How Innovation Fuels FMCG

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Globalization
and technology driven economy has given the consumer access to a wide
range of FMCG products from across the world. Moving down the
supermarket with trolley at hand, the customers have the liberty to pick
and choose products from a wide array of available goods. As one rolls
the trolley along these shelves, consumers find familiar products, with a
different name, brand and packaging or a new product vying for
attention either with a new and attractive packaging, competitive rates,
or innovative marketing. The consumer finally ends up buying five more
newly launched products.

However,
not all products are sold like hot cakes as consumers are dubious of
the contents. To provide the consumers with the required know-how before
purchasing a product is a herculean task. The concept of supermarkets
facilitated customers to walk through the shelves stacked with variety
products, read through the packaging, understands the benefits and
selects the product. The acceptance of innovation products by today’s
next generation consumers find supermarket shelves lined with well
accepted creative products and uncommon combinations such as oats
noodles, Manchurian upma or a lemon flavored salt.

Fueled by
innovation, the FMCG business machinery does not just relate to creating
new products but also includes the process of renovating, restructuring
the products. Brand renovation is a process aimed to constantly renew
the product equity with the consumer by making the product current and
contemporary in tune with the emerging consumer preferences. Further,
with a number of untapped markets, ideas and customers available, the
need of the hour is to find the right idea which would click for the
business to surge ahead. Companies today are extremely aware and have
the capability to listen to the consumer and develop innovative products
tailored to their needs.

The
Consumer Goods and Retail companies need innovative ideas to retain
their customers. Leading FMCG company Britannia entered the health drink
sector, and took steps to reinvent the brand name by entering the
pre-cooked breakfast category with creative ideas identified through
brainstorming sessions across departments and from consumers. FMCG
brands such as Frito Lays and Procter and Gamble (P&G) find their
storehouse of ideas from their consumers. The upside down packaging of
Heinz ketchup is the result of a consumer’s observation of the ketchup
resting at the farthest point from the opening.

Innovative ideas
can come either from the consumers, employees or even the management or
all. Whatever be the source, effective idea management service needs to
be in place to ensure that the revenue grows continuously. Market
research showcases facts that most of the leading FMCG brands both India
and abroad use strategic innovation by crowdsourcing software to bring
out ideas and creative thoughts from consumers. Such exhaustive idea
management implementation tactics will help enterprises to attain higher
brand recall value and better consumer connects.

Posted in: Innovation \ Tagged:

LG GD900 Crystal – an amazing 3G innovation

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LG GD900 Crystal is a perfect mobile with transparent slide out touch sensitive keypad which makes it truly elegant. It is a very stylish 3G smart phone with built in 3 inches TFT 3D touch screen which has the powerful version to display innumerable colours, photos, videos, wall papers and screen savers. The gadgets of this unique handset are extremely fashionable.

The user can get access to numerous files in order to view documents in varying formats of Word, Power Point, Excel and PDF files etc. it has a superb external memory which can be extended by storage memory supporting 16 Gigabytes with the use of insert able memory cards. This handset has a polished casing which is gracefully silver coloured to make it look more attractive and gorgeous. The handset has an in-built Wi-Fi technology which easily allows phone to be converted to internet through WLAN or a point of hotspot connection. The internet can be accessed anytime to collect different types of information’s and can be as well connected to near ones for sharing messages through email. LG GD900 Crystal also allows the transfer of data to other compatible devices trough Bluetooth, USB connector. The 3G HSDPA ensures high speed user friendly data transfer at high rate which enables a smart, efficient and effective data transfer function.

LG GD900 Crystal has an integrated 8 megapixel camera with LED flash and autofocus and many other camera features to capture clear and high quality pictures. The user can play back recorded clips with the use of video player MPEG4 and DivX format. Music play enables listening to different formats like MP3, WMA, AAC and AAC+. FM radio can be tuned to different radio stations. No doubt, this device does not only look stylish but also has innumerable user friendly integrations.

Lucy Brightly is a content writer and writes about latest gadgets. For information on latest LG mobile phones and mobile phones deals, you can go to leading online shops.

Posted in: Innovation \ Tagged: , , ,

Innovation Funnel and Creativity in Business

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Proper channeling of management and innovation is one of the
highly analyzed topics in business management. Most of the companies
today have adopted the strategy of open innovation that uses a
methodology that allows companies to co-innovate with their suppliers,
partners and customers. When it comes to managing innovation, it is a
multifaceted answer and unique to all businesses. Specific innovation
management strategy enables services and products to differentiate
themselves from the competition in the market. Companies must
appropriate sufficient resources and time into the innovation funnel.
Business innovators bring surprising changes in business operations as
well as customer retention, development and product design.

Creativity in business refers to identification of
customer friendly solutions to ensure distinguishing them from the
competition. When companies land on a specific strategy with the use of
the innovation funnel, they are seen by outsiders as innovators in realm
of customer service and customer relationship management. Businesses
adopt different approaches to ensure an environment that is suitable for
innovation and encourages a more expressive thought. Some companies
enlist use of creativity exercises for businesses. The strategies range
from engaging complex exercises to simple variants as well. For example,
a company utilized their market experience and adopted exercise for
their employees to eliminate negative or non creative thought patterns.
This was done by removing negative statements from the vocabulary. This
involved elimination of sentences such as “I can’t think creatively”,
“my job does not create a creative environment” and so on. These are
some patterns of negative thinking that creates a negative environment
and pushes creativity and innovation to the back seat.

Creative
exercises for business and adequate implementation of imaginative funnel
help a business reassess the question of ways to manage innovation. It
is important to create an environment that encourages free thought and
generates free ideas. The innovation funnel ensures that ideas and
thoughts are nurtured and directed well.


Large corporations use creative exercises for businesses in conjunction
with innovation and creative funnels. When businesses seek to implement
an innovation funnel or look for other methods on ways to manage
innovation, they can make use of the following tips that have proved to
be successful in other industries.

Creative exercises
in business and proper utilization of innovation funnel creates a
dramatic effect on the entire organization. So, now that you have read
the entire article, you must be clear about the importance of creativity
in business.

Posted in: Innovation

Welder Generator Innovation in Technology

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Innovation
in the welding industry has brought to several better, higher quality
machines that execute the job at less cost and less fuss. Welding is an
art wherein two or more metal or alloy work pieces are joined together
with the aid of a molten solution.

Welding
helps in joining metals together. The professionals of this field face
dangers everyday. This profession is incredibly demanding and the need
to adopt proper safety measures is necessary all the times. This concept
is predominantly used in every heavy manufacturing industry that relies
upon iron, steel, and other metals for production of their products or
services. To produce that much intensity of heat and light energy, you
need a power source that supplies electricity or power. This is the
place where generators are used in welding. Generators are such devices
that act as the power supply unit for various manufacturing processes.
The welding work might be impossible without it. The generators used to
execute these tasks depend upon a fuel supply to create the electric
supply for the welding process. Diesel generators are given more
priority by most of the heavy manufacturing industry as they provide
sufficient energy supply.

Welder generators that
are used in the factory found more beneficial for you as you can easily
carry out your manufacturing tasks quite easily and at the same time
save some finances from your budget as the cost of diesel is quite
cheap. Different types of generators are used today in the art of
welding. There are many factories which prefer diesel generators in
compared with gas generators due to their high energy density, heavy
diesel fuel, oiler and high boiling point. Other reason of choosing this
fuel running generator for the welding purpose include emit of less
flame and therefore can work for longer duration using minimum amount of
fuel supply and also very easy to maintain it. The users as well need
not to worry about its maintenance.

The generators basically come
with two types of flames. The closed flames are predominantly silent
and thus heavily used for residential and small office purposes. The
users need to be very careful in operating the generators in the factory
and therefore require proper trained employees. It is always good to
consider good quality of welder generator which is also
easy to maintain. Recent welders using advanced electronics including
generators that help them to provide the same amperage by running off of
normal household current instead of 220v.

Contacting
welding supplies is the best option to complete a job thoroughly and
professionally. It has often seen that almost all the welders promises
you the best service using right tools and equipment. However, you can
choose several high qualities of services visiting several websites that
promises you the high quality of work services. Moreover, you can
compare their service charges and work efficiency reading several
reviews and articles etc.

welder generator

Posted in: Innovation

Encouraging a Culture of Innovation to Beat Competition

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Fostering
a culture of innovation and creativity in business can help one stay a
step ahead of competitors, by ensuring that products and services remain
up to date and in line with what customers need. Innovative businesses
often have strong, inspirational leaders and management and well-trained
and motivated employees. These businesses maintain a culture of
innovation, constantly looking at every aspect of the organization and
not just its products and services.

In
today’s business environment, it is difficult for businesses to
outgrow, out market, or out price the competition but driving innovation
while implementing continuous improvement will help businesses stand
out from the competition. Every business wants to innovate, even if it
is not on the same level as Apple or Google. Innovation has to have a
purpose. That’s exactly what Apple has been doing, and its devotion to
designing new customer experiences centered on technology has
contributed to a 1,300 percent rise in its stock price in the past 10
years and a market capitalization that exceeds that of Microsoft. Apple
keeps innovating because it has deliberately fashioned a culture of
innovation. The company’s steadfastness to design and innovate is built
into its DNA and that enables it to promote, conceive and implement
revolutionary ideas and remain in a continuous state of reinvention.

Business
innovation now a day’s does not only mean making the product
development better but it also means that companies should keep
reinventing themselves in ways, that the internal and external customers
goodwill towards the company increases. Research has found that
companies that do the best in a tough economy are those that innovate
and are open to outside ideas. The power of the crowd innovation is
being utilized by many businesses and many companies are doing
efficiently by outsourcing their first line support and service function
to the crowd. Air New Zealand’s Aviation Design Academy for example,
set out to design the best long-haul flying experience. Passengers were
asked to design parts of the flying experience on their new 777-300
aircraft – the cocktail, in-flight food, eye mask and one “freeform”
idea.

The
winners had the opportunity to take a flight from Auckland to London to
sample the implementation of their ideas. The competition attracted
huge number of entries and generated more interest in Air New Zealand’s
marketing initiative.

In many cases, CEOs see collaboration as
key to their success with innovation. They know they cannot do it all
using internal resources. So they look outside for other organizations
to partner with. True innovation requires someone who can visualize the
possibilities of an idea generation and who has the ability and tenacity
to successfully implement it. With successful idea management services,
organizations can blend the strengths with various feedbacks as a means
to encourage a culture of innovation. This way the best idea is most
likely to successfully beat completion in the market.

Posted in: Innovation \ Tagged: ,

3 Characteristics of Innovation

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Innovation is the change that keeps human civilization progressing.
Unless you innovate, you will keep using the existing strategies and
techniques till stagnation. However, innovation is something which needs
to be inculcated in the general masses for better advancement. By
imparting knowledge on how to innovate, you create a talented resource
pool, which is inquisitive by nature. It has many attributes that make
it very successful. Read on to find three characteristics of innovation.

Three characteristics of innovation:

1. Trust level


Innovation succeeds only when there are high levels of trust. This is
because in order for innovative people to be given a chance, you need to
trust that person to deliver the result. However, this is a major
hindrance in almost all corporate scenarios. Professional jealousies,
rivalry, and human egos tend to put a stop in advancement of talented
people’s careers. Industry leaders should strive to ensure that an
environment of trust develops in any workplace. They should make
employees understand that it is for their own benefit if they develop an
innovative spirit.

2. Diversity


Innovation thrives on diversity. When people from different backgrounds
come together, a treasure trove of ideas and knowledge develop.
Different point of views enables a concept to be scrutinized from
different angles. If you fill your workplace for people from the same
background, it will not be dynamic. People of different color, race and
cultural background should be encouraged to give their ideas without any
prejudices for the good of the company. Innovation workshops help to
drive the point of the importance of diversity in the minds of the
company top management. For a company to innovate, diversity should be
deeply ingrained in the mindset of the company and its workforce.

3. Risky Ventures


Risk is a part and parcel of innovation. You cannot expect each and
every venture to succeed. Even the best and experienced employee may
find it hard to succeed an idea due to numerous and uncontrollable
factors. This may include business and personal factors. Companies
training its employees to innovate should assure them that risk will be
tolerated. Otherwise, they may not give their best if under pressure
from their higher ups. Innovation development training also sensitizes
companies about the benefits and disadvantages of risky business
proposals. The apt adage for business is ‘No gain without risk’.


The above three characteristics may differ in intensity for different
sectors, but the core essence remains the same. Identify the three
characteristics at the right time in order to have the best innovation
training.

Posted in: Innovation \ Tagged:

The Victory of Nike Comes From the Exertion of Innovation

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From
the day the heavens was created, innovation has kept on offering
nutrition to the advance of the earth. It is recorded in the Holy Bible
that the omnipotent God is the architect of the earth. At first, there
was no light in the universe. The God came up with an idea of changing
the dull planet into a vigorous one. First, light should be produced to
substitute the darkness, the God thought. Then, following His
commandment, the sun, the moon and the countless stars appeared. With
the formation of the circumstance that is suitable to human being, the
next construction was on the way. The first human being was fashioned in
the God’s form. From that moment on, human being have stepped onto the
stage of the earth. And now we are able to reside in the most suitable
world. We are able to enhance further. All these have to be owed to the
innovation from the supreme God.

Innovation
is a feature that has run through the total history of the world. And
devoid of innovation, human organization could not even stride out a
tiny move. It is a fundamental factor. It is at all times playing and
will go on playing a vital role in the establishment of a people, in the
progress of a state and in the upgrading of an individual. It is the
central part of the constantly moving wheel of history. Lacking it, no
giant nation will arise. The establishment of the gigantic empire must
be owed to innovation. It as well contributed to the founding of the
U.S.A.. What the mayflower shipped to the new continent was the
pioneering guts. The darling and determination had been well passed on
to their descendents, the present American. And because of the nerve and
innovation the American people are able to rise as the most influential
country in the earth.

In
the world that is full of fierce competition, if one could not make
full use of innovation, one will absolutely be defeaated and end its
survival. It is a globe that things renew speedily. New objects
consistently take the place of the ancient one. It is a market that
belongs to the clients. Supply is much more than need. To obtain a
victory in the fierce competition, one should obtain the support from
the clients. Bur the quality of the goods is what the consumers pay much
attention to. Thus, more desires are casted to the manufacturers. The
goods they manufactured should be qualified and fashionable at the same
time. Nike has spent much energy on the promotion of this aspect. Since
its founding, it has been working at the renewing of the products. The
corporation has been in tireless research for the tech advance and the
application of the tech in shoe making. As a consequence, the sports
shoes the corporation created are unrivaled in the area of shoe making.
The athletes are in urgent need of them. Because of the innovation in
products, no trade name can match Nike in the basketball field.

Posted in: Innovation

Constant Enhancements Via Creativity And Innovation

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Inventions which have the power to initiate extensive
paradigm shifts in most industrial nations seem to have run out around
the time recessions ranging from global to regional magnitudes started
to manifest in the same countries. There aren’t any modern luminaries
whose achievements run parallel to giants of industry like Bell, Edison,
Rockefeller, Tesla or von Braun but humanity as a whole has managed to
persevere and make giant strides in making everyday living more
convenient through science and technology all the same.

Creativity and innovation has made constant
enhancements in computing, commuting, communication as well as every
other aspect of modern life. After landmark discoveries in
telecommunication (telephones) transportation (cars and air travel) and
everyday utilities (indoor plumbing, electricity, indoor lighting) were
made, the next logical step would be continuing to refine these
discoveries and fine tuning their features to maximize their efficiency,
making way for further innovation to take place, in a nutshell.


Products or services, no matter how valuable or useful, are often
constrained by minor setbacks or disadvantages after their initial
creation or development. Telephones were previously limited by a finite
cord, and most of land transportation prior to the widespread use of
gasoline was made possible by putting a toll on beasts of burden.
Innovators found ways to render a practical solution by thinking outside
the box and generally coming up with unconventional methods to
circumvent these inconvenient developmental hiccups and benefit society
as a whole. Spending your afternoon doing some light reading of the
history of the internet, microprocessors, online digital distribution
services as well as a wide range of other similarly tech oriented should
clue you in on the overall influence of innovation on our present day
culture.


Changing your business model in order to foster creativity and
innovation should be a goal that you ought to commit to if you want it
to grow, expand and avoid stagnation as our lives become more and more
intertwined and connected socially through the internet. You can
accomplish this by utilizing cost effective means to interact with your
customers as well as potential ones, this will enable you to gain much
needed feedback on improving customer purchasing habits, selling your
products or services more effectively online, mulling over the
possibility of making subscriptions enhance your business and finding
distributors that you can partner up with to improve how your products
are marketed.

Nevertheless, creativity and innovation doesn’t
have to be exclusively applied to huge scale entrepreneurial ventures,
unleashing your creative impulses by minding which foods you eat
(specifically the nutrients and antioxidants you ingest), performing
menial tasks and relying on lists and notes to help keep you focused go a
long way in inspiring you to think outside the box like most of the
influential innovators leaving their mark on history today.

Posted in: Innovation

Innovation Through Accidents And Controlled Chaos

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“We
need a new way of thinking about our problems and our future. My
suggestion is the management of paradox, an idea which is itself a
paradox, in that paradox can only be ‘managed’ in the sense of coping
with. Manage always did mean ‘coping with’ until we purloined the word
to mean planning and control.” – Charles Handy, The Age of Paradox

Mark
Twain, once said, “name the greatest of all inventors. Accident.” He
was right. Most innovations and breakthroughs come from mistakes,
serendipity, false starts, set backs, and misapplications. Many
innovations were unplanned and unexpected.

At their outset, many
were unrecognized and unwanted. Innovations, breakthroughs, and major
changes often come from unpredictable chaotic, and random events. That’s
why the accuracy record of economists and planners’ confident and
logical-sounding projections and predictions is so abysmal. It’s amazing
how the same people who laugh at fortune tellers often take these
elaborate plans and projections seriously.

Yet when innovative
opportunities knock, many managers are in their backyard looking for
four-leaf clovers. But if someone who can’t count finds a four-leaf
clover, how lucky is he or she? The editor and author, Elbert Hubbard,
observed, “a failure is someone who has blundered, but is not able to
cash in the experience.” Most managers fail to cash in on unexpected
opportunities.

There seem to be two core reasons for that. First,
they don’t recognize the failure, set back, chance event, unexpected
offer, or new wrinkle as a potential innovation they could cash in.
That’s often because they haven’t progressed to the empathic level of
customer and partner listening and understanding. They take the market
or customers at face value. They’re only looking at today’s data or
current performance gaps. These near-sighted managers can’t see beyond
what is to what could be.

A second reason many managers fail to
cash in on unexpected opportunities is because there’s no effective
process for doing so. If it’s not in the official development plans or
budgets the unhatched, potential innovation has no place to incubate,
break out, and grow. That brings us to the innovation paradox: Random,
chaotic, and unpredictable innovations need a stable management system
and process to nurture the growth and development of “lucky breaks.”

As
a long time student and practitioner of innovation, I still find James
Brian Quinn’s classic Harvard Business Review article one of the most
useful on the topic. The title of the article says it all: “Managing
Innovation: Controlled Chaos.” It’s a perfect description of the
management-leadership balance found in highly innovative teams and
organizations. Controlled chaos aptly describes the unstable and stable,
unplanned and planned process of successful innovation.

Strategic Opportunism and Organizational Learning

“The
universe is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to
grow sharper.” – Eden Phillpotts, early 20th century English novelist

In
his article on “Crafting Strategy,” Henry Mintzberg provides a good
insight to how strategies and innovative actions evolve and compliment
each other in top-performing organizations: “Out in the field, a
salesman visits a customer. The product isn’t quite right, and together
they work out some modifications. The salesman returns to his company
and puts the changes through; after two or three more rounds, they
finally get it right. A new product emerges, which eventually opens up a
new market. The company has changed strategic course.”

But in
most organizations that salesman would be told to get back out and “do
his job” by selling the customer the original product or some high
priced add-on or support service. If he did make modifications, he’d be
shot for not following the standardized process. In other cases, he’d be
told to submit a Product Modification Input Solicitation form sending
copies to product development, strategic planning, and three other
committees to review. His regional manager would need a copy attached to
his Call Report explaining where, when, who, why, and how he was
spending each day of his time.

Successful strategies and
innovations that evolve and cash in on unexpected problems or
opportunities are part of a dynamic, organization learning process.
Experiences, expertise, ideas, market and customer shifts, feedback,
input and the like shape the emerging strategies and point the way to
innovation pathways.

Posted in: Innovation \ Tagged: , , ,

Points of Cultural Inheritance And Innovation From Luxury Brands

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Cultural
Inheritance& Innovation now becomes a fashion, existing in the city
renovation and education. Of course, it is also a heat topic in the
building of the fashion brand, especially in those luxury brands such as
GUCCI, LV, CHANEL, etc. The most reason for why the cultural
inheritance becomes so popular is that as the increasing competition of
fashion industry, how these luxury brands should do to keep themselves
in the top place in the market.

So,
what are the brand’s historical and cultural heritance? Are they those
remained from the original which build by the founder? Or the burden
occurs during the development of the brand. All these questions are
highly focused by the operators of the luxury brands. They are all
spending much time in keeping balance of the PAST EXPERIENCE and PRESENT
FASHION.

Cultural Heritage is the link between the past and the present

What’s
the definition of “Cultural Inheritance& Innovation”? Karl
Lagerfeld has a good saying for it’s CHANEL, “To may the life better by
innovating the past shinning point.”

The
SEO of VIONNET agrees with the point. He requires the designers to
focus on the unique of the brand name. Setting up the new thought of the
existed items after understanding the Brand History is better than
developing the new items.

GUCCI will celebrate its 90’s birthday
in 2012; it will have a museum in Florence. This brand heritage the
awesome attitude from the founder Guccio Gucci which is “all brand
tradition should be connected with the present”, and it really did well
in both the design of the items and the marketing. The public can find
this easily through the latest version of Gucci Bags and other series.

The
GUCCI SEO has his understanding of cultural heritage. “The reliable
heritage is sort of visible, touchable and understandable element
existing in each GUCCI item.”

Posted in: Innovation \ Tagged: , , ,