An individual report auditing the management of innovation in a Essay

An individual report auditing the management of innovation in a nominated organisation - Essay Example How the innovation management process is different for the two types of innovation selected 11 5. Conclusion - The key learning experiences of the respective innovation examples 12 References 12 Appendix 13 1. Introduction The identification of effective strategies is a key challenge for managers in all firms worldwide. Most commonly, specific criteria are set for ensuring the alignment of organizational practices with the market trend and the consumer preferences. Still, in practice it has been proved that even when these criteria are met, the competitiveness of organizations involved may remain at low levels. The management of innovation in modern organizations is examined in the specific study. Reference is made to two particular firms: Microsoft and Alcoa. The first of them, Microsoft, has become popular mostly because of the development of Windows, an operating system that has been characterized as highly innovative. According to Chu (2010, p.2) ‘product innovation is tech nological upgrading of existing product or developing a new product technology’. On the other hand, Alcoa has introduced a unique process for refining aluminium; the above process meets the requirements of innovation process, which has been defined as ‘the usage of new or improved production technology’ (Chu 2010, p.3). ... On contrary in Alcoa emphasis is given more on long-term growth rather on the achievement of significant benefits in the short term. As a result, the perspectives of innovation in Microsoft are different than those of Alcoa, an issue analytically explained below. 2. Management of Innovation – theoretical perspectives The successful management of innovation in industries of different characteristics is based on specific terms. At a first level, organizations that are interested in promoting innovation have to be quite competent in managing knowledge (Mothe and Foray 2001, p.28). According to Mothe and Foray (2001) the promotion of innovation within organizations does not necessary requires the establishment of new vision and mission; rather, it can be achieved even in the context of the existing mission and vision under the terms that the relevant mission and vision are flexible enough so that they can be alternated for supporting plans focusing on innovation. At the same time, King (2009) notes that the tools available to managers of modern organizations for promoting innovation can highly vary; reference is made to for example to ‘the strategic positioning of personnel or the implementation of user innovation communities’ (King 2009, p.198). Moreover, Tidd et al (2005) emphasize on the following fact: the management of innovation in modern organizations can be a demanding task. The use of models and frameworks that have been extensively tested in the empirical research could help managers to minimize risks in regard to the particular activity (Tidd et al. 2005). The above researchers refer, as an example, to the Innovation Process model (Figure 1, Appendix).