Innovation and Change in KGS.

Answer

Plastiwear: Innovation and Change in KGS.

Forces of Change

Forces of change in an industry are those internal forces such as knowledge competence workforce of management or external factors, normally known as macro environmental factors. These factors are those that business owners have no control over and whatever they can do to change then is very minimal. Instead of trying to change them, companies have no choice but to adapt to them (Bellgran & Safsten, 2010).  These factors include consumer factors, technology, the legal and political influence and the economic factors that will be of significance to the men’s shirt industry.  Consumer factor as a force of change in the men’s shirt industry largely influences whether or not the product will be successful in the market or not. The style and fabric of clothing and how the consumer feels when wearing them will determine whether or not the product will bring enough profit in sales (Bellgran & Safsten, 2010). The technological influences on this product comes in terms of whether or not the resource for production are available. The demand for the product is also an essential force as it will determine if there is a ready and waiting market for the product. When it comes the attractiveness of Plastiwear in KSG, the product will be a consumer’s dream in terms of the type of fabric that it is made of.  Walter Albright, the Vice President or research and Development and one of the future contenders for the CEO position, a pro Plastiwear points out that the fabric is indestructible, it is also stain-proof which  “looks as good as anything you get at Thomas Pink. These are some of the qualities needed by most men when they buy shirts and if the KGS team can provide this with their new product, it will be attractive to the consumers and bring in huge profits in sales. Further, in view of technology when it comes to production, the fiber brings in new material to the KGS industry in terms of innovation. Further, Walter mentions that the formula is available and has “terrific prototypes” This will ensure quality of the product which is what the men’s shirt industry needs.

Incremental, Radical and Disruptive Innovations

Incremental innovation “exploits the potential of established designs and reinforces the dominance of established firm” (Shavinina, 2003, p. 120). Through small-scale improvements, the functional capabilities of the existing technologies are improved in terms of safety, performance and their quality. On the other hand, radical innovations introduce new concepts from past practices and create new products and processes using a different type engineering and scientific principles. Through this creation, new markets are also introduced (Shavinina, 2003, p. 120). In the book, Handbook of Research on New Product Development, the authors, Golder and Mitra (2018) mention the distinction between incremental and radical innovations. They define incremental innovation as those that involve “relatively minor changes in technology and provide relatively low ‘incremental’ customer benefits per dollar” (Golder & Mitra, 2018, p.43). Radical innovations, on the other hand, involves “substantially new technology and provides substantially greater customer benefits per dollar, relative to existing products” (Golder & Mitra, 2018, p.43). Disruptive innovation “creates an entirely new market, through the introduction of a new kind or product or service, one that’s actually worse” (Golder & Mitra, 2018, p. 43). I would classify Green Plastics as an incremental innovation. Applying both definitions, they use already existing technology and exploit established designs by making small-scale improvements. Further, Green plastics brings in relatively low incremental benefits to the customer. This is the reason why Walter feels the need to bring in a new product and new technology that will bring significant customer benefits. Craig Adams, the vice president of KSG Oil and Gas Products division and an anti-Plastiwear argues that the Green plastics is doing “amazingly well” in their usage of their already existing agricultural biopolymers in rural areas. The Green plastics project is already established and brings in profits and they feel no need to bring in new products and technology that will disrupt the existing one.

Innovation Champion

Innovation champion is defined by Tynhammar (2018) in his book New Waves in Innovation Management Research (ISPIM Insights), 2018 as “an individual who informally emerges in an organization and makes a decisive contribution to the innovation by actively and enthusiastically promoting its progress through critical organizational stages” (p. 131). An innovation champion is an enthusiastic individual who throws their weight fully behind the new innovation. He or she plays an important role in boosting the new innovation in the organization (Rogers, 2003). An innovation champion should have the ability to envision the new technology to an extent that the people in the organization can picture it too. They should see what others around them cannot in terms of the mass market. In other words, they are the principle visionaries. The champion should also be a “maverick and a dissenter” (Tellis, 2012). In other words be able to come up with unique visions that deviate from the norm. A champion should have the conviction to persist against the expected and the unexpected odds. This is a lonely battle where he or she should be able to come out top in convincing the others to adapt to this vision. Walter should be the one to fill this slot within KGS. First, he has a vision which no one else has as to how he explains it to Shelly that “Imagine stain proof shirt that look as good as anything you get at Thomas Pink, imagine indestructible canvas tents, imagine….” He is able to imagine the kind of success the Platsiwear will bring to the company if adopted and also I dare to say convinces the usually impartial Shelley to pick a side even if she does not say which. This can be seen as the way she talks to Craig earlier. Further, Shelley mentions that in the past, ideas by Walter and Craig have been unique. Ideas she previously questioned but turned out to be positive

Internal Climate and Innovation

The internal climate of an organization toward innovation is one of the most important aspects in organizational innovations. Whether or not the employees within the organization are reciprocal to a new innovation idea will contribute to whether or not the idea will be successful or not. There are various instruments to measure an internal climate in an organization. The use of questionnaires given to the employees with a series of leading questions will work to determine the level in which the employees are ready for the new innovation (Runco, Pritzer & Pritzer, 1999). Another approach is asking a group of respondents such as long term employees with experience to rate the level or reception towards this new innovation. In KGS, I would advise Shelley to use the questionnaire approach to measure the internal climate of the employees. This is because, their personal opinions will not be influenced by either Craig or Walter. What will be measured will be their perception on the new Plastiwear project and whether or not they believe it will be beneficial to the company and its employees or nor. The existing projects will be interfered with but will it be to the benefit or loss to the company. After the measurement, explain to the employees that the project will bring new ideas to the company and probably much profit.

Blockages to Innovation

There are constant resistance and blockages to organizational innovation. Most of them emerge within the internal climate of the organization as some of the employees feel like there is no need for the new innovation idea. The current technologies according to these individuals is always sufficient and the new one will only work to disrupt the proposed or incoming one. In KGS, one of the individuals with this mindset is Crag, the VP for Oil and Gas as he believes the new innovation idea proposed by Walter will only work negatively towards the growth of KGS. Money, time and resources will be diverted from a project that is doing “amazingly well” to fund a project, Plastiwear, which is not guaranteed to be a success and will probably bring losses. Perceptual blockage is one of the barriers to innovation (Holbenche, 2012) and it is defined as a blockage brought about by having a too narrow mind of the problem. This is the kind of blockage that Craig has, he is not willing to give the new project a chance because he believes the market is too large and creating customer loyalty will be hard or impossible. He is not looking at the bigger picture in this extent, which is the new technology will bring a new set of customers and profits to the company. Another blockage is environmental blockage (Holbenche, 2012).  These are distractions within the environment that work to distract the new ideas being put forward. Perceptual blockage is evident in KGS. Employees such as Craig are comfortable in their environment such that they are not ready to embrace ideas that may be too risky for them. They are not willing to give the project a chance due as they look at the impending loss rather than the expected profits it will garner.

Innovation Strategy Problem

An innovation strategy refers to “a central, integrated, externally oriented concept of how the innovation idea will achieve its objectives” (Varadarajan, 2018, p.6).  A strategy has five elements which work to create a working one.  An arena that is the main domain in which the idea will be active. In other words, determining which market the business idea will be of more value. Another element is the differentiators. This is how the business intends to win the chosen market. When entering a market, business owners enter to win and choosing a strategy on how to win is mandatory. The vehicle is also another element (Varadarajan, 2018). This is how the firm will enter the chosen domain. Staging gives the idea on the sequence the business will pursue the idea and finally, the economic logic assess the financial benefit of the idea (Varadarajan, 2018). Therefore, an innovation strategy has to follow the same rules as these and the Research Department at KGS has not quite managed to accomplish this. They are divided instead of being united in making a strategy in which the Plastiwear will be successful and then means in which they will enter the market. The strategy I would advise Shelley to recommend is building a competitive strategy. They have a product which no one else in the market has and this definitely gives them an added advantage over the competitors that they are facing. With Walter driving the innovation, idea, they will be able to achieve the vision that they have through his vision. A vison that is profitable and unique.