Types of Innovation

T is remarkable how many people are under the false assumption that companies are either innovative or not.
This is a very polarizing and simplistic perspective that does not take into account the different types of
innovations that companies can and do pursue.

For this post, let’s break down innovation into two dimensions: Technology and Market, which gives us the
following 4 types of innovation:

Incremental Innovation

Incremental Innovation is the most common form of innovation. It utilizes your existing technology and
increases value to the customer (features, design changes, etc.) within your existing market. Almost all
companies engage in incremental innovation in one form or another.

Examples include adding new features to existing products or services or even removing features (value through
simplification). Even small updates to user experience can add value, for example below is an older version of
Constant Contact’s email schedule page:

There is nothing majorly wrong with this page, however it is easy to see that the page title is “Schedule”, yet
there are no schedule settings anywhere to be seen. In fact, in this version, you have to click on the yellow
schedule button on the upper right-hand corner to actually pop up the schedule settings. In addition, there is a
huge empty space on the right side of the page that does not contribute much value to the user. Below is a
more current version of the same page:
This updated version replaces the “Schedule” title with the title of the email campaign. This makes it easier for
the user to see which campaign they are working on. Actual schedule settings have replaced the awfully huge
empty space on the right-hand side, which makes it possible for the big yellow “Schedule” button to actually
schedule. Also, larger sized form fields have been introduced to allow easy clicking on those elements. All
these changes, which may seem as just updates, are actually small incremental changes focused on adding more
value to an existing product. They will prove to be incrementally innovative if customers have a better
experience with the product and are able to schedule email campaigns much easier.

Disruptive Innovation

Disruptive innovation, also known as stealth innovation, involves applying new technology or processes to your
company’s current market. It is stealthy in nature since newer tech will often be inferior to existing market
technology. This newer technology is often more expensive, has fewer features, is harder to use, and is not as
aesthetically pleasing. It is only after a few iterations that the newer tech surpasses the old and disrupts all
existing companies. By then, it might be too late for the established companies to quickly compete with the
newer technology.

There are quite a few examples of disruptive innovation, one of the more prominent being Apple’s iPhone
disruption of the mobile phone market. Prior to the iPhone, most popular phones relied on buttons, keypads or
scroll wheels for user input. The iPhone was the result of a technological movement that was years in making,
mostly iterated by Palm Treo phones and personal digital assistants (PDAs). Frequently you will find that it is
not the first mover who ends up disrupting the existing market. In order to disrupt the mobile phone market,
Apple had to cobble together an amazing touch screen that had a simple to use interface, and provide users
access to a large assortment of built-in and third-party mobile applications.

Architectural Innovation

Architectural innovation is simply taking the lessons, skills and overall technology and applying them within a
different market. This innovation is amazing at increasing new customers as long as the new market is
receptive. Most of the time, the risk involved in architectural innovation is low due to the reliance and
reintroduction of proven technology. Though most of the time it requires tweaking to match the requirements
of the new market.

In 1966, NASA’s Ames Research Center attempted to improve the safety of aircraft cushions. They succeeded
by creating a new type of foam, which reacts to the pressure applied to it, yet magically forms back to its
original shape. Originally it was commercially marketed as medical equipment table pads and sports
equipment, before having larger success as use in mattresses. This “slow spring back foam” technology falls
under architectural innovation. It is commonly known as memory foam.

Radical innovation

Radical innovation is what we think of mostly when considering innovation. It gives birth to new industries (or
swallows existing ones) and involves creating revolutionary technology. The airplane, for example, was not
the first mode of transportation, but it is revolutionary as it allowed commercialized air travel to develop and
prosper.

The four different types of innovation mentioned here – Incremental, Disruptive, Architectural and Radical –
help illustrate the various ways that companies can innovate. There are more ways to innovate than these four.
The important thing is to find the type(s) that suit your company and turn those into success.
 BARRIERS TO INNOVATION
 The characteristics, processes, attitudes, and behaviorism organizations that have hypothesized to
impede innovation have received extensive attention in the literature.
 If barriers offer sufficient resistance, then innovations are not likely to be adopted or implemented.
However, barriers can be a positive feature of the innovation process, since they often force innovators
to plan ahead adequately and thus can help insure successful adoption and implementation.
 Most of the barriers described next relate to bureaucratic disfunctions.Some will stick to certain stages
of the innovation process, while others have significance throughout the process. Although many others
could have been included, the ones chosen are fairy representative.
 Gundy has organized the barriers into five categories:
(1) Structural, (2) Social/Political, (3) Procedural, (4) Resource and (5) individual.
 Many of the barriers within these categories are interrelated. Consequently, the categories should be
considered only rough approximations. As with most research, cause and effect determinations are
difficult to make in innovation studies. For example, it is hard to tell if social norms “cause” structural
arrangements or if structural arrangements

Cause and Effect: Barriers to Creativity and Innovation

Most organizations have barriers to creativity, ideas, and innovation. Some are obvious while some are more subtle.
Some barriers emerge from attitudes and perceptions of organizational leadership while others come from
organizational structure or even from the employees themselves. Since these barriers have a tendency to eliminate
creative possibilities from the organization, identifying and removing barriers to creativity and innovation is crucial. By
pinpointing, recognizing, and acknowledging that barriers exist, an organization can bypass many common obstacles and
become more idea-oriented by employing simple strategies.

Common Workplace Barriers:

Immovable Forces

 Cause: Resistance to new ideas and processes happens because it’s human nature to become
uncomfortable when confronting potential change agents. Management and leadership tend to resist
because creativity often means embracing uncertainty and may pose possible difficulties in measuring
returns on investment.
 Effect: Old habits, beliefs, and assumptions cloud openness to new ideas and overpower creative and
innovative initiatives. The status quo remains in place and nothing changes.
 Strategy: Share stories about creativity and innovation in a workplace setting through all available
channels to put creativity into context and to dispel preconceived notions about creativity and
innovation. Build an Idea Library to provide resources that make creativity more familiar. Pinpoint and
communicate the benefits of adopting new ideas, for both the organization as well as for the employees,
to help gain acceptance.

Judgment

 Cause: Fear of a new idea is often manifested as criticism and sometimes harsh judgment. People mock
and ridicule what they don’t understand.
 Effect: Employees who have ideas are reluctant to share because they worry that no one will like the
idea. They are afraid of ridicule or the implications of possible failure.
  Strategy: Adopt a no-ridicule ideology within the organization. Invite and encourage all employees,
from all levels and departments, to become involved with innovative initiatives. Communicate failure
and missteps as a necessary stepping stone to new approaches, products, and services.

Playing by the Rules

 Cause: Policies and procedures, inflexible and rigid organizational structures, traditions, and a culture of
playing by the rules, are keeping employees from participating, stifling any innovative or creative
processes.
 Effect: An oppressive environment has a tendency to force employees to conform to accepted patterns,
rules, and inherent limitations of the status quo. This hampers creative thinking and new ideas.
 Strategy: Although some rules are necessary, many can suppress innovation and ideas. Consider if
some of the rules can be relaxed, changed, updated, or eliminated to make allowances for the idea
process to flourish.

Hard Work

 Cause: Bringing ideas from development to implementation often takes a lot of effort or time to produce
results. Most organizations and employees don’t want to devote the necessary time or effort to complete
a creative project.
 Effect: Negativity takes hold even before beginning a project or a project is eliminated before it even
gets up and running. Lack of faith in the possible payoffs of a creative process can easily stymie or
eliminate what might have been the next big idea.
 Strategy: Going beyond the known, stock answers and allowing some time to discover more than one
answer takes effort. Encourage employees by making it a competition or breaking larger initiatives into
smaller, more manageable pieces.

No process

 Cause: Employees have ideas and want to share them but all they see is a dusty suggestion box. No
other channels to input ideas are known by members to exist.
 Effect: Past organizational experience shows employees that ideas put in the suggestion box disappear
into a black hole so employees don’t bother to submit anything. They may feel there is no reason to get
involved.
 Strategy: Make it easy for employees to input ideas through a variety of different channels and
technologies to encourage inputs. Have leadership acknowledge and celebrate the value of ideas even if
they can’t be utilized. If an idea works, develop it.

Misunderstanding

 Cause: Within an organization, creativity can be misunderstood by employees who are not creative in
their work processes. Sometimes management will have little knowledge of the type of work it takes to
produce creative projects.
 Effect: An inaccurate impression of what is creative can result in workplace conflicts that hinder
productivity and creativity, or even create an unpleasant or impractical work environment for some
employees.
 Strategy: Supply opportunities for all employees to use their creative side. Provide a context for ideas
and innovation within the organization with creative examples. Offer training opportunities for
employees to become more comfortable with their creative side.

The effects of barriers within an organization can range from the most subtle undermining of possible changes
to out-and-out misinterpretation of creativity. Whatever the barrier, it can cripple idea and innovation
processes. Not only can barriers stop employees from becoming involved but they can keep the organization as
a whole from moving forward.

For those reasons, it’s crucial to identify creative barriers with the understanding it’s natural for organizations
and employees to resist change. Through a conscious effort to move past creative roadblocks, an organization
can embrace new depths of creativity and overcome these barriers. The result is an organization that is more
innovative, creative, and idea-oriented.

It’s crucial to identify creative barriers with the understanding it’s natural for organizations and employees to
resist change.
 INNOVATION SOURCES:-SCIENCE & R&D
R&D (Research & Development) plays a very important role in the success of a business. R&D contributes
to sustainability of business. Many companies do not understand the importance of R&D until it is too late. It
is the R&D function that provides a platform for creativity and innovation to flourish in an organization.

Matheson and Matheson identified nine factors in their book The Smart Organization: Creating Value through
Strategic R&D in which best practices can be found for R&D departments.

Those 9 areas are:

1. The decision basis

2. Technology strategy
3. Portfolio management
4. Project strategy
5. Proper organization and process
6. Relationship with internal customers
7. Relationship with external customers
8. R&D culture and values
9. Improving decision quality
10. Guide

7 key advantages of R&D for small business

Research and development (R&D) isn't something only big corporations can do. Small businesses can
leverage R&D to compete on and lead the market too.

If you have an innovative idea for a new product or service, here are seven ways R&D can help you bring it
to life:

1. Unique selling point – R&D can help you develop unique products and services. These don’t always
have to be entirely new. R&D can drive product improvement or innovation within the existing business
offering. Here are some tips on researching new product and service ideas.

2. Income – unique products and services resulting from successful R&D projects can bring financial
benefits to business. This is usually through generating new or enhanced income streams, but R&D can also
attract potential new investors to your business. Read about equity finance and joint ventures and business
partnership.

3. Funding – doing R&D can have cost implications for small business. However, R&D can also offer
many opportunities for businesses to seek public-sector innovation, research and development grants or
even EU funding for innovation.

4. Tax relief – you can claim R&D tax relief to reduce your company’s tax bill or, alternatively, choose to
receive a tax credit instead by way of a cash sum paid by HM Revenue and Customs.

5. Competitive edge - through R&D, you can develop advantage over your competitors and establish
yourself as leaders in the market. Development of new products and services can also generate new
intellectual property for your business which could further benefit you financially.

6. Collaboration – collaboration can be a key element of any R&D project, and is often crucial to achieving
success. Collaboration can take place between your business and another enterprise, university or college. It
 allows for transfer of skills and knowledge, and access to facilities, expertise and potentially new ideas that
would otherwise be out of reach to your business.

7. Reputation - engaging in R&D can help you strengthen your brand and reputation. If you’re
collaborating with a trusted, reputable partner or a strong scientific institution, the commercial success of
resulting products and services can benefit from their involvement..

Innovation in manufacturing
How innovation can change manufacturing

Innovation is essential to the competitive position of manufacturing businesses.

The key to innovation in manufacturing is to make sure that it's driven by your business needs, not by the
attraction of change for its own sake.

if you're thinking of innovating in your business, you should:

 consider what areas of your business would benefit most from a new approach
 consider all the different areas of your business where manufacturing innovation could be implemented
 innovate in those areas which drive the performance of your business

Innovation opportunities in manufacturing

There are many areas with opportunities for manufacturers to innovate, including:

 Component sourcing - new components, new suppliers or an improved deal with your existing suppliers could
improve your products and your profits.
 Materials technology - new materials could improve your products or their packaging and presentation.
 Factory process control - you could automate process control, including quality control, to give better efficiency
and products.
 Equipment maintenance - automatic scheduling of maintenance will ensure that equipment runs smoothly and
that you build downtime into the least busy part of the production cycle. This will also enable you to comply
with health and safety regulations.
 Stock control and order processing - constantly look for better ways to streamline your order processing and
stock control to ensure that you have the right amount of stock.
 Logistics and warehousing - rethink how you deliver your products to your customers so that you take
advantage of new transport opportunities and keep warehousing costs to a minimum.
 IT systems - keep up to date with developments in the IT systems you use.
 Accounting procedures - you should streamline your accounting, invoicing and payments procedures with your
stock control and order processing and updated regularly.
 Customer and supplier relationship management - you can gain valuable insights into how to improve your
products and their delivery from your customers and your suppliers.
 Marketing - innovative marketing strategies are an important way to set the products you manufacture apart
from those produced by competitors.
 Design - designers can help you develop new products and services, or redesign your existing products to
improve their functionality and client appeal.
Advantages of innovation in manufacturing

Broadly speaking, there are four categories of innovation in manufacturing. These depending on the area of
business where the change takes place:

 innovation in sourcing - eg changing raw materials or suppliers in the supply chain

 innovation in process - eg modifying the method of production to reduce the turnaround time, cut the costs, etc
 management innovation - eg introducing new methods or processes of carrying out business
 innovation through technology -; eg changing the manufacturing process because of new technological solutions

You can also undertake innovation in more than one area.

Benefits of innovation for manufacturing business

Innovation has the capacity to greatly benefit all businesses, and particularly those in the manufacturing sector.
The benefits can include:

 greater responsiveness to customer demands

 faster turnaround times
 reduced waste levels and downtime
 improved product design and quality
 greater potential for a wider product range
 streamlined relationships with suppliers and customers

Introducing innovation to your business requires time and money. You can introduce innovation either
gradually or in one go. The timeframe will depend upon a range of factors including:

 the specific changes you want to introduce

 the availability of resources to complete them quickly
 if you need to stagger disruptions to your production capacity while the transition is being made

Technology innovation in manufacturing

New technologies are profoundly changing how goods are manufactured across the world. Faster, more
innovative technologies can:

 make your employees more efficient

 speed up your production
 improve your customer service delivery

Businesses that adopt new technologies are generally more successful in finding new ways to compete and
thrive in the ever-changing markets.

pros and cons of being in R&D

Pros:

 You get to play with a lot of new tech and concepts

 You often work under very little supervision
 Your opinion and ideas actually matter
 You are allowed - and sometimes encouraged - to make mistakes
  Depending on the project, you could be working alone at your own pace for a while

Cons:

 The budget limits your creativity; sometimes you have to make due with less than ideal parts which
usually end up costing more time and frustration in the long run
 You have keep a detailed journal since you need to convince superiors that what you are doing is
heading in the right direction
 That direction, no matter how visionary, is useless if it doesn't make sense to the guys in the big chair.
Someone still has to sign your paycheck and if you aren't giving them what they want - even if it doesn't
make sense to you - then that could be a problem
 Again, depending on the project, you could be working alone for a while