Influence Of Innovation And New Technology On Management - Essay Example

Management, Innovation and New Technology Table of Contents 3M Introduction 3 The Nature of the Innovation Process of 3M 3 Seven Key Points Offered by Rhodes & Wield to Understand Innovation in 3M 5 Innovation Is Not Just Invention 5 Innovation Is Not a Linear-Flow Process 6 The Importance of Science in Innovation is Increasing 7 Innovation involves Interaction between Many Factors 8 Cultures of Innovation Combine Different Functions 8 Innovation is Usually Incremental 9 Many Innovations Occur Through Learning by Doing and Learning by Using 10 Conclusion 10 References 11 Bibliography 13 3M Introduction The company ‘3M’ is a varied technology company that serves many community and consumers with innovative products and services (3M, 2010). 3M serves the consumers through six business segments that are dependable upon sharing technology, manufacturing, marketing and other resources (3M, 2010). 3M is the world’s premier manufacturing company that deals in more than 60 countries. The company’s R&D portfolio quality comprises of 100 leading technologies. Through the technological development, 3M has been able to produce thousands of products for quite a long period of time (3M, 2010). The Nature of the Innovation Process of 3M 3M has been an innovative corporate with fair amount of success. With respect to innovation 3M has been able to create an outstanding track. Though the company have been performing good for many years, it still has the zeal to make improvements in the existing products and services. According to Sonnack, “3M was found to be in very good shape with respect to fundamental, technology-driven innovation” (Hippel, 1999). In the areas of expertise, 3M has stronger technological strengths. There exists a strong culture within the company that aids in promotion of bottom-up concepts that are produced by the employees. 3M’s policy promotes all the employees to dedicate up to 15% of the work time on any one project of choice of the employees. During this phase of work the developers are busy on new ideas as individuals and as informal groups. They try to fetch the project where it can be considered for formal support as a product or service development project. In 3M, there is an environment for innovation that expects the employees to fulfil their responsibility on day to day activity and towards innovation without force from the top management. Technology and knowledge are the two approaches of innovation process through which a company can grow and expand. 3M has been able to utilize the technology and knowledge based strategy for innovation of many products. Especially the Post-it note pad was the innovation of 3M in which the application of technical and knowledge based innovation approaches were witnessed. There were lot of research and innovation processes going on with the product and the market. There were initial failures with the technology of the product and with constant knowledge application towards the product development, the company was successful in launching the standard Post-it note pad in the market and achieved success (Berman & Hagan, 2006). Seven Key Points Offered by Rhodes & Wield to Understand Innovation in 3M Generally people perceive innovation to be associated with technology. The general view of innovation is thought to be expressed by the technological intervention (Maynard, 2010). But Rhodes and Wield have discarded machine based or technology based innovation in support of knowledge based formation of technological change. The view provided by them was towards knowledge as frequently tactical and not as explicit. Technology is the body of knowledge and not machinery. Almost all the innovations occurred in an applied setting like shop floor. In 3M, all the employees get engaged in one project of their choice and devotes towards the project in making them reality. The culture of innovation environment has made the 3M develop many innovative products and services. Rhodes & Wields Seven Key Points Innovation Is Not Just Invention Invention is determined appliance of the individual mind that surrenders an innovative conception with the practical application. According to The Lemelson-MIT Program “Inventions are typically patentable, but patents aren’t necessary to make it an invention” (The Lemelson-MIT Program, 2003). Innovation is the practice of forming invention into extensive practice, through pioneering thoughts, marketing and investment. That is the reason why the fundamental invention is normally required to stimulate innovative activity. For the purpose of invention, an individual needs to pay cautious concentration to education (The Lemelson-MIT Program, 2003). In 3M Company the invention takes places through the process of innovation. They have been developing many products and services to bring it into practical application. Through proper marketing and investment the actual innovative thought needs to be actualized. For the purpose of actualizing and developing many innovative products they have developed a culture for innovative thinking. By devoting of 15% of the work time in projects they are able to think more and bring the project to actualization. This way the innovation gets converted. According to William Buxton “Innovation is far more about prospecting, mining, refining and adding value than it is about pure invention” (Buxton, 2005). Innovation Is Not a Linear-Flow Process The linear model of innovation commences by means of basic research, the next step is on applied research and development and at the end it is the production stage and diffusion (Godin, 2005). Whether innovation is encouraged through technology, industry, consumer needs or multitude of other aspects, counting competition misses the point. The model focuses on what is motivating the downstream rather than on how innovations take place. Thus the innovation is not a linear-flow process as liner model is only capable of contributing an explanation of where the initial encouragement for innovation was founded (Shavinina, 2003). In 3M, the company has emphasized innovation occurrence through the interaction of science based organization potentials and market place. Taking the example of Post-it Note Pads, the company had developed the product through the interaction of market place with recognizing organizational capabilities and developed the product with the base of science application. First there was rejection of the product and when developed properly, it achieved phenomenal success. The Importance of Science in Innovation is Increasing The changing innovation progressions and the development of the qualified involvement made by organizations have highlighted the requirements for stronger industry-science link. A healthy implementation interface between the innovation and science systems are more essential than ever to obtain social and economic advantages from the organizations’ research investments. This will certify the strengths; develop public and quality of science system. According to OECD “Science-innovation linkages can take many forms, from contract and collaborative research and personnel transfers to technology licences and creation of spin-off firms” (OECD, 2004). 3M has been applying the science based knowledge in development of their products that necessities the public in general to solve their problems. The products of 3M polymer that was introduced by 3M was due to the intense application of science that helped in developing the product and was successful through its acceptance by everyone. There has been increasing change in the environment and innovation of products that have increased the level of application of science’s involvement in research and development. Innovation involves Interaction between Many Factors Innovation involves interaction with many factors like appropriablity that affects the innovation process. The rate of innovation in a market economy will be low if every organization has access to all the technologies and there is no product differentiation. But this is a mere assumption. 3M has many products that were developed for the enhancement of public life and it was widely used like Post-It note pads and polymer products that captured the market and a state of monopoly prevailed. The company enjoyed the profits that were generated due to the technology and innovation they made. Appropriability of knowledge is constantly incomplete and externalities do occur developing a distinction between the social and private margin returns of any innovative knowledge being developed. This might direct towards under investment in innovation performances and under perfect competition (Lopez, n.d.). Cultures of Innovation Combine Different Functions Since the inception of 3M, the company has been in innovative processes. The vision of 3M was focused upon innovative idea in exploiting the market opportunity. 3M benefited from the typical strong and intuitive entrepreneurial culture for innovation. 3M combines culture and process together. The innovative culture promotes individual liberty, involvement, learning, experimentation and favours creativity, team work and risk taking. In 3M, the innovation process appends technology operations, market, and economic authority in the techniques they have been financing and managing projects that finally goes to the market (Shavinina, 2003). The combination of culture and process is very challenging for the management of 3M Company but through the effective leadership, the company has been able to maintain the cultural innovation. Though the cultural innovation can also be a disorder process but it requires to be carried out in a systematic manner. The management discovered the ways to manage a disorderly innovative program in a systematic manner without slowing down the effectiveness (Shavinina, 2003). Innovation is Usually Incremental The incremental innovation was evident in 3M. The incremental innovation deals with the things that have been done for better results. The low cost and the incremental innovation are always the advices given by the management. 3M provides 15% of the work time to the engineers to work on innovative ideas that are natural. Even with the engineers the marketing people can devote the time in the innovation idea process. This will lead to develop the existing products or enhance the products that are produced and available in the market by 3M. 3M has been known for their Scotch tape and the Post-It note pad. They have been constantly developing the products to enhance the application of the products and increase the satisfaction level of the consumers. This way 3M had implemented the incremental innovation approach in the company and involved all the employees. Many Innovations Occur Through Learning by Doing and Learning by Using Learning by doing and learning by using both contribute to innovation. Learning by doing: The in house learning and experience enhance the innovative process and helps in developing innovation. The experience and the knowledge that are developed in the processes add benefit to invent new products and services. The company has been able to adopt the learning by doing concept through the culture and process combination that provide the engineers and other employees to understand and develop products. Learning by using: The market experiences on the product and consumer feedback the products are enhanced with regards to innovative thoughts in enhancing the quality and use like the Post-it note pads and scotch tape product of 3M that underwent changes due to the changing environment and usages. Conclusion Innovations are now important than ever. The changing needs of the society and demand for various differential products have compelled the level of innovation to increase. The future of new technology product opportunities has been focusing on increasing innovative activities in preparation of the business expansion. 3M has been successful in developing differential products and services that serves differential purpose of consumers and make the life simple. The culture and processes developed by the 3M has been a model for industry to encourage innovation. References 3M, 2010. Our Company. United States. [Online] Available at: http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/About/3M/ [Accessed December 07, 2010]. 3M, 2010. 3M Businesses. Company Information. [Online] Available at: http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/about-3M/information/about/businesses/ [Accessed December 07, 2010]. Berman, S. J. & Hagan, J., 2006. How Technology-Driven Business Strategy Can Spur Innovation And Growth. IBM Corporation. [Online] Available at: http://bus6900.alliant.wikispaces.net/file/view/INN_How+technology-driven+business+strategy+can+spur+innovation+and+growth.pdf [Accessed December 07, 2010]. Buxton, W., 2005. Innovation vs. Invention. Point of View. [Online] Available at: http://www.billbuxton.com/innovationInvention.pdf [Accessed December 07, 2010]. Godin, B., 2005. The Linear Model of Innovation. Analytical Frame Work. [Online] Available at: http://www.csiic.ca/PDF/Godin_30.pdf [Accessed December 07, 2010]. Hippel, E., 1999. Breakthroughs to Order at 3M. MIT Sloan School of Management. [Online] Available at: http://web.mit.edu/evhippel/www/papers/3M%20Breakthrough%20Art.pdf [Accessed December 07, 2010]. Lopez, A., No Date. Innovation and Appropriability, Empirical Evidence and Research Agenda. The Economics of Intellectual Property. [Online] Available at: http://www.wipo.int/ip-development/en/economics/pdf/wo_1012_e_ch_1.pdf [Accessed December 07, 2010]. Maynard, A., 2010. Why I Don’t Believe In Technology Innovation. 2020 Science. [Online] Available at: http://2020science.org/2010/02/17/why-i-dont-believe-in-technology-innovation/ [Accessed December 07, 2010]. OECD, 2004. For A Stronger, Cleaner, Fairer World Economy. Science, Technology and Innovation. [Online] Available at: http://www.oecd.org/document/0,2340,en_2649_34487_25998799_1_1_1_1,00.html [Accessed December 07, 2010]. Shavinina, 2003. The International Handbook on Innovation. Elsevier. The Lemelson-MIT Program, 2003. Invention and Innovation for Sustainable Development. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. [Online] Available at: http://web.mit.edu/invent/n-pressreleases/downloads/sustainable.pdf [Accessed December 07, 2010]. Bibliography Nayak, P. R. & Ketteringham, J., 1996. 3Ms Post-It Notes: A Managed or Accidental Innovation? Arthur D. Little International Study of 16 Major Innovations. Rhodes, E. & Wield, D., No Date. Technology, Innovation Theory and the Implementation Process. 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