Innovation - The Ability of an Organization to Innovate Utilizing Its Resources and Technology - Term Paper Example

? Innovation Contents Contents 2 Introduction 3 Current Business Situation 3 Stakeholders 6 Recommendation 6 Implementation 8 Reference 10 Introduction The creating of an organization is fundamental to the process of innovation. Innovation itself constitutes the part of a system that produces it. Therefore, the ability of an organization to innovate utilizing its resources and technology is an important condition for the success of any organization. But the introduction of new technology often creates a complex situation for the organizations which leads to the changes in managerial practices within the organization and also emergence of new forms (Lam, 2004, p.3). In the global societies, the organization needs to be rebuild in order to navigate themselves out from the economic and social morass and it is through innovations that an organization can get there, but the organization and leaders are usually focused on status quo. An innovative organization creates people, process and philosophies to create, support and nurture innovation (Sorenson, 2011). This project would deal with the innovation strategy adopted by Vodafone, Vodafone group Plc is the world’s largest mobile telecommunications, with its presence in Europe, Asia, Africa, Middle East and the United States. Current Business Situation The company current strategy titled, a stronger Vodafone to a more valuable Vodafone comprised of four main components. They are, to focus mainly on the new areas of growth like by entering into emerging markets, introducing new service and many more. Next to deliver value and efficiency by driving off cost effectiveness and operational effectiveness, thirdly, to generate liquidity and lastly apply the capital for the investment of the company (Vodafone Group Plc, 2011, p.3). The company, Vodafone primarily focused mainly on its expansion strategy in the emerging countries where there is a potential growth. The enterprise customers of Vodafone range from small-office-home office business to small to medium sized enterprises. The company has 34 million customers as enterprises comprising of 9% and about 23% of service revenue. In 2010 Vodafone acquired Quickcomm and TnT Expense management. This acquisition has strengthened the ability of the company to provide the enterprise customers with a greater visibility and control. As an innovation strategy, Vodafone has been working with its partner Novartis on a health project (Vodafone, 2011). Strength Vodafone is one of the largest mobile phone operators by terms of revenue had planned to focus more on the high growth strategy in India and as time Vodafone has been able to do it by introducing more low cost handsets, wireless connectivity and finally being a good corporate citizen and is India’s fourth largest mobile operator (Lall, 2007). Vodafone’s one of the successful strategy was the introduction of ZooZoo in the year 2009, the new brand ambassadors of Vodafone. This character was successful in repositioning the brand. The Indian Premier League 2 (IPL2) was chosen as the platform for Vodafone to launch their advertisements made on ZooZoo, which proved to a great marketing strategy for Vodafone. With the success of the ZooZoo character the company has launched many ZooZoo goodies such as Zoozoo mugs, toys, t-shirts, key chains and many more. This step was seen as one of the major step taken by the company in the form of innovation. Vodafone is the only company which has come up with such a concept of ZooZoo and has proved to be essential in attracting the customers. Weakness A major weakness of Vodafone was reported to be the network coverage. It did not have a widely accepted coverage and the customers often complained about the network and also customer service. The company did not invest much in the R&D which led to the dissatisfaction of the customers. Opportunity The current market situation of the company is showing a steady rise not only in India but also in UK. Vodafone profits have rose as about 9.4 million new customers have joined up Vodafone. It has reported a 4.15 increase in its revenue to around 23.5bn Pounds. UK one of the competitive markets, the company has been able to generate a high level of profits by adding 325000 subscribers in order to reach 19.331m subscribers (Garside, 2011). Threats Vodafone threats primarily come from the other mobile operator such as Bharati Airtel, Tata to name a few. There is an intense rivalry among the firms competing with each other. The switching cost is relatively low and consumers can easily shift from one service to another as per their convenience. Stakeholders Vodafone considers its stakeholders to be people who affects its business or people who are affected by it. This group includes suppliers, employees, government agencies, NGO’s, communities and regulators and customers (Vodafone-a, 2011). Recommendation Vodafone can introduce an effective supply chain management for its suppliers. The suppliers are the stakeholders of the company therefore an effective supply chain would help to attract its suppliers. Innovation is the key criteria for the success of any business; Vodafone can apply innovations to its supply chain model to enhance more support for its customers. The selection of suppliers must be based on some criteria such as with compliance with the CEP. For the employees, Vodafone can come up with innovative strategies which would motivate its employees to work effectively for the company. It is recommended to Vodafone to pay well to its star employee the role of compensation acts as a motivating tool behind innovation which is assumed to a significant tool in case of employees. The innovations adopted by Vodafone in its advertisement strategies seem phenomenal with its ZooZoo affect but it has been noted that the ZooZoo had overshadowed the brand. It is recommended that Vodafone to emphasis more on its brand. As it has been a couple of years with the launch of ZooZoo Vodafone can implement other characters to address its customers. The company can again run its advertisements on its pug which is an all time favorite for the Vodafone customers and its potential customers. Again with the success of its ZooZoo the company can plan to launch its ZooZoo all over the world and take it to the next level. It can tie up with retail players to promote their ZooZoo accessories both in the local market as well international market. Table 1: Innovations of Vodafone Innovation Description Benefits to Clients 1. Efficient supply chain for its suppliers Provide an up to date supply chain with adopting tools such as E2open SaaS. Cost cut Time saving ethical code 2.Attractive advertisements Attract customers by bring back the Pug and also make a global appearance of its ZooZoo. generate more awareness helps in accumulating potential customers 3. Rewards for employees Paying the star employee well or offering him any kinds of rewards which would act as a motivation for the employee. More motivated to work achieve target deliver accurate result 4. Launch Vodafone application store Vodafone can open up its own app stores which would help its stakeholders to gather information directly from the company. able to pull more customers generate relevant information More stocks made available. (Source: Authors creation) Implementation Implementation is based on SMART objectives, which includes Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time. Vodafone SMART objectives based on the recommendations would be, to implement an effective supply chain management; the company has to get trained in this service. The company can adopt tools like E2open SaaS in order to make its eHub supply chain to be able to access for the global management, for demand and supply synchronization and other form of management processes. The suppliers of the company should comply with the company’s code of ethical purchasing. The company performance with its innovation strategy can be measured by way of its profits or an increase in the number of Vodafone customers. If the strategies work out the profits would surely rise up as it happened with the case of ZooZoo. Thus the changes to be made should be measured by ways of increase in shares or customer preference over its competitors. Vodafone can implement new advertising strategies in order to attract its potential market and customers. New advertisements are often helpful for a company to generate brand awareness and create a degree of likeness in the minds of the customers. This can be done by evaluating the customers taste and preferences, by means of survey and thus act accordingly. Thus for instance a survey can be carried out whether the Vodafone Pug or the ZooZoo were popular and which of them a customer would choose. Another recommendation made was to pay its star employee well as it would motivate the employee to generate more revenue for the company. This can be implemented by announcing incentives for employee who meets the target or rewarding by way of offering holiday package and so on. This motivates the employee to meet the targets and achieve the desired result. Also the company can innovate into its product line by introducing more products which would help the company to compete and stay ahead from its rivals. Vodafone can launch its own application stores like Apple, Google and Nokia which would benefit the stakeholders of the company in the long run. Vodafone Global enterprise is constantly innovating to help its employee to overcome with the challenges of technology convergence. Reference Garside, J. (2011). Vodafone profits rise as 9.4 million new customers sign up. Retrieved on December 5, 2011 from http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/nov/08/vodafone-subscribers-profits-rise. Lall, R. R. (2007). Vodafone unveils passage to India strategy. Retrieved on September 5, 2011 from http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2007-02-12/international-business/27888409_1_arun-sarin-vodafone-largest-mobile-phone-operator. Lam, A. (2004). Organizational Innovation. Retrieved on December 5, 2011 from http://www.brunel.ac.uk/2146/brese/docs/lam_wp1.pdf. Sorenson, P. J. (2011). Innovation Part Two – The Organizational Perspective: it’s about how we think and what we do. Retrieved on December 5, 2011 from http://dfwodnet.org/september2011meeting/. Vodafone Group Plc. (2011). Annual report. Retrieved on December 5, 2011 from http://www.vodafone.com/content/annualreport/annual_report11/downloads/vf_ar2011_full_report.pdf. Vodafone. (2011). Annual report. Retrieved on December 5, 2011 from http://www.vodafone.com/content/annualreport/annual_report11/business-review/strategy-in-action/focus-on-key-areas-of-growth-potential/enterprise.html. Vodafone-a. (2011). Stakeholder engagement. Retrieved on December 5, 2011 from http://www.vodafone.com/content/index/about/sustainability/reporting_our_performance/managing_sustainability/stakeholder_engagement.html. . Read More