What is Innovation and can businesses encourage it Essay Example for Free

What is Innovation and can businesses encourage it Essay Innovation in business is the application of new ideas in any business process. This includes the products produced and the firm’s processes. It is therefore important for business to encourage innovation to enable them to be sustainable in the market in the long run CITATION Mar98 l 1033 (Mark, 1998). Marketing Research One of the key themes of marketing is for an organization to efficient, timely and customer-centered care and allows customers to easily make the right decisions. Marketing places emphasis on organizations sharing information with each other and working together in secure areas. It also provides updated information on highly specialized matters that are to be delivered immediately to the right place. Marketing is the source for all information for step-change in service delivery. Fairness is a key theme of the legal and ethical frame works of marketing. It proposes that consumers will likely compare their situations with other customers to ensure fairness. Fairness enables marketers to predict the responses of consumers to marketing actions. Marketers should able to differentiate between procedural and distributive justice to understand how consumers perceive fairness. Making fair decisions requires marketers to have forethought and intelligence to make a sale. It is wise to develop the moral fibers of fairness, because ethical problems often bite into profits CITATION She07 l 1033 (Shelton, Epstein, Davila, 2007). For example it is unethical to sell a product or service to consumers at different prices, with an aim of gaining financial advantage. When conducting a marketing transaction, it is unethical to charge an unreasonable price to a consumer. Every consumer expects to be treated fairly as this reflects on the overall corporate image of an organization. Ethical marketing efforts and decisions should suit and meet the needs of consumers, business partners and suppliers. Competitive analysis is essential in marketing as it helps a company to access any competitive threats to its development and penetration of the walk-in market. The organization is bound to enjoy a significant competitive advantage over any competitor who would try to penetrate the walk-in market. This assessment which is based upon  the company’s source of competitive edge stems from extensive customer list, qualified management personnel, in-depth knowledge and expertise of the marketing industry. An example of t his is the marketing research conducted by Apple Inc. before the rolling out of their products into the global market. They conduct thorough research on the consumers and come up with innovative products for the customers CITATION Jas09 l 1033 (Jason, Kenneth, Greg, 2009). Research and Development Marketing mix-promotional strategies also contribute to successful implementation with the right marketing delivered to the right consumers at the right time. Marketing has to be on-going to strengthen interest and promotional and multi-level to draw attention to progress of the company. Success of a company will depend on the support and contributions the partner organizations that are involved. The contribution and support succeeds if the individual partner companies feel they have benefits from the collaboration. Target Market is a key deliverable in marketing that can be used by Apple Inc. to establish an appropriate market for each segment. For maximum effectiveness, marketing to their clients should be targeted carefully to suit each of them comfortably. It must also be a frequent, consistent and on-going process throughout the lifecycle of the zoo. The available information has to be up-to-date and reliable. Apple can segment its market by focusing on the demographic variables of its clients. These include social class, gender, income, age and family lifecycle. This will give them competitive advantage since there will be a wide variety of data that will make it possible to measure consumer preferences for the activities in the zoo. Segmenting the target market based on demographic variables, will have a direct impact on the interests of the clients in zoo services CITATION How10 l 1033 (How is Google innovative? , 2010). The mechanisms for target marketing should be selected from the zoo sources depending on the audience and objectives each marketing piece. This will give the marketing team at Apple Inc. a thorough understanding of how often and how their clients use their services. Apple Inc.’s target market should be based on social class. This will ensure maximum effectiveness which is important since it reinforces the value of the benefits and gaining additional support. The using social class as their target market is to effect information sharing and to develop an effective collaborative model that can be replicated across its diverse services. Target marketing will allow the marketing team to maintain the effectiveness of its services through transition and influence clients of their target market to participate through the forums and avenues provided. Staff Benefits There are several benefits of innovation to the staff of any business. Of particular importance is the freedom of expression where the staffs are allowed to be creative and offer some of their ideas to the management. In the process of doing so it makes the staff motivated as it makes them part of the process of creation of ideas in the business. Google Inc. for instance allows its employees and staff to participate in the innovative process hence the creation of some of its successful products. In conclusion this essay explore the importance of innovativeness in any business and how it propels the business to unlevelled heights of success as seen in the example of Apple Inc. and Google CITATION She07 l 1033 (Shelton, Epstein, Davila, 2007). References Forrant, R. (2011). Approaches to Sustainable Development: The Public University in the Regional Economy. Massachusetts : Univ of Massachusetts Press. How is Google innovative? . (2010). Retrieved 2014, from Netease: http://money.163.com/10/0331/10/633K6P9700253VNE.html Jason, D., Kenneth, L., Greg, L. (2009). Who captures value in a global innovation network? : the case of Apples iPod. Mark, R. (1998). The definition and measurement of innovation Report No. 10-98. Melbourne: Melbourne institute working paper. Shelton, R. D., Epstein, M. J., Davila, T. (2007). The Creative Enterprise. New York: Greenwood Publishing Group. Thomas, H. (2008). Reverse Engineering  Google’s Innovation  Machine. Source document