Peer Response Assignment: DUE Oct. 5, 2018 at 23:30 military time!!!Students are expected to actively participate in the in the forum discussion. A minimum of 2 substantive participation posts (175-25

Peer Response Assignment: DUE Oct. 5, 2018 at 23:30 military time!!!

Students are expected to actively participate in the in the forum discussion. A minimum of 2 substantive participation posts (175-250 words) is required to earn full participation points.

Guidelines for student forum discussion/participation:

• -Select a fellow student's response and compare and contrast your thoughts with theirs;

• -Advance the conversation; provide a real-world application and experiential examples;

• -Conceptually discuss your key [most significant] learning insight or take-away from the selected forum topic comments.

• -Responses should be a minimum of 175-250 words, supported by at least one reference outside of the textbook, either supporting or refuting the position of the author of the forum topic response or peer response.

Discussion Forum Prompt: For this week's Discussion Board we're going to be utilizing the book : Ten Types of Innovation

This is a very graphically produced book, so you should be able to easily skim the entire book, but for this week's work please approach it in this manner:

• Read all of Part 2 - begin with The Ten Types Overview and then read each of the deeper descriptions of each "Type"

• Identify one of the ten types you find interesting and/or applicable to your business and write an analysis of how this might be applied in an actual organization you are familiar with. 

Response #1

The company that I am writing about in the previous assignments is AirBnb. We all know that AirBnb is an online-based experience/service platform that enables different users to interact, transact, and do business on their own. This application is an apparent tool created through series of innovation, and thus further improving its product/service portfolio.

Reading the Ten Types of Innovation, I learned that there are three stages that divides the ten innovation and these are CONFIGURATION, OFFERING, & EXPERIENCE. I also learned that in the first stage (configuration), innovations that occur are more focused on the innermost workings of the company or the internal system/ enterprise itself. This, it includes the profit model, network, structure, and the process. Secondly, the second stage (offering) are more focused on the product/service. Hence, the design of the portfolio and its management. The items in this are: Product Performance, and Product System. Lastly, the third stage (experience) is focused on the business system where the business are to face the customer. The items in this are: Service, Channel, Brand, and Customer Engagement.  

In light of my learnings about the business structure and design of AirBnb, I believe that the best fit innovation focus is Service. In the book, Service answers the question “How you support and amplify the value of your offerings?”. While customer engagement is important, I think that it is more urgent for AirBnb to improve its service to stay on top of the competition. AirBnb needs to stay relevant with the market and stay reliable. With the many disputes and issues going on with the platform, I think it is just strategic for AirBnb to review its business process to further its service to the market. This would include a rundown of all products/services offered, guidelines in suppliers, contracts, platform reliability, etc.

Response #2

    The Type of Innovation I chose to apply to my organization is Product Performance.  The organization I am applying this Type to is 8th District Court.  This is my current place of employment so I am most familiar with their operations.  Although, the court system is thought of as more of a service provider than product provider, I believe this Type could be applied to it.

            Keeley, Nagji, and Walters (2013) explain that service providers would benefit from using Product Performance.  Companies can do this by changing the way their service functions (Keeley et al., 2013).  This concept can be applied to 8th District Court through the use of their JIS system.  JIS is the case management system that holds all public case files in Kalamazoo County.  Employees use this feature on a daily basis.  Defendants, witnesses, victims, and family members are constantly calling phone lines looking for information on a specific case.  Employees then take time away from what they are doing to research information that could be accessible through other means.

            Admittedly, most individuals do not have the time to travel to the courthouse to request to view a file.  Everything that is in a physical file, has been uploaded to the electronic JIS system.  8th District Court could better serve their consumers by making the JIS system available on their website.  Any public information is appropriate to be on the website since it accessible through other means.

            If the court system were to implement this change to its feature, the service provided would function in a smoother manner.  This would serve consumers in a faster, more accurate, more efficient way.  This would put Kalamazoo courts at an advantage when it comes to receiving grants based on customer satisfaction, services provided, etc.  By innovating using Product Performance, 8th District Court could possess a unique service that other county courts do not possess or provide.

References

Keeley, L., Nagji, B., & Walters, H. (2013). Ten types of innovation : the discipline of building breakthroughs. Retrieved fromhttps://ebookcentral.proquest.com

Response #3

Customer Engagement

How You Foster Compelling Interactions

Customer Engagement innovations are all about understanding the deep-seated aspirations of customers and users, and using those insights to develop meaningful connections between them and your company. (Keeley, 2013)

Dell is engaging employees and customers through social networking initiatives that can reinvigorate business in dynamic, innovative ways. Today, social media efforts at Dell support key business goals, such as helping customer satisfaction. Dell has distilled its experience into seven steps that organizations can take to execute social media effectively.

1. Defining strategy

2. Identifying and listening to existing conversations

3. Encouraging internal organizations to participate

4. Cultivating conversations and communities

5. Providing incentives for participant content

6. Measuring success and adjusting the strategy

7. Engaging IT as a social media enabler

Dell implemented the Social Media Listening Command Center, a global operational hub for monitoring the online posts and tweets about Dell every day. By using this hub, Dell can organize and analyze information according to topics, sentiment, and share of voice, geography, and trends. The main purpose for the hub is to route information to the appropriate people within the Dell organization.

Social media offers tremendous potential to help organizations intensify relationships with customers. To fully capitalize on the potential of social media organizations can take an approach that begins by defining objectives and listening to existing conversations, and then establishing the processes and mobilizing the right individuals across the organization.

By Dell engaging in social media they can strengthen brand awareness, enhance customer relationships, gain valuable feedback, and utilize strategies to increase revenues, and by empowering employees to engage on behalf of the organization, social media efforts can deliver substantial, measurable business benefits.

Reference

Keely, Larry, Nagji, Bansi, Walters, Helen, Pikkel, Ryan, Quinn, Brain (2013) Ten Types of Innovation: The Discipline of Building Breakthroughs. Retrieved from https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/davuport-ebooks/reader.action?docID=1180146&ppg=34

Response #4

Davenport University has several campuses throughout the state of Michigan. However, all of the branding comes out of the main campus in Grand Rapids. All marketing materials in every form of media directs people to contact the Grand Rapids office. Davenport has been at the  University Center at Northwestern Michigan College for over 20 years. However, many people are not aware that this campus exists. Even the advertisements in the NMC campus newspaper has the phone number to Grand Rapids campus and makes no mention of the Traverse City campus. While Davenport does a great job of branding. They do a poor job of branding at the local level.

            In the book, Ten Types of Innovation, the authors state that, “Brand innovations include extensions that offer a new product or service under the umbrella of an existing brand.” (Keeley, Nagil & Walters, p50). While the Traverse City campus is not offering a new product or a new service it is indeed under the umbrella of the main campus in Grand Rapids. Local branding would most likely increase the awareness in the community that they do not have to travel to Grand Rapids to pursue a degree from Davenport University. To change the way Davenport does its local branding requires some innovative thinking on the part of the marketing department.

            The people at the Traverse City campus recently met with the Grand Rapids marketing department to discuss innovative branding ideas to make the TC community aware of its local campus. The competition currently uses the sides of public transportation buses that travel to and from the hospital to promote its nursing degree offered in TC. This is a great example of innovative branding. During our meeting with the marketing department we worked to come up with a similar innovative ideal to promote local Davenport branding. Advertising our local brand in social media platforms was suggested. However, the most innovative ideal came from the campus director. Being that Davenport is known for its strong business oriented degree plans, she suggested we promote the TC campus in the online business news page. The Ticker is an online news page that focuses on changes and developments in local businesses. This would be a promising and innovative idea to promote local branding for the university.

Reference

Keeley, L., Nagil, B., &Walters, H. (2013), Ten types of innovation : the discipline of building breakthroughs.              Retrieved from http://ebookcentral.proquest.com Created from davuport-ebooks on 2018-10-02 12:06:22

Bottom of Form

Response #5

   The company that I have been writing on in previous assignments is Tropical Trader Shrimp Company, it is a seafood restaurant and market located in Panacea Florida. Ten Types of Innovation was an interesting read and very informative; however, most of the innovations were difficult to apply to restaurant businesses in my opinion. One of the types really stuck out to me as something that Tropical Trader Shrimp Company really has implemented in their business and that is "Product Performance". Product performance is all about developing distinguishable features and functionality. A couple of ways to spot product potential are if a company's products possess unique features and functionality, if the products are uniquely styles or focused on particular niches and audiences, and if they produce a notably superior offering in the market (Keeley, 2013). Tropical Trader has a couple of unique features compared to other restaurants in the area, one of them is they charge $5 per person to cook their own freshly caught fish. The location is right off the water and many fisherman live in the area. After a long day on the water they can bring in their catch and have it scaled, deboned, cooked to their liking, ad served with some homemade hushpuppies. This is a very unique feature the restaurant offers that isn't available anywhere else.

                An organization that I feel could really use this type of innovation is Ulta Beauty. This is a large well known beauty store and their largest competitor is Sephora. They have their own makeup brand that they sell within the store just like Sephora. They are a little cheaper but nothing else really sets them apart at the moment. What I think they could start to offer is something like a "build your own make-up kit". Yes they do sell some kits but they are pre-packaged and no real choice offered. With this people could pick their colors and what make-up they actually want. Not everyone wants blush in their kit and would rather have bronzer or eyeliner. This could also be a great interest to moms with young daughters just getting into make-up. The way I imagine it is almost like different stations in the order of how you apply the make-up.

Reference

Keeley, L., Nagji, B., & Walters, H. (2013). Ten types of innovation : the discipline of building breakthroughs. Retrieved from               https://ebookcentral.proquest.com

Response #6

After reading the “Ten Types Overview,” there was one particular type that seemed to resonate more than any other -- Structure. More specifically, how you organize and align your talent and assets. 

Too often, I believe people and organizations want to focus their attention on acquiring new assets rather than effectively utilizing the ones they already have. If we are constantly preoccupied with how we can acquire new and innovative assets, how can we effectively use our existing assets to the best of our ability? Perhaps if we were able to shift our focus to how we could better exploit the assets currently in our possession there would be no need to acquire new ones, at least for the moment.

When I read about “Structure Innovations,” I cannot help but think about my current organization. Like many other businesses, when we need something, hard, human, or intangible, we typically look to external resources – a place where we can procure the desired talent or asset. While this practice may be effective short-term, I do not believe it is always best practice and I do not believe it leads to long-term sustainable success within an organization.

Investing in current assets, employees, for this example, does two things for an organization: it enhances individual and collective capacity and performance. Empowering your employees and allowing them to develop and grow not only helps them become the best versions of themselves, but it also helps the organization to reach or exceed its potential.

I believe that such behavior by an organization would solve problems such as employee turnover – a real problem that my organization is facing today. Employees want to feel valued, trusted, and empowered and when they do, productivity and efficiency rise.

I think it is important to remember the difference between resources and capabilities. Resources are items, materials, objects, or other assets that a person or group can possess. Capabilities, however, are essentially how a person or group chooses to use those resources (Lin et. Al, 2013). Capitals, if not utilized effectively, are seemingly meaningless. It is how we use our assets that allow us to achieve long-term, sustainable success.

Resources

Lin, C., Hsu, M., Yen, D. C., Hsieh, P., Tsai, H., & Kuo, T. (2013). Prototype system for pursuing firm's core capability. Information Systems Frontiers, 15(3), 497-509. doi:http://dx.doi.org.proxy.davenport.edu/10.1007/s10796-011-9341-x