In: Operations Management
4. Explain how innovation and entrepreneurship are interrelated concepts. Explain the elements of innovation.
Innovation has a lot to do with the invention of a product or a process and is a change. A smart thought is a powerful instrument in the hands of a business visionary. This idea shows that innovation, or the idea is just one single aspect of the processes of the entrepreneur in the making of, and continuing the success of a business. Therefore this means there is a relationship visible between entrepreneurship and innovation. An entrepreneur is an individual who establishes and manages a business for the main purpose of profit and growth using innovation as the backbone to the idea. An entrepreneur is characterized typically by the innovative behavior and their willingness to employ strategies in the business, which brings out the various shades of innovation in the business.
Entrepreneurs are individuals that recognize every opportunity and find gaps in the market and test the viability of new business by trial and error and get feedback from the market before plunging into the market. Entrepreneurship and innovation are the drivers of local development. Entrepreneurship means dealing with new firms & growing firms and whereas innovation is about patents, R&D and high tech industries and aid in creating in an environment where growth is healthy and steady.
The relationship between entrepreneurship and innovation is in the efforts taken to assemble and deploy the resources in order to create valuable ideas for product, service or process. Those individuals who invest heavily in innovation have discovered that entrepreneurship is the key to fuse innovation into the practicable domain of industry. Therefore it becomes imperative to have innovative entrepreneurs to nurture the growth of the nation so that innovation and entrepreneurship be encouraged in the same platform.
The major elements of innovation are:
Collaboration is an activity intended for community development and infusing harmony into the work culture while dealing with innovation. There is no shortage of initiatives intended to be collaborative. Collaboration is not an easy process as there are chances of competition and conflicts among and within the groups that are dealing with the innovative ideas. There shouldn’t be any kind of tension in the atmosphere, but there is a requirement for peaceful coexistence for innovation to be brought about.
Ideation is a creative process of developing and communicating new ideas to an individual or a group as a result of the collaboration within a group intended to do something innovative. The idea is a basic element of thought that can be visual, concrete, or abstract for the listener, depending on the way it is explained. Ideation comprises various stages starting from innovation to development and finally the actualization of ideas. Fresh and creative ideas help the organization to stand out in the intense competitive environment, thus having an innovative culture.
Implementation is the major element of the innovation process where the idea is turned into strategies and plans of actions to accomplish the objectives and goals as framed during the ideation stage. A strategic plan can be made and documented so that it helps in driving the business growth without losing track in between.
Value creation is the main aim of innovation. Value can be defined as per the demand of the situation in many ways. It can be the improvements made to existing products, or the making of an entirely new product or service, or reducing the cost of an existing product. The survival of every business is in the value that is being created in the rapidly changing market. The value is dependent on whether the innovation turned out to be effective or not.
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