Reference no: EM132293641

Assessment Overview

This assessment must be completed by students individually. The assessment is designed for students to develop understanding of the close links between the business environment, business innovation strategy, business capabilities and business value creation. The assessment involves writing a 2000 word innovation strategy report in response to a real case.

Assessment Context

Generally, innovation initiatives within a parent organisation are driven by an innovation strategy. An innovation strategy is a subset of an organisation's overall strategy. The innovation strategy describes the future development an organisation's innovation capabilities and the future direction of its innovation activities. An organisation's innovation strategy does not exist in a vacuum, it responds to a specific set of circumstances including innovation trends and provides an important context; direction; guidance; monitoring and facilitation of an organisation's innovation initiatives. Thus, organisations take care to diagnose the organisation's circumstances including innovation trends to inform the design and development of its innovation strategy.

Select one of the following organisations impacted by the advances of 'design thinking' or 'lean start-up' social technology:
• Firm:
o Alipay (online payment platform).
o Amazon (online shopping).
o Cochlear (hearing implant).
o Commbank (finance and banking).
o Ikea (furniture manufacturer).
o Volvo Group (trucks - automotive manufacturer).
o Volvo Cars (cars - automotive manufacturer).
o Note added: Please be aware that Volvo is actually two different companies. Volvo Group manufactures trucks and other heavy equipment. Volvo cars produces automobiles such as sedans for personal transport. Unfortunately, the two companies share the same name. Make sure you pick one or the other.
o A business startup project that you are passionate about.
• Government, not-for-profit, social innovation:
o CQUniversity (university education provider).
o Australian State Health (select a health care provider in Australia).
o A social innovation project that you are passionate about.
• A firm or organisation that you are or have been employed at and therefore know well. It is important that no confidential information is included in the submitted report.
• If you suggest a firm or organisation other than the ones above, you will need approval from your assigned lecturer.
Select one of the following innovation trends:
• Design thinking (Liedtka, 2018; Liedtka & Ogilvie, 2011).
• Lean Startup (Blank, 2013; Cooper & Vlaskovits, 2016).

Ideally, your selected innovation trend is important to the selected firm or organisation as that makes the innovation strategy report important to its senior executives, the report interesting to read and the report writing exciting.

Assessment Tasks

You are required to write a 2000 word innovation strategy report to the board of your selected organisation. Your innovation strategy report must:

1. Select a business impacted by the advances of 'design thinking' movement as described in the paper by Liedtka (2018) or impacted by the advances of 'lean startup' movement as described in the paper by Blank (2013).

2. Succinctly introduce the selected organisation and selected innovation trend.

3. Succinctly define the following concepts and their relationships: the organisational environment, innovation trend, innovation strategy, innovation capabilities, innovation value creation and capture.

4. Succinctly describe how the creation of an innovation strategy ensures strategic alignment within organisations and why it is important.

5. Analyse the impact of the selected innovation trend on the selected organisation. You should apply at least one strategy tool to analyse the impact, opportunities and threats to the organisation. Use the business model canvas by Osterwalder and Pigneur (2010) to support your analysis and argumentation.

6. Recommend how the organisation's innovation strategy best responds to the innovation trend by answering the following questions.
• How should the organisation organise its innovation activities?
• What additional innovation capabilities should the organisation develop?
• What innovation initiatives should it pursue?
• How should the organisation ensure that it creates and captures value from the innovation?

7. Recommend how the organisation best ensures strategic alignment to address the innovation trend.

Attachment:- Assessment Overview.rar