Innovation

Innovation is the process of introducing an improved version of a product where the process takes two approaches in the contemporary business setting. On the one hand, a pull innovation is a technological approach where a business has a strategy to launch a new design of a product with several considerations lined up. The company engages resources in research and development to find out the best approach to introduce the product (Abramson, 2002). After proper research, production commences as per research finding. To this effect, the sales sail through as the market demand for the innovation had been ascertained earlier. The product satisfies customer needs, ensuring more products are sold within a short period of time. The approach is sustainable for the long-term success of the business. On the other hand, the push technology ignores the pull innovation protocol as there is no research to analyze the market demand for the product or service (Gorman, 2007). Therefore, the product success is not ascertained before production and marketing commences. Consequently, the pull innovation is a sustainable method of doing business because it is customer-oriented, which ensures increased sales.

Push technology is appropriate for the application in the consumer sector when introducing a completely new product or service in the market. The product is rare in the market, implying that consumers have no clue about the product. To this end, research prior to the introduction is not necessary, as it would yield minimum benefits. To the contrary, pull innovation is necessary when introducing an improved version of a product or service (Gorman, 2007). The research and development protocol associated with pull innovation is based on the product that is already in the market. Therefore, the research undertaken uses old product as the baseline data for the new product, leading to reliable findings concerning market demand as well as new improvements that consumers demand.

There are varied bases of innovation in the consumer industry, including change in human perceptions, demographics dynamics and scientific knowledge. Human perception as a source of innovation appears when consumers change their taste and preference for certain products or services. The changes imply that new products or services are required to satisfy the gap. In another sphere, scientific knowledge leads to the discovery of new products and thereafter steps are taken to commercialize the knowledge. Often, scientific knowledge is renowned for high-tech products and services, especially in the communication and technological sector (Abramson, 2002). At another extreme, demographic changes occur when there is an alteration in the composition of consumers. For example, when infants reach the puberty period, there is a change in the goods and services consumed, implying that companies can come up with improved products and services to satisfy needs at that stage. Innovations arising from demographic changes are often ignored because the field attracts limited range of innovations. Normally, consumers crossing from one stage to another adopt the existing products or services rather than demand new products (Gorman, 2007).

A strategy is a plan that has to be followed to accomplish a task. While seeking new opportunities, a strategy is crucial because it serves as a guideline (Abramson, 2002). Therefore, in case of failure, the entrepreneur can trace the cause of failure from the strategy. Failure to adhere to a strategy is similar to increasing the chances of failure.

Absorptive capacity in innovation is the ability of a firm to acknowledge the importance of innovation and thereafter take steps to commercialize the data (Gorman, 2007). It is important because it increases the range of products and services in the market for the businesses that are aggressive.