limited period of time. The patent may be applicable for a period of twenty years where no other company will be allowed to produce the innovative product. Twenty years is a long period of time and the company shall have made a reasonable amount of profit from the product. Since the company is located in the United Kingdom it will obtain the patent from the Intellectual Property Office. The office the government is the office that is responsible for the intellectual property rights. It has the administrative responsibility of examining and issuing a patent. The office may also reject a patent depending on the innovation (Kerzner, 2013). However, since the product of the company is unique and innovative, it will be ranted the patent. The company will comply with all the legislations that are related to the intellectual property protection. The success of the company will be enhanced through the use of the intellectual property protection. The measure will be taken before the decision to introduce the product in the market. The patent will also ensure that the employees who leave the company cannot develop and sell the product.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is evident that the new product will undergo various innovation development stages. Each of the development stages will play an essential role in terms of facilitation g decision making process. At the market segment development stage, the company will be in a position to obtain detailed information about the target market which is the United Kingdom. The information will mainly be collected through the use of interviews, questionnaires and surveys with regards to the market. The customer needs will be obtained through the collecting information about the customers. This will be useful in terms of making decision with regards to any changes to the product in order to meet the needs of the customers. This stage plays an essential role in ensuring that the user requirements are incorporated in the design. Sustainability information will play an important role in terms of ensuring that product is not harmful to the environment. This will mainly provide the company with information about the materials that will be used for the development of the product. The concepts of ethics as well as the societal issues will be considered during the development. The technical aspects will mainly involve the arrangement of the components. It is evident that the tests will play an essential role in terms of influencing the decision making process. Three types of test will be carried out and will be useful in determining the nature of the product. Near testing will inform the company about the possible problems associated with the product. At this stage a commercial model can be developed based on the results. The field testing will inform the company whether the product meets the needs of the customers or not. This is through providing the company with a feedback with regards to the product. Market testing will provide the company with information about the market. This can influence the development of a market model for the product. It is evident that all the activities will be carried out based on a schedule. It is evident that the intellectual property protection will enable the company to fully benefit from the invention.