Introduction
Venturing into new management territory can be daunting. The old haunts are familiar and comfortable and, besides, they’ve worked fine for generations despite short-term thinking, turf wars, and fear of conflict just to name a few of the most obvious drawbacks. But the problem is that the old haunts are also limiting (Jonash & Sommerlatte 1999). Remaining huddled inside them limits access to new realms of growth and value and does nothing to cope with the whole new set of circumstances facing business today. As the economy shifts from a product-based system to knowledge-based one, managers need ways to manage their investments in intangible assets that drive innovation. Keeping intellectual property or any kind of secret secure in this era of the Internet, high staff mobility, and open communication has become very difficult. And maintaining the loyalty of smart employees is a problem of major proportions (Jonash & Sommerlatte 1999).
The innovation premium is about working smarter rather than simply working harder. Companies must become faster and more versatile. Companies do not need to dramatically restructure their company’s entire strategy, reorganize all their resources, or completely change their processes and organizational structure. What should be done is to find ways to alter the business’ approach and overlay new management practices that can create and capture more value from innovation (Jonash & Sommerlatte 1999). Being creative is such a natural part of being human that we can view creativity much the way we view language; no human cultures, no matter how isolated, have ever been found that do not use language. The same may be said of creativity. Of course, some cultures may boast more extensive technological, scientific, literary, or artistic accomplishments, but this depends on the relative value societies place on innovation, not differences in the basic mental processes of which people are capable (Finke, Smith & Ward 1995
Capitalizing on the techniques of creative cognition can help. It’s no secret that business today is ruthlessly competitive. Corporate executives find themselves navigating a harsh landscape in which a single misstep, a slight misreading of their guiding compass, can spell disaster. At the same time, a successful journey, a mapping out of a new market, can secure extravagant monetary rewards, and bring immense personal satisfaction corporations must find creative new ways to quickly manufacture products, and more generally, to run their entire organizations. They must reject their old knowledge of the way things “ought” to be done, the ways they have always been done in the past. Fads come and go in the business world. Managers and executives constantly search for that new idea that will give them even the narrowest of competitive edges over their rivals (Finke, Smith & Ward 1995). Innovation is important for business because it will help them increase their lead over rivals in the market. One company that used innovation in their product is Kellogg. The paper will discuss about Kellogg and its Real Fruit Winders. It will discuss why it was so important to communicate the changes to the consumers in advance.
Kellogg and real fruit winders
The Kellogg Company is a .8 billion producer of ready-to-eat cereal products, the largest cereal producer in the world. Kellogg also markets frozen pies and waffles, toaster pastries, cereal bars, and other convenience foods. Kellogg products are manufactured in 17countries and distributed in over 150 countries worldwide and have an average market share of 44 percent. In 1991, over 50 percent of its cereal volume was sold in international markets. Many of the product formulations sold internationally are identical, but packaging reflects local language and cultural differences (Bredahl 1994). Kellogg believes consumers’ needs with respect to nutrition, taste and convenience are the driving forces for the increased acceptance of its products and that these are worldwide directions of change in terms of consumers’ wants and needs. Nutritional awareness among consumers world wide is an important aspect of Kellogg’s strategy for success. The company has responded by conducting nutritional seminars for health professionals in six countries in Latin America. A partnership was created with the French government to encourage consumption of breakfast. A cooperative program with the American Academy of Pediatrics was formed to promote (Bredahl 1994).
Fifty years experience in Europe, especially in the U.K., has been the basis for a rapidly expanding cereal business in Western Continental Europe. Industry observers are convinced this base of experience gives Kellogg a vital competitive edge over other major firms attempting to develop markets for their products. Kellogg already has brand presence in Poland, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia and expects to grow the business in Eastern Europe. There are five technologically advanced cereal plants throughout Europe, with additional investments being made in them (Bredahl 1994). Kellogg’s goal is to double its worldwide consumer base in the 1990s. A major investor service assesses Kellogg’s international performance as outstanding with profit growth averaging 30 percent over the past four years on sales gains in the range of 7-10 percent. This shows that viable international trade is a major component of Kellogg’s overall corporate strategy (Bredahl 1994). Kellogg is a continuously growing and improving company that makes various breakfast and snack foods. It also produces cookies and crackers. Recently the company introduced a new product particularly the real fruit winders. This product used the internet as a means to reach its target market. The product was first introduced through a series of internet shows. Afterwards the product was slowly explained to its target market.
Communicate the changes to clients
Organizational change is done by a company when it believes that the company is not adjusting to the new trends in its environment. To turn the division around the management must make sure that the changes will help the members of the organization to easily adjust. The management must also make sure that there are back up plans in case the changes that the company intends to make will fail Change will always be a part of any business operations. Change is done whenever there are flaws in how a company provides services to the clients. Change occurs in various sectors such as retail, banking, manufacturing, airline and others. Any change in the product or service should be known by the clients. Change in products or services should be a gradual process. Like what was done by Kellogg, business should use all possible means to communicate that they want to change something in the product or service .Kellogg used the internet to provide some sort of information that hints to a change or innovation of a product. A company that made radical changes in the brand identities of their products is Pepsi. Recently Pepsi introduced a no sugar product that promised lesser sugar contents. This product was introduced through a series of television commercials depicting people doing crazy things after drinking Pepsi.
Conclusion
Innovation is important for business because it will help them increase their lead over rivals in the market. One company that used innovation in their product is Kellogg. Kellogg is a continuously growing and improving company that makes various breakfast and snack foods. Recently the company introduced a new product particularly the real fruit winders. Any change in the product or service should be known by the clients. Like what was done by Kellogg, business should use all possible means to communicate that they want to change something in the product or service .Kellogg used the internet to provide some sort of information that hints to a change or innovation of a product.
References
Bredahl, ME (eds.) 1994, Competitiveness in international
food markets, Westview Press, Boulder, CO.
Collins, D 1998, Organizational change: sociological
perspectives. Routledge, New York.
Finke, RA, Smith, SM & Ward, TB 1995, Creativity and the
mind: Discovering the genius within, Plenum Press, New
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Jonash, RS & Sommerlatte, T 1999, The innovation premium:
how next generation companies are achieving peak
performance and profitability, Perseus Books, Cambridge,
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Mills, JH 2003, Making sense of organizational change,
Routledge, New York.
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