Corporate Innovation Economic Activities

Question: Discuss about the Corporate Innovation for Economic Activities. Answer: Introduction Innovation is considered as the application of a new idea, device or method by an organisation to cater and fulfil the existing market needs or the evolving new requirements and unarticulated needs. This is executed and accomplished through efficient and effective products, services and technologies that are available in the markets. It is almost similar to invention. Efficient execution of the organisational operations by the employees enhances their innovative skills and creativity. This report assignment traces the innovative techniques adopted by the corporate authorities of Agency for Non-Conventional Energy and Rural Technology to achieve the aims and objectives and customer satisfaction. Established under the Societies Act of Kerala, Agency for Non-Conventional Energy and Rural Technology operates under the power department. The main objective of this organisation is to collect and transmit useful knowledge regarding various fields of Non-Conventional Energy, Energy Conservation and Rural Technology. The organisation carries out studies, demonstrates, implements support through the means of schemes and projects in this field, which, acts as an address towards the rapid depletion of conventional energy sources. The organisation also updates the utilization of the technologies in the rural areas. Introduction of the new technologies for the upliftment of the condition of rural areas is a remarkable step taken by the organisation, which is an address to the drudgery. All these initiatives taken by the organisation increases and enhances the production and improves the quality of life of the common people. Mission, core competencies and corporate strategy of Agency for Non-Conventional Energy and Rural Technology (ANERT) The Agency for Non-Conventional Energy and Rural Technology has developed its own mission and core competencies through which the organization plans their corporate strategies. The mission of the organization is to support and innovate ideas and practices that will improve and balance creativity and commercialization towards the use of green energy. The core competencies of ANERT are to identify and formulate innovative practices and ideas that will support successful implementation of energy schemes solar energy, wind energy and other non-conventional energy. The core competencies also include research and development, quality control and training and development of technologists and scientists to bring in innovative practices in the energy schemes. Based on the above mission and core competencies, ANERT has designed their corporate strategy. The primary corporate strategy of ANERT is to identify and support the innovative use of non-conventional energy in the implementation of Government energy schemes like Solar Power plant, Hydel power plant as per the allocated capacity in each project (Anert.gov.in, 2016). These power plant projects are implemented with optimum allocation of resources using innovative techniques identified through rigorous research and development for supplying green energy in homes and farming activities. Internal and external factors affecting innovation of the company Every organizations operations are affected by its internal and external factors. ANERTs internal or controllable factors include economic factors, technical factors, institutional factors and awareness of information factor. These are controllable factors where ANERT can control as well as regulate in accordance with the processes required for implementation of various energy schemes. The economic or financial factors are mainly focused with the financial position of ANERT that can influence other factors and schemes like insurance. Technical factors is concerned with the technology and capacity that will be utilized for various energy schemes whereas Awareness Information factor is concerned with awareness created for implementation of various energy schemes (Amore, Schneider Zaldokas, 2013). The external factors of the organization are environmental or social factors, marketing and policies. The external factors are also called uncontrollable factors, as ANERT does not have much power to control or regulate these factors in accordance with the processes required in various energy schemes. The environmental factors mainly focus on environmental regulations and peoples perception. Policies on the other hand are used for support and encouragement of various energy schemes of ANERT. Innovation strategy for Agency for Non-Conventional Energy and Rural Technology Innovation strategies for ANERT will have to be designed by considering many factors and conditions that will make the strategy feasible during implementation as well as benefit in the future energy schemes of the organization. In accordance with the mission, core competencies and corporate strategies of ANERT as mentioned above, the design of an innovative strategy will have to consider the conditions of PTW or PNTL. The innovation strategy will also have to consider the form of innovation that will be appropriate for the energy schemes of ANERT. In view of the overall operations and strategies of ANERT, PNTL condition will be suitable for the organization that will manage as well as support any systematic modifications at the apex or central level. The central level or the upper management will have the responsibility to communicate effectively the required information and results at the local level. PNTL will also be appropriate, as it will help in improving the sustainability of future energy schemes and other governing functions of the organization. In view of the three principal innovations, a combination of radical and incremental innovation will be appropriate for planning an innovation strategy for ANERT. The incremental innovation will use technology to enhance the existing products (services) or processes, while the disruptive or radical will focus on new technologies and processes that will significantly affect the economic and market activities. A combination of these two innovation will help in bringing new ideas and technologies that will not only help the existing energy schemes followed under the organization but also in the upcoming projects with greater efficiency and productivity (Blok Lemmens, 2015). The combination of two innovation principles will also help the research and development team of the organization to plan the processes and allocation of resources with maximum precision and speed. Ways to communicate strategies to the employees In view of the selection of radical and incremental innovation principles for planning an innovation strategy for ANERT, the organization can communicate to the employees by integrating sustainability into the career of the staff members. Especially, this can be communicated to the organizations scientists and the technologists regarding new sustainability and innovation plan for using effective use of non-conventional energy and reduction of carbon emission from all possible sources. Routine reports or updates about the progress of each project will also enable the employees of the concerned projects to discuss and plan to increase the productivity and efficiency in the sections they are lagging behind from others. This will also bring a sense of competitiveness among the employees to outperform the others by coming up with new innovative and feasible ideas (Chatterji Fabrizio, 2014). The recognition and rewards will also boost their motivation and zeal to innovate more. Implement the seven rules of innovation There are seven primary rules of innovation that an organization should keep in mind while planning an innovative strategy. One of the seven principles is the integration of innovation with mentality of business. This principle will help in integrating research and development and in the invention of new innovative ideas to use non-conventional energy in a cost effective manner (Chemmanur Loutskina Tian, 2014). The organization will have to understand the purpose of innovation before final implementation in its projects. A strong leadership from ANERT on innovation direction and strategic decisions will help in systematic and proper functioning of the organizations operations and towards motivating the employees. It will be imperative for ANERT to correspond their innovative strategies with their company strategies. The management of ANERT also needs to handle conflict between value capture and creativity. This will also include another principle of neutralizing organizational antib odies. The organization also needs to implement other innovation principles like use of innovation beyond the boundaries of the organization as well as creation of suitable metrics for innovative ideas and practices. Balancing creativity and commercialization in a company Maintaining the balance between creativity and commercial functions in an organization is critical, as the organization has to develop suitable marketplaces where innovations and creativity can also be given importance with any adverse effect to the financial growth of the company (Franks Vanclay, 2013). The experimentation, research and development along with visualization of all possible options for future and it come under the creative process. These can be effectively used and managed in manufacturing and engineering of the products along with effective selling ideas with suitable suggestions and solutions to avoid any possible risks and thereby enhancing the commercial activities of ANERT. Plan the structure of a company to maximise innovation The structure of ANERT (Agency for Non-conventional Energy and Rural Technology) is guided by an Executive Committee control by the chairman, Secretary power dept; and a governing body control by the Ministry of Electricity, Govt. of Kerala which provide guidance in several energy related areas to enhance the activities of ANERT. Therefore, a Government body directs the current structure of ANERT. Thus, to bring changes and innovation in this structure is only considered by the government orders (Singh Setiawan, 2013). However, innovation only comes by developing a collective intelligence of purpose. Innovative structure helps organisations people to unleash their creativity throughout the organisation. Innovative structure helps organisations, to teach their employees how to recognize an alternative opportunities. In order to implement the change in the existing structure, organisations need to start from top structure. Thus, leaders must establish a psychological environment to fo ster the continuous innovation at all levels (Lichtenthaler, 2015). Organisations need to understand the psychology of the innovation, and act as a leader to foster an innovative culture. If organisation could not understand the reasons behind the changes, then it becomes difficult for both employer and employees to implement the innovative change. As the structure of ANERT is very rigid and bureaucratic, therefore, they need to establish an apparent sense of direction, where employees can take their time and involve their minds in innovative ideas. Systems that will help a company to make innovation A company must acquire a systematic system for implementing innovation in their organisation. In order to make innovation, companies need to focus on their process, structure, and as well as in governance. This means changing the organisations structure is not the only part for implementing changes. Therefore, organisations must design an effective process and governance that will involve not only business units but also other functions, which were neglected before. For an organisation the most common problems is need of clarity about each departments role (Tian Wang, 2014). A change in structure can create a chance of open communication between employees and employer; due to this an atmosphere of trust is created . It will reduce bureaucracy and therefore creating an environment of recognition and rewards for the employees. Innovative change in organisational structure is very important, because it reduce the chance failure and creates a satisfied working environment for both emplo yee and employee. In order to implement innovation, organisations must establish a cross functional team. In this cross-functional team, employees from each department participate for a common goal and provide different innovative ideas from their knowledge and skill (Leavy, 2014). It helps organisations in implementing change and encourages employees participation. Measurement of innovation Innovation helps an organisation to grow their output and productivity. Economic development always has an effective relationship with innovation. Innovation is defined as the way of evaluation, ideation, development, selection, and implementation new and improved services and products (Unger, Rank Gemunden, 2014). The objectives of innovation is to increase the range of new and improved ideas, efficient implementation of ideas, and ensuring that an improved result is achieved after implementing the new ideas. Innovative and improved ideas can be measured by the percentage of revenues coming from the market. It can be measured by evaluating the profit earned from new products or services launched in the past Y years. Another way for measuring innovation, is to evaluate the profits earned by selling products and services with the planned innovative ideas to the new customers. Therefore, innovation can be measured by measuring return on investment, in this resource investment and fina ncial returns are measured. Organizational capability also helps organisation to measure and process the innovative ideas (Singh Gaur, 2013). This help in restructuring and sustainable approaches to invention and reinvention. Use of Incentives in support of innovation strategy Incentives play an important role in motivating employees and create a short-term excitement as well as long term. Incentives help organisations to build up an innovative culture. The key factor for incentive is motivation, and there are number of different ways to motivate and connect employees with innovation strategy (Lema, Quadros, Schmitz, 2015). However, ANERT use two most common systems that are reward and recognition. REWARD: ANERT use rewards both as financial and non-financial. Thus, it plays an important role in an innovative initiative. However, employees consider financial rewards as more valuable, and expect them in the future. As this will help them to get their luxuries and resolve, the gap of financial crisis. Financial rewards sometimes cannot be manageable and affordable by companies with limited budget (Wadhwa Phelps Kotha, 2016). Moreover, financial budget creates a block in building a innovative ideas and promote employees to participate for personal gains only. Non-Financial is different from financial rewards; it includes lunch with CEO, days off. Non-financial have a positive impact on satisfying participation from employees in a several internal innovation movements. ANERT can use recognition also as a tool for implementing innovative ideas. In this motivational tool, organisations give attention to employees by featuring them as an employee of the month, by writing about their work in company blogs; highlight their names as top performers in the leaderboards, and personally giving them, a note of thank you. Ways to ensure that the selected company learns from the innovation initiatives Through innovation initiatives, the selected company had learned many things to improve the organisations structure and objectives. Innovative ideas help organisations to make their structure flexible, it help organisation to take risk and do more than what is required. Innovative initiatives create an environment, in which employees starts to think as a team member, but not as an employee. It gives employees an opportunity to speak up and share their ideas (Weiblen Chesbrough, 2015). Innovation initiatives help the company in reducing bureaucracy and therefore creating an environment of recognition and rewards for the employees. Innovative change in organisational structure is very important, because it reduce the chance failure and creates a satisfied working environment for both employee and employee. Creation and achievement of organisational culture to ensure success of innovation In order to ensure success of innovation, creation and achievement of organisational culture is very important. For creating this type of organisational culture, they need to try some risky steps that they do not know it will work or not. Innovative creates an environment, in which employees starts to think as a team member, but not as an employee. It gives employees an opportunity to speak up and share their ideas. In order to implement innovation, organisations must establish a cross functional team. In this cross-functional team, employees from each department participate for a common goal and provide different innovative ideas from their knowledge and skill (Nair et al. 2015). Therefore, for creating and achieving an innovative organisational, a cultural change in structure needed and which create a chance of open communication between employees and employer, due to this an atmosphere of trust is created. Conclusion Innovation, in business terminology, is a collaborative creativity for devising and developing a proposed idea into a full fledged concept. This is followed by a collective effort to transform the concept into reality through the implementation of product or the service and its improvement. A collection of innovative activities are indeed defined as creativity. In business and economics, the utilization of innovative techniques acts as a catalyst for the achievement of growth and development. In the organizational context, innovation is considered as positive changes in the form of efficiency in the production, quality and competitiveness. 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