Culture And Innovation

Abstract: In a rapid change and competitive world of business, innovation is given the top most priority in an organization. No matter what the size of the organization, the relationship between organizational culture and innovation plays a vital role in its growth. The view of this paper gives you a brief idea of what culture of innovation is all about and how it benefits an organization by implementing it. The authors view are based on their own judgement and do not reflect the views of society.

INTRODUCTION

Invention is introducing something new to the world for the first time while innovation is continuous refinement of invention. Innovation is present everywhere in the current world, it has no age limits – a kindergarten kid may also be

Many companies now have a dedicated Research & Development team which continuously work towards upgradation, modification, invention of new techniques. Example – Henry Ford, the founder of Ford Industries grabbed the attention of all automobile industries to look at his manufacturing process - Mass Production. Later, Taiichi Ohno emulated the technique of Henry Ford and introduced Lean Manufacturing, which made Toyota surpass GM and become worlds no 1 automobile company. To add on, Steve Jobs changed the face of entire computer, music and smartphone industry. Innovations have made companies to be more creative in this competitive world.

Types of Innovation: Innovation can be broadly classified in two ways – Quantum Innovation and Incremental Innovation. Quantum Innovation is an operating system that revolutionize the way in which products are created whereas Incremental Innovation is refinement and upgradation of quantum innovation. Example – Introduction of Apple iPhone (2G) is a perfect example for quantum innovation, but the subsequent models of iPhone which followed 3GS, 4, 4S to 6S plus is incremental

Most of the companies set their strategies for the year and these strategies are clearly communicated to their employees to implement them. Most companies do not see innovation as an end result but they try to reform and achieve strategic goals.

Innovators are Leaders – Market Leadership is as important as innovation, wherein a company which introduces a new product in market always gain a competitive advantage than companies which follow them. Example – Flipkart was the first Indian company to sell electronic appliances, books and fashion accessories online (e-commerce) whereas Snapdeal, Myntra and Jabong replicated the same idea. Today, Flipkart holds majority stake and is profitable because of gaining the first mover advantage.

Implementation – In current scenario, most of the organisation spend lot of money to hire creative employees who can bring change to the organization. These companies implement the idea depending upon the current market, tastes & preferences of customer. Therefore implementation takes a vital role

Learning from mistakes – An organization should support people who work on initiative’s and projects of their own, sometimes it might result in an unintentional failure. In this aspect managers should encourage them and guide towards