Innovation and Development Process of Mobile Phones - Research Paper Example

Summary For companies to maintain a competitive advantage over each other there is a need for them to bring about change and innovation in their products and processes. Innovation is often similar with the output of an organization’s process though researchers have placed more emphasis on the process itself as to how a creative idea can be developed into a meaningful output (Cohen & Levinthal, 1989). Because innovation is considered as a necessary process in driving the company’s profits as well as in meeting the needs of consumers, the factors that often lead to innovation are considered critical to any organization (Ettlie, Bridges & Okeefe, 1984). All their goals, processes and resources must be in accordance with the innovation that they intend to develop for them to successfully create a valuable outcome. Innovation has also been associated with growth and performance through the improvements in quality, efficiency and productivity (Danneels, 2002) and is further examined in this current study through the product development process necessary for effectively carrying out an innovative product, in this case, the solar powered green mobile phones. In each developmental phase, it is described as to how these eco-friendly phones have been created, developed, designed and evaluated for the benefits of their consumers as well as their manufacturers. Introduction Those who become winners in a business environment that is constantly changing are those who make use of new methods for them to generate competitive advantages. Such methods normally make use of creative ideas before companies are able to implement new products, services and activities for their benefit as well as the customers’. The successful implementation of any creative idea is known as innovation and although many believe that creativity has to be original, innovation can might as well be adapted from the ideas picked up from the current environment. A great deal of work on innovation is generally focused on the past history and background as well as the end results for a successful implementation of any product or process. Innovation has gone through a significant change over the recent years as a positive outcome of a number of factors such as the advancements made in science and technology as well as the globalization of business markets and activities. The growing number of sources affecting the process of innovation has led the companies to achieve gain more knowledge, achieve greater importance and allow the combination of technological capabilities with other useful sources. Similarly, the rise of globalization among markets has increased the need to utilize an organization’s advantages at an international level as well as to look for new competitive resources in an international setting. In order to capture the true meaning of innovation from a general point of view, Garcia & Calantone (2002) reviewed the 1991 OECD study that referred to innovation as a continual process which is instigated by the awareness of an opportunity for a new market or service for an invention that is primarily based on technology and leads to its development, production and selling tasks aiming for the commercial success of the invention. Innovation The continuous search for innovations in order to ensure a company’s maintenance has led a number of researchers to explore the innovation field (Bartos, 2007). These studies, however, has created a level of doubt regarding the true meaning of innovation due to the numerous innovation characteristics and aims that have been presented (Dewar & Dutton, 1986). Since putting the different types of innovation into categories provide a better recognition of all influences coming from the organization and surrounding environment to the innovation, it becomes essential to address the type of innovation according to its application and main goal (Knight, 1967). For example, in the high-tech industry, the primary aim of companies is to create change in the product or technology field and in an environment where there is rapid technological change, there is a need for these organizations to have a complete awareness of their strategy in developing new products or innovations. High-tech companies can never be sure of their performance in the future (Coad & Rao, 2008), and even much less certainty when it comes to the emergence and implementation of their new technologies. There are only two outcomes that often come about- either the new product development attains a great deal of success or the company throws away a considerable amount of resources and do not innovate. Therefore, when companies choose to maintain their competitive advantage through the use of innovation, their entire organizational structure must be aligned with the possibilities of their environment, strategy and technological resources (Hung, Chung & Lien, 2007). Aside from a well-established organizational structure that is arranged in accordance with a flexible product innovation, it is also necessary to incorporate the capabilities of the company in implementing and managing the new product development process in order to come up with innovations (Teece, Pisano & Shuen, 1997). It is necessary to make it clear that an idea that is to be considered in an innovation process have to be gradually developed and maintained so it can enter the production process and then add economic value to the organization which then becomes the output of the new development process. This process is most likely the best factor in making decisions regarding the success or failure of an innovation (Garcia & Calantone, 2002) and is also a standard procedure required and adopted by many international companies to provide quality to their new products and consistently meet customer requirements. Therefore, the process of innovation will involve procedures of high performance to create new products, integrating processes from certain organizational areas according to the nature and purpose of the innovation (Teece, Pisano & Shuen, 1997). Due to the many investigations and various classifications of the innovation process, previous researchers have reported that innovations can be differentiated as administrative, technological, organizational-structure, or in terms of product innovation. After a few years’ time under a technological/product innovation approach, Dewar & Dutton (1986) suggested a radical and incremental innovation which Garcia & Calantone (2002) believed to be the actual new innovation. Incremental innovation is a continuous and growing innovation that does not have a scientific factor in improving the present technology. From the viewpoint of a high-tech product, this form of innovation is the increase or the improvement of any existing product or technology in the market (Garcia & Calantone, 2002). In short, it generally involves a new version of the existing product or process. Such type of innovation can be an easy and effective means of gaining competitive advantage during the growth of the organization as it protects and increases their position on the market. For example, aside from enhancing current technology, incremental innovation can also make something work accordingly to the markets with which an obsolete technology from one industry can become a new opportunity for another market. While incremental innovation is established based on the knowledge gathered around the experiences of consumers with an existing product, radical innovations primarily revolves around the needs of these customers (Diedericks & Hoonhout, 2007) and are not used to address a variety of demands; rather these are used to create a market or an entire line of products to make the current products obsolete. Koberg et al (2003) also identified a number of factors that will most favor the incremental and radical innovations such as the organizational environment and structure as well as their processes and management. Therefore, each type of innovation is in need of different efforts from companies and will be carried out according to the aims of the organization itself. Development Process of Solar Powered Mobile Phones The actual process of product development remains to be uncertain for a number of researchers. Nonetheless, other researchers have based their process on building the new product development process in accordance with the actual state of the product during its development. In the growth process of high-tech products for maintaining a competitive advantage over others, there comes the need of choosing the suitable innovation as radical or incremental innovation is placed in a continuous and dynamic activity (Qin & Wang, 2006). These researchers have also suggested four stages of defining the growth process of high-tech firms- Start-up, Growth, Maturity, and Revival stage. They believe that during the Start-up and Revival stages of high-tech projects, they should choose a radical innovation while an incremental innovation should be adopted during the Growth and Maturity stages. This is also supported by Garcia & Calantone (2002) that radical innovations are most effective during the early and final stages and incremental innovations for the stages in between. Schroeder (2003), on the other hand, has indicated three common phases for development process which involves the concept development, product design and pilot production and testing. Concept Development At present, numerous companies are working and putting their best efforts towards a cleaner, greener and healthier way of living. The “low-carbon” concept has transformed itself into a social issue which includes various fields. For most individuals, a low-carbon lifestyle means that they lead their lives by focusing on lower power consumption, minimal wastes and reduced emissions. Currently, low carbon has become the main emphasis in almost every aspect of everyday life and electronic products such as mobile phones have drawn a great deal of public attention. There is an increasingly loud call for the conservation of energy as well as the protection of the environment, and due to such an immense need, green mobile phones have become a pioneering concept. Such ideas follow the first phase of the development process suggested by Schroeder (2003), that products are first developed through concept development and the creation of ideas that will help companies come up with their new innovations. Pollution which is caused by mobile phones due to their toxic mercury, lead, cadmium and other materials has come to the front of public awareness. Major manufacturers of handsets have accordingly placed much greater emphasis on how they can help protect the environment, presenting various environmental-friendly cell phones with low level of carbon emission to meet customer needs. Solar energy can either be used only once or can become a renewable energy resource. It is also unlimited and free of charge for any mobile user and is also capable of an even distribution to all consumers. Product Design In accordance with product design, the second phase of Schroeder’s (2003) product development process, manufacturers make use of solar panels which are often installed on the back of these mobile phones for solar radiation to be converted into electricity. When it has been converted into electricity, it then powers the phone and can also be stored into batteries. The design that most solar phones have are candy-bar styles. For example, the Samsung Blue Earth allows its users to charge the phone using the solar panel that is located on the back while ZTE also launched a similar green mobile phone called the S312 that includes a large solar panel connected to the back of the phone. Because of its popularity among both consumers and operators, it takes on the two forms of innovation presented by Garcia & Calantone (2002) as well as Gray (1997) - incremental innovation because of its aim to further enhance the existing technology of cell phones, and radical innovation because it focuses on creating an entire industry and product line dedicated to environment protection. There are also other designs of green mobile phones that best utilize solar power such as the Sharp SolarPhone SH002 with which users can expose the phone to the sunlight for 10 minutes and generates two hours of standby or one minute of talk time (Raphael, 2009). Moreover, when the battery is left outdoors long enough, its battery can be charged up to 80% of its total capacity. There is also an additional Flash animation application which informs the user as to how fast the phone is charging. When considering the materials used for different solar powered phones, most of these are created out of recyclable materials that fall into five major categories including plastic, glass, metal, waste paper and cloth, which green mobile phones normally use in their cell body or packaging. For instance, aside from making use of solar energy, the cell body of the LG GD510 is made up of recyclable materials that are toxic-free. Green paper and soy ink has also been adopted for the packaging of the phone box. The Motorola W233, which the is the first ever carbon-neutral cell phone in the world, only includes basic functions, yet its housing is made from water bottles that have been recycled and is also 100% recyclable itself. The emergence of a more innovative handset is the concept phone that has been revealed by the development consultancy Kaleidoscope with which the gadget contains useful and valuable materials including glass, aluminum, and electronic parts that the manufacturer can gather for re-use (Anderson, 2009). Additionally, the mobile phone has been designed for an automatic disassembly which helps avoid pollution that is brought about by plastic welding during the production of handsets, as well as saves a great deal of time and energy. Similar to the concepts of recyclable materials and solar energy, the development of green mobile phones has turned into other directions such as the Samsung SCH-W510 which makes use of bio-plastic material that is manufactured from cornstarch and is create using a metal finishing process that is environmental friendly (Anderson, 2009). Furthermore, in 2008, a degradable mobile phone called Bamboo was introduced by a Dutch designer with which the phone’s casing consists of bamboo and other raw materials such as corn. Once the antenna, battery and print board have all been taken out, the remaining parts can be placed in a composter in which they will start to disintegrate Product Testing Through the examples provided regarding solar powered phones, it is evident that they come in a wide variety of forms and designs. As a result, the performance of each model and the implementation of its features can also differ significantly. According to Schroeder (2003), testing is should be designed in order to provide a complete evaluation of the functionality as well as all the features of a product by examining its capability of being used and its overall quality. Such is the case for solar powered mobile phones which have to be evaluated in terms of their ease of use, feature sets, and battery life. Majority of all these phones have yielded positive results such as the unlimited use of solar power, the reduction of electricity consumption, a convenient use even in places without electricity supply, and an overall decrease in pollution. However, solar energy has also been known for its number of deficiencies including a scattered generation of power, instability and low efficiency. Therefore, its usefulness primarily lies as an additional and supporting energy source for devices of low power. Currently, solar-powered phones are in an initial stage of development and basing from the present situation, it is likely that solar power will play an even more important role in powering up mobile phones of the future. Future of Solar Powered and Green Mobile Phones Low carbon will become an unavoidable trend in the future of green mobile phones. Manufacturers are continuing their efforts in making innovations in their eco-friendly phones which are currently moving towards the direction of low carbon development and will help transform into a low-carbon future. Adopting renewable and recyclable materials as well as developing new sources for energy will be essentially bound to the development of eco-friendly phones (Ngo, 2009). Natural energy resources are known to be limited and moving into the future, there is a need for principles that are environment-friendly to be considered during the entire innovation process including the development of their main concept, the process of manufacturing and the end usage. Conclusion Though there is still no complete understanding of how true innovation comes about, a number of studies have allowed people to become aware that the innovation process requires a creative idea to create change among products and other technological projects. Innovation allows any idea to be transformed into something useful and beneficial both for the company as well as its consumers. For an innovation process to become effective, an organization must first know how their structure, activities, resources and overall environment can be aligned with the innovation that they intend to carry out. Two main types of innovation have been discussed – the incremental innovation in which existing products and processes are replaced in terms of consumer experiences, and the radical innovation which intends to create positive change in relation to the customer’s needs. Using the new product development process as the most favorable way in determining the implementation of any product, three phases were applied in the development of solar powered green mobile phones. The concept for these phones was taken out of the need for the sustainability of a clean and healthy environment as well as the preservation of natural resources. Various designs and forms have also been created to suit the requirements of all customers, while features of these phones have also been evaluated to draw out both positive outcomes. Though there are insufficiencies in solar powered phones such as unsteadiness in the source or a low level of efficiency, many companies still believe that gadgets being powered by solar energy will yield even more positive outcomes in the future aside from minimal wastes, less electricity consumption and unlimited solar power. References Bartos, P. J. (2007) Is mining a high-tech industry? Investigations into innovation and productivity advance. Resources Policy, 4(2), 149-158. Coad, A. & Rao, R. (2008) Innovation and firm growth in high-tech sectors: A quantile regression approach. Research Policy, 37(11), 633-648. Cohen, W.N. and Levinthal, D.A., (1989): “Innovation and learning: the two faces of R&D. Implications for the analysis of R&D investment”, Economic Journal 99, 569-596. Danneels, E. 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