With the economy becoming more and more competitive each day, having excellent knowledge about the market conditions and buying behaviour of the customer is essential for any business. For this, market research is essential and any data contained in audio files can be transcribed with the support of reliable general transcription companies. Market research helps business organizations to keep up with the latest market trends and gain a competitive advantage. It helps companies to analyze new areas of expansion, identify new business opportunities, find out problem areas, formulate market strategies, identify consumer needs, and improve selling activities. Market research also helps companies develop an innovation theory and introduce necessary innovations from time to time.
Tendayi Viki in his forbes.com article elaborates on what innovation thesis is and how it is important to a business. While pointing out that leaders have to make choices and take good decisions, he says many leaders he has met appear to be making random unconnected decisions. Leaders don’t seem to have a clear innovation strategy to help guide their decision making. Every company needs an innovation thesis to know where the world is going and how the company should be innovative to respond effectively. This is where an innovation thesis is important and to develop one, Tendayi Viki says businesses must perform the following:
- Analysis of Portfolio: When beginning the journey of innovation, the first and foremost thing is to know where your company stands before you decide which way to go. Companies must review their current portfolio of products and services and find out the balance in their portfolio in terms of core, adjacent and transformational innovations. Identify the products and services that are falling behind and need to be retired, the gaps in the portfolio in terms of their core business versus future-facing products.
- Consider the business environment: Once you have examined your company internally, the next step is to look at the world outside and understand the current key trends that are emerging which are likely to impact the company in the future, the landscape of start-ups challenging your business, the key changes in customers’ taste and preferences, and the latest technology. Looking into the future is difficult but by paying attention you can notice the technologies and other trends that may impact the business in the future.
Once the analysis is complete, it is easier to develop an innovation thesis where the business can sort out ideas they think will work, how those ideas can be used to respond and so on. It is difficult to predict what the future holds, but innovation must be developed and viewed as a hypothesis that will evolve over time. With an innovation thesis, companies can start soliciting ideas from the team. The new ideas can be evaluated and then used to make investment decisions. It is not about making many investments but making the right investment.
How can you encourage innovation in your business?
Employees in an organization are a major source in generating innovative ideas. In addition, business partners, contacts and suppliers can also provide valuable contributions to developing innovative strategies and offer support and encouragement. To maximize these resources, ensure that an innovative environment is created and encourage creative thinking. You can promote innovation in the following ways.
- Make sure that you create an atmosphere wherein people feel free to voice their ideas without fearing criticism or ridicule.
- Have in place processes and events that help capture innovative ideas. You could consider keeping suggestion boxes around the work place, organize workshops or even arrange for days away from the workplace to brainstorm ideas.
- Encourage frankness among the team members and make sure that all good ideas and knowledge are shared among them.
- Persuade people at all levels of the business to share the responsibility to introduce innovation. This will breed a sense of involvement in the team members who will feel that their ideas also matter.
- Encourage experimentation and risk taking and make sure you don’t punish people who experiment with new ideas that may sometimes fail.
- Give incentives to staff who are innovative and celebrate their success. This will encourage your staff to think creatively.
- Recruit employees who are imaginative and creative. It is important to understand that innovative thinkers may not always be those with an impressive list of credentials.
Innovation thesis and implementing innovation should be a strategic lever for change and it should be at the center of every organization. Innovation may take a lot of time in planning and also involve investment in the required resources. In order to lead innovation, the company should have clarity in how they are planning to use innovation. Research is vital to study the market and competition and the data collected via interviews with customers, opinion polls, focus group sessions, and consumer forums can be transcribed and maintained for easy access and use with the support of professional digital transcription agencies.
