Innovation Management Plan - Case Study Example

INNOVATION MANAGEMENT PLAN By Name Course Instructor Institution City/State Date Innovation Management Plan - Daimler AG Executive summary Managing innovation is normally considered as managing a project having a set of expectations. It needs proven management principles as well as careful planning for the company to be able to effectively and efficiently respond to its needs. The three hot topics about innovation related to Daimler AG include the emergency braking technology, X-ray crash test glasses, and urban eTruck. To integrate as well as manage the innovation effectively, the company should adopt Project and Portfolio Management (PPM) solutions. In consequence, it would drive business agility as well as help the company make the right decisions. Using the right PPM solution would not only allow Daimler to manage the inventive product lifecycle but would also improve the handling of the whole innovation process. It is imperative for the company’s managers to understand the firm’s current capabilities and resources as well as what should be developed to facilitate the success of this innovation. Contents Executive summary 2 Contents 3 Introduction 4 Three hot topics about innovation related to Daimler AG 4 An idea for the innovative product based on the goals and portfolio management for the Daimler AG 6 How the Innovation Would Be Streamlined With the Organisations Current Capabilities 7 Body of report 8 Design Thinking About the Innovation 8 User involvement 9 Fast integration- Time, Costs, Resources 10 Prototyping and Testing Capabilities 10 Cross Functional Management 11 Conclusion 11 References 12 Introduction Three hot topics about innovation related to Daimler AG The emergency braking technology, commonly referred as Collision Prevention Assist as well as Brake Assist PLUS was invented by Daimler with the aim of preventing accidents. This innovation would enable drivers to keep a sufficient distance which is crucial for accident prevention. Given that a suddenly appearing obstacle or brief inattentiveness makes emergency braking unavoidable, this innovation (Collision Prevention Assist) will enable drivers to become less worries about situations that require emergency brakes. As mentioned by Daimler AG (2014), the radar-based system continuously monitors the traffic area ahead of the car and can measure the speed as well as distance of cars in front. Every time the distance drops considerably less than the required safety threshold, the Brake Assist PLUS warns the driver visually. When a serious collision risk is detected, the driver is offered an extra audible warning. Furthermore, this system allows for the computation of the brake pressure needed to prevent a collision. Every time the brake pedal is firmly pressed by the driver, the system boosts inadequate braking pressure according to the situation’s needs (Daimler AG, 2014). In line with this innovation, Daimler AG has also introduced a new safety tests referred as X-ray crash test glasses. These tests are deemed suitable because they are fast and convenient. The company’s vehicle safety unit is cooperating with numerous institutions (Ernst Mach Institute and Fraunhofer Institute for High-Speed Dynamics) to test the utilisation of X-ray technology with crash tests. During a crash test, according to Daimler AG (2017), the Ultrafast X-ray technology generates specific areas’ high-resolution stills of the automobile’s interior as well as the body. This innovation facilitates the investigation of the safety-related components behaviour by examining the vehicle’s inside the parts. Furthermore, the ‘X-ray crashes’ images could be integrated with computer-aided simulation models so as to enhance the predictions generated through crash simulations. The innovation would be utilised to determine new approaches for the examination of the vehicle interiors with the aim of improving passive safety. This innovation makes it possible to determine how the car interiors behave with and without emergency braking technology. The emergency braking technology is being integrated to the company’s urban eTruck, which are electrical powered trucks that run silently and generate zero emissions. According to O'Kane (2016), the urban eTruck‘s load and performance is the same as the trucks powered by the internal combustion engine. Daimler Trucks together with recently unveiled urban eTruck, an all-electric, heavy-duty truck prototype that can be utilised in and around big cities. In the urban eTruck, the drive train of the truck will be replaced with a rear axle that is electrically-driven. The truck’s whole battery pack will consist of three lithium-ion battery modules and will be positioned below the cargo space. As pointed out by O'Kane (2016), Daimler’s urban eTruck will turn around the goods delivering business. An idea for the innovative product based on the goals and portfolio management for the Daimler AG In the modern globalised world, the success and collapse of business depends on the company’s commercialisation efforts. A number of companies possess the capability to invent technology-based products that are sophisticated into the market more often and faster as compared to the competitors who consider commercialisation as a process that is purely creative and intuitive. Therefore, Daimler AG should develop this capability in order to commercialise its Emergency braking technology and to be able to compete in many geographic and product markets. Together with research, design as well as prototyping, Daimler’s product commercialisation must be an equal part of all the development process. According to Ramsay (2011), innovation is the key driver for shareholder value, competitive differentiation, and increased profitability even in challenging economic climate. More importantly, addressing the whole enterprise needs would result in the growth of Daimler’s sales and market share and the cost would be controlled in an efficient manner. Clearly, having a right portfolio mix would allow the company to target the customers’ priorities as well as needs and would also facilitate the company to respond to new market trends and adapt to changing business environment. To integrate as well as manage the innovation effectively, the company should adopt Project and Portfolio Management (PPM) solutions. In consequence, it would drive business agility as well as help the company make the right decisions. Using the right PPM solution would not only allow Daimler to manage the inventive product lifecycle but would also improve the handling of the whole innovation process. More importantly, the right PPM solution would offer insights needed to allow for the time-to-value optimisation, collaboration, as well as return on investment since the innovation portfolio are aligned with initiatives with business strategy, and at the same time balancing risk, resources and cost. According to Doorasamy (2015), managing product portfolio effectively would enable the company to provide a diversified range of innovative products. To manage the growing competition in the automobile market, innovation portfolio management as suggested by Meifort (2016) would ensure a stable pipeline of new products. As indicated by Srivannaboon and Munkongsujarit (2016), managing innovation can lead to risks and transaction costs, if planned, executed as well as synergised poorly. How the Innovation Would Be Streamlined With the Organisations Current Capabilities The emergency braking technology would help drivers mitigate or avoid longitudinal accidents.  Its function would include adaptive brake assist as well as forward collision warning. According to Euro NCAP (2011), the technology has met targets since when the drivers get the warnings the driver is able to act fast to prevent an accident from happening. As mentioned by Akella, Gargi, and Mehrotra (2015), the process of innovation at the company can be facilitated by mapping and streamlining the business activities. To streamline the company’s current capabilities, Daimler should start considering the end-to-end processes by categorising the applications related to such processes and finding the areas of expertise and technology capabilities that should be developed. The mapping exercise could allow Daimler to see process flows and identify all the gaps in the organisation’s technology capabilities. It is imperative for the company’s managers to understand the firm’s current capabilities and resources as well as what should be developed to facilitate the success of this innovation. Body of report Design Thinking About the Innovation Design Thinking, according to Naiman (2016) is a technique utilised by designers with the aim of solving multifaceted problems as well as searching for desirable solutions for the customers. Design thinking about the emergency brakes technology can be demonstrated by its ability to bring forth desired outcomes which could be beneficial to the customers. As mentioned by Dam and Siang (2017), Design Thinking is suitable for managing problems where collision of various spheres happen at the intersection of the society and business, emotion and logic, creative as well as rational, economic demands and human needs and between individuals and systems. Design Thinking was suitable for this innovation since the system approach challenges in a manner that suit the needs of the customers irrespective of the authority or scale of the problem. Some of the Design-thinking tools utilised in this innovation include; visualisation, whereby imagery is used to capture the idea on whiteboards and post-it notes with the aim of developing and sharing them jointly. Besides that, the company utilised ethnography, which according to Liedtka (2014) involves different qualitative research techniques which concentrates on developing an understanding of the customers through interacting with them. Ethnography for the emergency brake technology involved interviewing and participant observations. The Daimler’s innovation Design Thinking process involved a number of steps: understand the problem prerequisites (perceived constraints, the client, the market, and technology); observing customers in their real life environment through various ethnography techniques; creating a perspective to refrain the barking problem; prototype as well as ideate numerous alternatives; and testing (see figure one). Figure One: Emergency Braking Technology Design Thinking process User involvement As pointed out by Bosch-Sijtsema and Bosch (2015), involving users in innovation development is important because they are offered an opportunity to influence changes within their contexts. At Daimler, users were involved as experts of their context and to make sure the users’ structures, activities, and processes are considered in future situations. According to Bosch-Sijtsema and Bosch (2015), a company can receive inputs from their users through a collaborative approach, whereby the firm interacts with lead users. Such lead users offer their experiences of using the company’s products based on technical and domain knowledge, which is normally utilised in the fuzzy front end or idea stage of new product development. At Daimler, they utilised collaborative approach whereby the users were active participant at the time of innovation as the innovation’s coproducers. The users were integrated in the process of design and development and were also involved in the testing new innovative product with the assistance of IT. Daimler clearly understands that using the user input results in superior product. Fast integration- Time, Costs, Resources Integration is without a doubt a crucial concept since it drives innovation. The industry leaders and market makers have focused consistently on integrating various things that generates innovation for the end users. As a result, the end users consume the innovation achieved through integration. Integrating at Daimler involved modification of the existing processes to improve the emergency braking technology’s functional capabilities. The objective of these processes was to improve productivity. The process was initiated by examining numerous similar process features and functions as well as creating one process which could serve the purpose of many processes. The emergency braking technology is projected to become commercially available by 2020. The company has spent a lot of money to fast-track the innovation process. Still, the development time for the innovation cannot be predicted; thus, the company will take long to recoup its initial investment. As mentioned by Amdam (2014), a new innovation should be geographically or functionally framed and must improve its collective ability to act by learning so as to use its comparative advantages. Prototyping and Testing Capabilities At Daimler, prototyping was utilised as a tool to reduce the technical risk all through the development of emergency braking technology. The company has invested heavily in numerous prototypes, which has improved the company’s design ability. Rapid prototyping and testing techniques and technologies has enabled the company to be well-positioned in reducing the development cycle times. The company has a well-outfitted laboratory for prototyping and testing purposes. As mentioned by Hencke (2014), prototyping activities can be managed properly by separating prototyping activities into: operational and developmental prototyping activities. The company’s diverse prototyping portfolio facilitates the exploration of different new technologies. Cross Functional Management Daimler’s innovation was facilitated by a cross-functional team that was constituted with people having different skills and talents. The team effectiveness is attributed to the fact that it does not rely on other departments to perform its duties. According to Berger (2014), cross-functional management allows for faster development of innovative products and different perspectives shared by the members of the cross-functional team could spur innovation. The Daimler’s innovation capacity is attributed to the company’s ability to bring people together from different departments who are tasked with shedding light on process problems as well as delivering innovative solutions which could satisfy the end-users. In cross-functional team, conflicts are normally prevalent and if not managed properly could influence team performance. Therefore, the teams normally rely on compromise, collaboration, and accommodation as the most suitable way of handling conflict (Sabir, Zakir, Anjum, & Shahnawaz, 2014). Conclusion In conclusion, the future innovations would not largely affect the innovative idea, since the costs of developing the automatic emergency braking is exceedingly high for small market players. As mentioned in the essay, managing the growing competition in the automobile market, innovation portfolio management would ensure a stable pipeline of new products. Furthermore, managing innovation can lead to risks and transaction costs, if planned, executed as well as synergised poorly. Without a doubt, having a right portfolio mix would allow the company to target the customers’ priorities as well as needs and would also facilitate the company to respond to new market trends and adapt to changing business environment. References Akella, J., Gargi, N., & Mehrotra, T. 2015. Putting digital process innovation at the center of organizational change. . viewed 19 May 2017. Amdam, R. 2014. An integrated planning, learning and innovation system in the decentralized public sector; a Norwegian perspective. The Innovation Journal: The Public Sector Innovation Journal, 19(3): 1-1. Berger, A. 2014. The Power of Cross-Functional Teams. viewed 19 May 2017. Bosch-Sijtsema, P., & Bosch, J. 2015. User Involvement throughout the Innovation Process in High-Tech Industries. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 32(5): 793–807 . Daimler AG. 2014. Emergency braking. viewed 19 May 2017. Daimler AG. 2017. Crash test with X-ray glasses. viewed 19 May 2017. Dam, R. F., & Siang, T. Y. 2017. Design Thinking: New Innovative Thinking for New Problems. < https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/design-thinking-new-innovative-thinking-for-new-problems> viewed 19 May 2017. Doorasamy, M. 2015. Product portfolio management for new product development. Problems and Perspectives in Management , 13(4): 102-114. Euro NCAP. 2011. Mercedes-Benz Collision Prevention Assist. viewed 19 May 2017. Hencke, R. 2014. Prototyping Increasing the Pace of Innovation. viewed 19 May 2017. Liedtka, J. 2014. Perspective: Linking Design Thinking with Innovation Outcomes through Cognitive Bias Reduction. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 32(6): 925–938. Meifort, A. 2016. Innovation Portfolio Management: A Synthesis and Research Agenda. Creativity and Innovation Managemen, 25(2): 251–269 . Naiman, L. 2016. Design Thinking as a Strategy for Innovation. viewed 19 May 2017. O'Kane, S. (2016). Mercedes-Benz created a heavy-duty electric truck for making city deliveries. viewed 19 May 2017. Ramsay, J. 2011. Project and Portfolio Management for the Innovative Enterprise: Accelerating the Rate of Return from Innovation. New York: CA Technologies. Sabir, R. I., Zakir, U., Anjum, T., & Shahnawaz, M. 2014. Cross Functional Teams & Innovation Management. Scholedge International Journal of Management & Development, 2(1): 30-42. Srivannaboon, S., & Munkongsujarit, S. 2016. Project Management and Project Portfolio Management in Open Innovation: Literature Review. 2016 Proceedings of PICMET '16: Technology Management for Social Innovation, (pp. 2002-2007). Honolulu, Hawaii. Read More