Innovation at Marks & Spencer Food Store - Case Study Example

?Innovation at Marks & Spencer Food Store Marks and Spencer Plc. commonly known as Marks and Spencer is one of the largest food companies and retail clothing company in United Kingdom. It opened in 1884 and it’s headquarter is located in London. Nearly 21 million people visit stores of Marks and Spencer each week. The company offers range of food products. It includes wines, fresh products, part-prepared meals etc. The company comprises nearly 703 stores all over the United Kingdom. These stores are located in retail parks and high streets, as well as airports, stations and other locations. The company possesses 360 franchised stores, wholly owned and partly owned stores in 42 territories across Middle East, Europe and Asia. At Marks and Spencer, customers shop through stores, phone as well as online. (Reuters, n.d.) According to the predictions of IGD, the size of the value of the online food and grocery stores will get doubled in 2014. It has been forecasted that the annual growth rate of grocery stores will get three times faster than the wider grocery market. With the penetration of internet and rising familiarity with broadband, the value of retail websites and online services will get enhanced. The online world is now increasingly influencing the decisions of shoppers. (IGD, 2009) Types of Innovation Innovation generally lies in the eyes of beholder. What may be innovative for one person cannot be innovative for other. There are many different types of innovations which company opts. The basic structure of innovation revolves around one of the following or all of the following. It includes: Product Under this category, organization usually changes the products or services they offer to their customers. Any modification, alteration, variants etc. come under the head of innovation in product category. Process Under this head, companies usually changes the way they create or deliver their products. This includes value addition. Positioning For positioning innovation, companies changes the context in which the specified products has to be communicated or framed. Paradigm Shift Paradigm shift refers to changing the mental modes of customers by providing other innovative ways of using the products. Paradigm shift usually shifts the perception of customers towards a certain product. (Innovation, 2005) Marks Spencer Food Store Apps Several applications have been developed for smartphone these days. Some of them have become so successful and useful that users consider them as an integral part of their lives. Great deals of applications have been developed for facilitating shopping at grocery stores. According to a recent research, Americans spend millions of dollars each day in grocery shopping. Due to such huge market of grocery shoppers, the type of application which needs to be designed must be the one which can facilitate shoppers in shopping for groceries. The type of innovation which has been selected comes under the head of “Process”. Innovation in Apps for Marks and Spencer Food Store Apps, which are to be designed for Marks and Spencer Food Store possess some innovative features which would help the shoppers in making it convenient to shop for groceries. The innovative features of apps include: By using this App, one can save money at grocery store; humans spend a great amount of money in the products related to food. This often affects the budget. Spending hundreds or thousands of dollars on food items raises the concern of budget. Without having a shopping lists, one can be prone to buying on impulse which leads to buying unnecessary stuff as well. By this app, shoppers can prepare a list of items along with their prices and can select accordingly. Buying local food; this feature will help in buying fruits and vegetables from local farmers which will not only reduce cost but will also be good for health. (Gamm, 2010) Coupons offered; by using this app, customers would need not to clip coupons from newspapers. Instead, a feature of this app would help in providing coupons available on some products. Comparing Prices; this app has a special feature where consumers can compare prices of different products and can select accordingly. Managing Apps Services Marks and spencer has not only brainstormed to prepare such app but have also critically analyzed the key innovative features included in this app. In this regard, innovation life cycle has been analyzed critically. Innovation Lifecycle for Managing Apps. Innovation lifecycle consists of the following mentioned 5 stages. Brainstorming The major driver of innovation lies behind brainstorming. Producing such products that will amaze the consumers is a dream of every large and small company. For this, companies have to do a lot of brainstorming. The Grocery Store App is a result of such brainstorming. (Bessant, 2011) Qualification It refers to the applicability of the innovative product. It tells if the company possesses all the required technological feasibility and business interest to pursue this product. Surely, Marks Spencer stands out on all of these traits which will enhance the popularity of this product. Testing In grocery stores, Marks and Spencer is expected to show demonstrations its consumers about the usage and utility of this app. (Humanitarian Innovation, n.d.) Development It is expected that this app will attract more consumers to the grocery stores of Marks and Spencer as all the products and prices will be shown about the product range of Marks and Spencer. (Technology Services, n.d.) Innovation Process The innovation category in which apps for Marks and Spencer Grocery Store comes in Innovative Paradigm Shift because those features and facilitation which it offers to its customers. It is expected that customers will be provided with a new experience of shopping at grocery stores. Learning Experience This process of innovation has provided an overview about the types of innovations which include product, process, position and paradigm. These types have helped in providing insights about the actual innovative process which companies apply. For some companies, it has brought profound and exceptional results while for others there have been some stones left unturned but to those companies, it can provide a whole new way of opportunities. Apart from that, the two types of innovations which have been provided in this report provided clear view about how to implement innovation. There are numerous untapped opportunities and by pursuing those, a new perspective can be given to the world of innovation. Innovation – Smart Phones with Medical and Healthcare Equipment Features If it is said that mobile phones technology is the fastest innovating technology among all sorts of innovations, then it would not called as a wrong statement. From standard key pads to QWERTY ones, and then touch screens, all of these demonstrate a highly innovative culture that can be observed in the cellular industry. The innovation that id going to be discussed later in this analysis, also belongs to mobile phone technology but it is not the same like other innovations which make mobile phones more glamorous. Rather this innovation is likely to be a beneficial one for the mankind especially in medical and healthcare industry. As mentioned earlier, the innovation reflects a kind of service to mankind such that this innovation is likely to bring a phenomenal and revolutionary hike in the field of medical technology. Nobody knows that what would be the price of existing CT scan machines which are currently manufactured by General Electronics and Philips after 2 to 3 years when a smart phone would be launched with CT scan features. The innovation is all about introducing smart phones which would be having medical features such as CT scans, blood pressure checking device, MRI, ultra sound and other related technologies. The biggest hurdle in the journey of these smart phones in reaching to customers’ hand was the approval of Food and Drug Association (FDA). FDA has just approved the inclusion of these medical features in the smart phones which have opened the new markets for the mobile phone companies. Element of Innovation The smart phones with the medical applications had been a dream for quite a while. The mobile phone users and the special analysts who watch the upcoming innovations have always had this idea in their mind that these mobile phones would be used for medical purposes. Today, their dream is going to come true as Mobisante, a Washington based mobile phone company has launched its smart phone which has the built-in ultrasound features in it. As mentioned above, the two industry giants, General Electronics and Philips, had been the key players in manufacturing and distributing those medical equipments which at lease are outside the buying range of an ordinary person. The size, technicalities, maintenance, assistance of experts in operating those machines, these were the major factors that were associated with those machines. With the invent of these innovative smart phones, these hassles would be limited as both these companies would have a chance of capturing market share of that target market which desperately need the smart phones with such medical features. What really motivating for that target audience is that they might not have to pay every time whenever they need a diagnosis let’s say to check their blood pressure. Nor they have to a buy a specialized blood pressure checking machine for that purpose. All they need is simply a smart phone which can facilitate them for this purpose as well. One time relatively less investment and for a longer period of time, there will not be any hectic. Key Stages of Innovation As far as the stages of innovation are concerned, there are many companies that have come up with this innovation. Among those, Mobisante is the only company that has showed these health-based smart phones, a real life exposure. The company had undertaken a comprehensive and sophisticated innovation process and came up with such a product which speaks only one thing and that is innovation. The innovation they have brought has been the struggle and endeavor of more than 4 years when smart phones were newly launched. The innovation process undertook by Mobisante underwent the following five stages of innovation process: 1. Idea Generation Idea generation and brainstorming is undoubtedly the first step in moving towards innovation of any kind. This specific smart phone was a new idea which actually came up due to different sorts of advancements that were taking the assistance from mobile phones. Imaging, cameras, maps, financial calculators, data analysis, architecture and other various different advancements were already experienced by the existing smart phones. However, any new technology did not come up in the field of medicine and healthcare which can change the dynamics of the whole industry. All the other advancements actually led to the strategists of Mobisante to work out something that must be unique in features, should be user friendly, have the greatest acceptance and among all affordable to the common people. 2. Feasibility The next step of the innovation process came up in the form of checking the feasibility study of the upcoming product such that different kinds of feasibilities were evaluated by the Mobisante. Among all the feasibilities, the most important one was technical and legal feasibility such that the development of a product with such sensitive features was undoubtedly a major area of concerns for the think tank of the Mobisante. However, the technical feasibility remained quite successful the development of the product went ahead to its next stage. 3. Trial and Testing The third stage of the product underwent a sophisticated trial and testing in which stress testing was the major feature of the whole process. The device developed by Mobisante was tested with full load given to it in order to check any discrepancy that might have come up. The whole trial and testing went relatively better for the company and the product was all set to meet the other requirements before its commercial launch. 4. Legal and Regulatory Issues The biggest challenge that Mobisante had to face was the approval taken from Food and Drug Association (FDA) regarding the commercial launch of the product. FDA considered the whole scenario and responded initially that the product does not come under any existing domain of any regulation. The innovation was of such a nature that the existing laws were unable to cover this product. FDA took its time, provided some basis guidance to Mobisante and other interesting parties regarding the matters pertaining to the features to be included in the smart phones. Till now, FDA is making appropriate regulations to cover this innovation as per the medical laws that are already enforced. 5. Commercial Production After obtaining the license from FDA regarding the commercial production of the product, the whole innovation process reached to its final destination. The product was successfully launched and is available in the market. Innovation Management Process There are four different types of innovation management process which are also called as the 4 P’s of innovation. These are Product, Process, Position and Paradigm Innovation. Among all these types of innovation management process, the type that best suits the above discussed innovation is the Product. Since a smart phone with medical feature is actually an increase in the product line of the company, therefore it would be treated as a Product. Works Cited Bessant, J. a. T. J., 2011. Innovation and Entrepreneurship. 2 ed. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Dabholkar, V., 2009. 4 types of innovations: BusinessWeek classification. [Online] Available at: http://cataligninnovation.blogspot.com/2009/11/4-types-of-innovations-businessweek.html [Accessed 20 April 2012]. Enterprise and Industry, n.d. Industrial Innovation. [Online] Available at: http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/innovation/index_en.htm [Accessed 20 April 2012]. Gamm, S., 2010. 14 Apps for Grocery Store Savings. [Online]Available at: http://www.mainstreet.com/slideshow/smart-spending/14-apps-big-grocery-store-savings [Accessed 20 April 2012]. Humanitarian Innovation, n.d.. TYPES OF INNOVATION: THE ‘4PS. [Online] Available at: http://www.humanitarianinnovation.org/innovation/types [Accessed 20 April 2012]. IGD, 2009. Online Shopping. [Online] Available at: http://www.igd.com/index.asp?id=1&fid=2&sid=2&cid=634 [Accessed 20 April 2012]. Innovation, M. f., 2005. Managing for Innovation. [Online] Available at: http://media.wiley.com/product_data/excerpt/69/04700932/0470093269.pdf [Accessed 20 April 2012]. Jensen, M. B. J. B. L. E. a. L. B. A., 2008. Forms of Knowledge, Modes of Innovation and Innovation Systems. pp. 1-33. Kharif, O., 2011. GE-Philips Health Equipment Market Opens as Smartphones Win FDA Nod: Tech. [Online] Available at: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-09-29/ge-philips-health-equipment-market-opens-as-smartphones-win-fda-nod-tech.html [Accessed 20 April 2012]. Larsen, L., 2012. There’s an App for That. [Online] Available at: http://foodpoisoningbulletin.com/2012/theres-an-app-for-that/ [Accessed 20 April 2012]. Marks & Spencer PLC 2012. Encyclop?dia Britannica Online. Retrieved 20 April, 2012, from  HYPERLINK "http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/365822/Marks-Spencer-PLC" http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/365822/Marks-Spencer-PLC MobiSante, n.d.. Product Overview. [Online] Available at: http://www.mobisante.com/product-overview/ [Accessed 20 April 2012]. NESTA, 2009. The Innovation Index. [Online] Available at: http://www.nesta.org.uk/library/documents/innovation-index.pdf [Accessed 20 April 2012]. Product Innovation, n.d.. Product Innovation. [Online] Available at: http://www.psi.org.uk/publications/archivepdfs/Small%20firms/SF2.pdf [Accessed 20 April 2012]. Project Leaders International, n.d.. An Integrated Approach to Managing Innovation. [Online] Available at: http://www.innovationtools.com/PDF/Integrated_Innovation_PLI.pdf [Accessed 20 April 2012]. Qureshi, T. M. D. I. a. K. M. A., 2008. Innovation Management: Types, Management Practices and Innovation Performance In Services Industry of Developing Economies. Communications of the IBIMA, Volume 1, pp. 159-173. Real Innovation, n.d.. Innovation - What Is Innovation?. [Online] Available at: http://www.realinnovation.com/content/what_is_innovation.asp [Accessed 20 April 2012]. Reuters, n.d.. Marks and Spencer Group PLC (MKS.L). [Online] Available at: http://uk.reuters.com/business/quotes/companyProfile?symbol=MKS.L [Accessed 20 April 2012]. Stevenson, J. a. K. B., 2012. Four Types of Innovation – part 3. [Online] Available at: http://www.innovationexcellence.com/blog/2012/03/25/four-types-of-innovation-%E2%80%93-part-3/ [Accessed 20 April 2012]. Technology Services, n.d.. Five Key Stages. [Online] Available at: http://www.axa-tech.com/key-stages.html [Accessed 20 April 2012]. Learning Experience The key learning experience that can be acquired from this innovation is the understanding and the future availability of those smart phones which can facilitate the people regarding their healthcare issues. Since the product is not far away from becoming a common product, therefore, there are bright chances that this technology will get better as well as more affordable to the customers especially when the smart phones giants, Apple and Samsung etc would enter into this market and start competing. There are chances that this technology would also bring some more jobs to the industry as well, due to a likely shift from the customers of specialized medical equipments to the customers of new health facilities-based smart phones. The future of healthcare industry is about to make a shift in terms of having the most innovative diagnosis devices. Read More