The Innovation Dimension.

1. The Concept of Innovation .

The idea is grounded in departure from current practice. This idea must provide gains in terms
of the manner in which things get done. There should be change in quantity and / quality of
output. It connotes moving to a better space than we are in now. We could be providing a
service in better fashion than hitherto, or improve in our product portfolio. It could mean
cutting input costs for the same output as now or increasing output from same input levels.
Sometimes new products are designed to serve our customers more congenially, or delivery of
service is heightened. The domain of innovation should confer to the mind the rearrangement
or reconfiguration of processes and outputs. There should be implications of transformation
of the organization through reengineering of input through ergonomics in order to optimize
people skills and competencies in the organization. The idea should be so implemented in
ways that result in a delighted customer whose patronage we should enslave ahead of our
competitors.
2. Research and Innovation Interface.
Sometimes societal problems and organizational setbacks arise. For instance the granting of
mining rights to foreigners cannot be properly defined as a political or a business problem.
Similarly, the use of thermal power for electricity and refining minerals from their ore status
is both a business and health problem.
When a problem is not well defined and its domain is not well defined too, there is
requirement that it be researched. The diagram below illustrates the parameters needing
basic research.
However , different innovation paradigms kick in when one parameter or both are well
defined . Innovation is a function of the clarity of the problem and domain definition.
Innovation rides on the back of possessed skills, competencies and assumed knowledge. But
since these concepts are acquired on the go by societies and organizations, it is logical to
perceive innovation as an ongoing fluid concept. Research however, proceeds on stop- start
time frame depending on the budgets and urgency with which solutions are required for the
hazy problems alluded to earlier.
Innovation scale can vary, as when Pizza Inn delights their clients by delivering pizza locally
using a bike. In contrast, Airbus designs its passenger carrying capability to 800 from 500.
Research output is predetermined by affordable sampling whether its once off or longitudinal.
Innovation allows for more adaptability when aha experiences are met due to human
ingenuity as work gets done and research appears more like a preplanned activity whose
output indeed be ploughed back as sources of innovative activities in organizations.
Both research and innovation seek better ends for organizations in that they both foster
growth and /or development of the same.
Research output can be the framework upon which innovations may be tethered, and huge
innovative manoeuvres may require that they be researched upon to peep into possible yield
outcomes in order to evaluate the risk profiles attendant to any new innovative ventures.
3. Innovation Strategy.
There are three contexts that need consideration. The consumer context, the competitive
context, and the collaborative context.
The consumer context surmises that all organization’s efforts are meant to satisfy consumer
service requirements. Whatever activities that get done should in all cases meet consumer
demand. The organization strives to increase demand for its services as that becomes the
survival strategy that informs sustainability. Thus the greater the number of customers for our
product or service the more assured we are of continuity in society.
The competitive context refers to the assessment of the industry we are in to gauge how we
fare as compared to other industry players. Typically, all industry players strive to be leaders
who are able to supply the service at least cost so that theirs becomes the product of choice
based on customer perception. The innovation thrust would be sustain a least cost provision
regime for industry standard products or provide heightened quality output at competitive
prices.
The collaborative context is steeped in communication both internally at firm level and
externally, at stakeholder level. Internally implies workforce buy in of the organization’s vision
so that all employees are imbued with a common organizational culture. Training and team
work furthers such ends. Externally focus shifts to suppliers of raw materials who need to also
buy in to our firm’s vision. It can allow equipment maintenance and parts replacement crews
to be outsourced. With time, relations may warm up and bonds can be built that permit us to
backward integrate with such organizations. The building up of such portfolio acquisitions
portend increased outputs and lower costs which may well result in industry leadership
alluded to earlier.
There are four pillars of innovation upon which innovation strategy should be tethered. These
are people, culture, structures and leadership. The people aspect emphasizes the necessity for
adequate skills and competencies to do tasks that deliver the service and products needed in
society. This is achieved through sound recruitment practices that select workers with the
requisite attributes for the tasks that need to get done. There is need to optimize the interface
between s employees and the equipment they use. [ Ergonomics] Should the organization
decide to re-tool, then it should also re-train to achieve ergonomical parity.
The next innovation pillar is an organization’s culture. The culture of an entity is simply
defined as its way of life. In an organization, the culture is the answer to the two questions
“Who are we?” and “What is the purpose for our existence?” Who we are is steeped into our
vision as an organization and the path we wish to beat to establish an identifiable trail that
says where we are going. The end game of all our activities as it were. A kind of destination
analyses. The purpose for our existence describes our mission. This states the benefits we
confer to society to justify why we are here. It galvanizes us into a team with players that
possess distinct roles each which is crucial for the furtherance of our mission. It is this
allocation of tasks that we collectively know, which gives us the uniqueness that permits us to
declare “The way we do things here.” Indeed, the culture of our organization. We become a
breed of people who seek to justify their raisson detre as it were.
Our culture also sustains the interactive ethos that we hold in our company. Whether we
believe in a hierarchical mode where subordinates typically recognize their superordinates at
all times or if a camaraderie pervades the whole organization and we appreciate every
contribution as critical to our success. Where all workers are important regardless of their
rank.
Structure, the third innovation pillar, refers to the processes and activities that organizations
undertake to deliver their product and service to the consumer. The physical structure can
refer to buildings, warehouses, machinery and equipment that the organization possesses.
This might typically mean the dispersion of the infrastructure too. If it is under one roof, in
one town, country or region. The operational structure are the systems put in place to activate
the physical structure into the conversion of inputs into outputs to satisfy demand
requirements. For example, in a cheese making factory, systems are configured to take in the
milk needed, convert it to cheese and the storage facilities from where distribution must
happen. Structures can be complex depending on their dispersion, the product mix we are
pursuing and the efficacy by which the people can adapt to deliver services across the board.
Typically, in large entities structures are important to streamline in order to contain costs.
Structure must be regarded as a dynamic concept where it might sometimes be necessary to
assume a certain level of rigidity as when we want to maintain output at current levels. Or
flexible when we want to change output. Changes in output can result from altering the
product mix, or from company acquisitions if we elect to either forward integrate or backward
integrate.
Leadership is the last innovation pillar. It comprises the onerous top management task of
creating the vision and purpose of the organization, selling that vision to the followership so
that both believe in it to a degree where the vision subsists as a culture of the company.
Leadership stresses that the success or failure of the organization rests with the leadership.
Leadership should assume responsibility for the organization’s survival even through thick and
 thin. Leader actions or omissions determine whether the organization will sink or swim. The
tool that leaders have to see this through is their wits with which they should ensure all and
sundry are motivated enough to perceive the value that the organization espouses. While
there is a vast array of motivation tactics leaders may choose from, and a plethora of
approaches that they summon to structure and restructure the organization, the bottom line
is ensuring stakeholder buy in to the cause of the organization. Customers must want,
demand and obtain the service they require at competitive prices. Customers must also be
happy with the quality of the product and feel reassured of its availability at all times that
they make their demand.
Workers must be happy with the quality of their offer and be proud of their input in creating
the offering. Workers should also be happy with the remuneration given for the work they do.
A sustainable relationship must take root with input suppliers so there wont be product
shortages when they are demanded. The long and the short of it is that top management must
keep their finger on the pulse of the organization and develop strategies that allow diversity
and room to adapt to prevailing climate. The organization should be a dynamic entity that
sometimes takes new ideas on board and reject non beneficial practices to the dustbin. There
will be times to acquire new companies through integration and times to sell other units to
streamline operations.

4. Innovation impact measurement.

The key performance indicators [KPI] for innovation are measures that organizations should
undertake to assess the effectiveness of their innovation programs. Objective measures provide
the real metrics upon which decisions get made to map the way forward for the organization.
Three metrics stand out large as the KPI which organizations should focus on. These are the
financial metrics, the new product/service metrics and the training and culture modification
metrics.

The financial metrics refer to the whole financial outlay associated with the innovation program.
From the selection of projects to undertake, their budget projections, the expenses envisaged, the
revenue streams and the profitability expected. Comparisons need to be made with financials of
previous ventures if available to try and ameliorate pitfalls that could have been met earlier. Lessons
learnt from history must inform our present navigation skills. Comparisons need to be done also
between budget outcomes against actual outcomes. This assists in obtaining variances which
variances will inform the efficacy with which we will undertake future programs. We could also
subject our financials to a sensitivity analyses of sorts, in order to determine critical sales volumes
and values that ensure when we break even so that our revenues match our costs.
New product /service metrics demand that we fully understand our product mix and our current
and potential customers so as to devise ways whether to lengthen/ shorten our mix or to widen
and deepen it. New products in particular require such market launches as will garner customer
support to meet the costs of development and launch, and also the sustained advertising costs
that need to be met to give the product a solid standing in the buyer’ s mind. The selection of a
product or service into the mix connotes the deselection of other ideas which meant brain
storming sessions whose time use could have been used elsewhere. Again, revenue flows by new
product needs monitoring, not only to compare with budget costs, but also to provide momentum
if its performance is suspect and might fail to pass the profitability test. Seasonal products like
maize seed have other complex considerations that need to be taken on board before a go/ don’t
go decision is undertaken. The decision to shorten the mix should result in a situation where the
expenses saved are greater than revenues that would have been earned by the product. Of course
product withdrawals and additions have attendant consequences like worker redeployment, new
ergonomics or at worst retrenchments.

Training and culture modification presupposes organizations are so dynamic that at any given time
skills and competencies need more coverage among the work force. In merging for instance,
certain posts become redundant and skills might need to be cross fertilized in the workforce of the
merging entities. Increased loads and volumes might compel organizations to train in the use of
unfamiliar equipment, or as in I T, in the use of better sophisticated machinery. The mix of two
firms in the merger demands that a new culture should evolve to accommodate both breeds of
employees. The culture that so evolves is a difficult metric to measure and teamwork and group
dynamics may define the destination of the mix. The top management task in an innovative
environment is to encourage everyone to feel free to share whatever ideas they may have and
forward them for consideration by other workforce compatriots. The obtaining culture in the
organization must at best be regarded as transient, ebbing along gracefully and getting replaced
over time by the dictates of new organizational needs.

Other measurement metrics typically refer to numerical ratios of input/ output, number of
actionable ideas that get implemented in some time window, market success rate of a given
product etc. These are generally meant to augment the basic metrics to assist in fine tuning the
innovative thrust that the organization wishes to project.