Innovation and technical change
Introduction
Technical change and innovation play vital roles in organizational and economic prosperity, leading to the creation of knowledge and new products. The modern markets are highly characterized by competition induced by existing firms and new market entrants. To withstand market competition and remain relevant through consumers’ lens, firms resort to interact, share, and exchange information with one another to upscale their innovation quests. Innovation refers to the art involving the “transformation of opportunities into the practical utility (Fernandes, Ferreira & Raposo, 2013, pg. 2). Taalbi (2019) agrees that organizations’ capacity to innovate and come forth with diversified and creative products to meet the consumers’ expectations, tastes, and preferences is one of the impeccable avenues to market competitiveness. The art of innovation is an inert process that is time intensive and a simple art based on the view innovation requires technology diffusion that is a construct of coordination and integration of various complementary technologies and institutional arrangements. However, Veugelers, & Schweiger, (2016) acknowledged the scholarly dissent concerning the forces behind innovation and the evolution of technological systems; and what sort of interdependence matter during the quest for innovation. This work seeks to explore the art of innovation, its sources and pathways as one of the fundamental drivers of organizational excellence and competitive advantage.
Sources of Innovation
Taalbi, J. (2019) observed innovation is premised on the notion that great technology shift is anchored on interdependencies. However, these sorts of interdependencies are structurally different. The theory of General Purpose Technology (GPT) conceives technology shift based on innovational complementarities ascending between supplier and consumer segments. The General Purpose Innovation is therefore created through the feedback the application sectors and the consumers of General Purpose Technologies, creating a coordination in which there Nash equilibrium thrives. Thus, the General Purpose Technology Theory is a construct of positive inducement mechanism (opportunities and complementarities) wherein a major innovation is a product of further innovation tailored to best suit the consumers’ needs.
In the context of society, innovation mainly ascends from existing constraints, and therefore individuals rise to the occasion to alleviate the problems by innovative means. The urgency to obtain new knowledge in the urge to solve the immediate social problems proliferate the advancement of innovation (Moncada-Paterno-Castello et al., 2019). In the similar way, impediments within the organization may trigger alternative ways of production and management processes, thus innovation. The constant changes in consumers’ perceptions, demographic patterns, and unexpected occurrences also account to the inception of innovation.
According to Taalbi, (2019) innovation rises in reaction to technological imbalances and fundamental challenges that when unresolved may hinder the development of the technological apparatus. Innovation is presented as an art to resolve a challenge. Rosenberg contended “The history of technology is replete with examples of the beneficent effects of this sort of imbalance as an inducement for further innovation” (pg. 10). The scholar’s view is applicable to multiple innovations. For instance, the crucial imbalance of early system engines was the loss of steam. The commercial viability of steam engines ascended from inventions that concentrated on eradicating such problems.
Innovation is also advanced by digitization especially in the transport and energy domains. Alongside the spinning wheel of digitization and globalization, and the social and demographic dynamics, there has become a need for business entities to empress innovation for them to showcase their relevance and sustainability. Further, creativity in firms is necessitated by the quest to meet current fiscal, social, economic and environmental constraints wherein the businesses operate. Thus, innovation is fuelled by the pursuit to conform to existing internal and external forces affecting the organization.
To cultivate creativity, organization ought to continuously train its employees to sharpen their skills and update them on what is demanded of them, relative to market demands. Besides, the concept of employee motivation will tap into the capacity of the employees to feel appreciated and comfortable at the workplace environment for them to venture into innovative practices. According to Abraham Maslow’s theory of motivation, meeting the employees’ primary needs form the basis of the necessary morale for productivity at the workplace. Besides, giving the employees the autonomy to become creative and “make mistake” is another way of sparking their innovativeness.
Pathways of Innovation
Multiple factors inspire a firm’s capacity and incentives to innovate. Such factors include the availability of well-skilled workforce and availability of funds and the prevalence of corruption. Some of these factors may be internal to the company and thus their intensity anchored on their company’s characteristics (for instance age or size) or the decisions pursued by the company (for instance to hire skilled expertise) (Kirchgeorg, Achtert, & Großeschmidt, 2010). Other factors may be external to the organization and shape the whole business landscape where the company operates (for instance trade regulations and social aspects of the population). Aas et al. (2015) suggested that internal and external forces that foster corporate creativity are closely related. For instance, whereas the organization draws personnel decisions that influence its capacity to innovate, such decisions may be impacted by the existing skills mix and the availability of well-educated workforce within where the company is situated.
A holistic innovation practice focuses on intended goals and therefore conceives a vivid rubric that structures and implements the development of new services, products and business models. Before this transpires, the internal business environment ought to master what the whole process demands out of the entire stakeholders (Clausen, 2008). The innovation structure should an innovation procedure with duties and thus, it is a vessel for the innovation practice that interrogates who is looking for ideas, who perfects the ideas more, which insights are followed up within the given R&D structures and which insights demand various development teams based on the type and extent of innovation.
According to Drucker (2002), the easiest path to innovation is solving problems that the company already faces. Through routine processes, the employees may encounter various frustrations and difficulties which form the basis of creativity and innovation. Such challenges should be recorded in priority and addressed to continue to retain the productivity.
The art of anticipating for a problem and solving it is another pathway to innovation which can result into fundamental gains and competitiveness in the market. Considering the market trends and sorting them into soft and hard trends forms a basis of an innovative approach to meet the existing gaps. It is important to envision market trends and imagine how they will play out in the context of the customers, employees, prospects and partners. The identification of related challenges which the manifested trends are likely pose will create alternative mechanisms of resolving such problems (Evers, Gliga & Rialp-Criado, 2019).
The last path to innovation is creating a problem and solving it. Based on this pathway, a happy situation, for instance is turned into something the employees are frustrated with in the quest to create and manage influence and perception. This pathway requires employees to challenge the status quo with a unique situation. As a result, this may require substantial resources and risks and necessitate a mutual understanding of the people whose perceptions are challenged.
Conclusion
As presented above, innovation and technical change are essential parameters to corporate productivity and market competitiveness. Innovation hails from multiple sources. In the domain of society, unexpected occurrences, systemic challenges and exposure to new knowledge may spark innovation in the quest to induce convenience. There is a need continually innovate new developments alongside the spinning wheel of social, economic, and environmental changes so as the firm will remain relevant and competitive in the market landscape. Thus, firms should endeavor to be innovative and embrace innovative pathways as maintained in the above premises for lifelong sustenance in the market.