INNOVATION ASSIGNMENT

Innovation Assignment

Innovation Assignment

Introduction

Innovation Management fills a crucial gap in management literature between the theory and practice of organising imagination and innovation. It gives managers insights into introducing innovation within their organisations and accelerating the development of creative performance in their staff. The journal's central consideration is how to challenge and facilitate creative potential, and how then to imbed this into result orientated innovative business development. (Davenport 2002)

A lift manufacturing company of UK which currently provides heavy duty industrial lifts to engineering businesses has acquired new premises in a former airfield with low rents situated in North London. The new premises will contain new design and production facilities to support the development and manufacture of lifts for other commercial customers in expanding markets including hotels; healthcare and airports. The challenge faced by the firm is to develop innovative products that will appeal to more commercialised markets.

This report proposes staffing the new site in North London and proposes management activities to integrate the staff at the new site which will include some existing company employees transferred from existing company sites plus new hires - both experienced and inexperienced staff.

Q 1) The Business Context

PEST ANALYSIS

It is very important that a lift manufacturing company of UK considers its environment before beginning the marketing process. In fact, environmental analysis should be continuous and feed all aspects of planning. The lift manufacturing company's marketing environment is made up of:

1. The internal environment e.g. staff (or internal customers), office technology, wages and finance, etc.

2. The micro-environment e.g. our external customers, agents and distributors, suppliers, our competitors, etc.

3. The macro-environment e.g. Political (and legal) forces, Economic forces, Sociocultural forces, and Technological forces (Lines, Martin & Marcouse 2001, 212). These are known as PEST factors (see Figure 1).

Figure 1

In the table below we can find examples of each of these factors.

Political (incl. Legal)

 

Environmental regulations and protection

Tax policies

International trade regulations and restrictions

Contract enforcement law

Consumer protection

Employment laws

Government organization / attitude

Competition regulation

Political Stability

Safety regulations

Economic

 

Economic growth

Interest rates & monetary policies

Government spending

Unemployment policy

Taxation

Exchange rates

Inflation rates

Stage of the business cycle

Consumer confidence

Social

 

Income distribution

Demographics, Population growth rates, Age distribution

Labor / social mobility

Lifestyle changes

Work/career and leisure attitudes

Entrepreneurial spirit

Education

Fashion, hypes

Health consciousness & welfare, feelings on safety

Technological

 

Government research spending

Industry focus on technological effort

New inventions and development

Rate of technology transfer

Life cycle and speed of technological obsolescence

Energy use and costs

(Changes in) Information Technology

(Changes in) Internet

Discussion

Innovation is key to progress, development, and sound governance and public administration. Innovation is also key to invention and re-invention in all spheres of life, society, science, technology, and administration. Through innovations, inventions, and re-invention, survival and dynamic continuity can be assured with high certainty, though the latter is subject to various environmental contingencies. (Carmen 2006)

Through innovations, environmental contingencies can be tamed, predicted to a degree and anticipative strategies can be utilized toward achieving the goals of effective visions. In the case of strategic human resource management, anticipative capacity building is key to prepare and develop domestic and international cadres of strategic personnel for all sectors—public, nonprofit, and ...