Introduction
In any business enterprise, innovation has to bring on board aspects of an organization’s vision, its strategies, inherent tactics, how it allocates its resources, how delegation is done, and from where the business outsources. There are well over 15 types of innovations. Indeed, these classifications have been made depending on businesses, processes, products, and markets. Innovation in an organization can completely change the way people perceive their world as it radically changes many aspects of human life. Innovation as a process involves transforming ideas into products that are valuable to the customers. Innovation, as a result, involves coming up with a valuable product that was not initially available that satisfies the needs of users that were not previously catered for.
Strategy refers to where the business intends to go. This integrates its goals and objectives. Of great importance here is how the business wants to achieve these goals and objectives. These are generally called the methods or the systems of methods. Examples of business strategies include the marketing strategy, the communication strategy, and the trade-show strategy. The business strategies can also be organized as initiatives.
Some types of business strategies can also be categorized as innovations. These include business models, financial models, and alliances. This essay will interrogate the impacts of innovation on the strategy, process, and products of General Motors, Microsoft Corporation, and Hewlett Packard.
Impacts of Innovation on General Motors Strategy, Process, and Product
General Motors enjoys a very big client base that makes it extremely difficult for new entrants into the industry to break. General Motors has embarked on initiatives that have enabled them to rake profit in extremely difficult situations. They have embarked on the provision of safety and security services by installing in-built vehicle electronics. This has been arrived at to enhance their base business. They have undertaken to engage in vehicle styling and engineering, coming up with a model that is more profitable in the truck market, investing in high margin add on and vehicle accessories, merchandising, extensive advertising, and initiation of incentive programs to enhance dealer traffic, and drive up sales volume.
This strategy in the year 2001 paid off and GM’s competitors desperately started coming up with other initiatives to much its moves. However, it is worth noting that diversification of the business base is not enough. The ability of GM engineers to embrace technological advances has changed focus to the driver’s needs. Digital mapping, satellite navigation, and mobile telephony have enhanced this. With these, drivers are now capable of getting access to vital information, support, and entertainment. This has been achieved by GM’s resolve to come up with a device called OnStar that has a cellular phone, GPS receiver, control panel, and a modem (Slywotzky and Wise, 2003 p.17). This has guaranteed the safety and security of the owners of these cars as well as made traveling more convenient and fun as the device enables car users to locate the nearest fuelling station and car repair facilities.
Impacts of innovation on Hewlett Packard’s Strategy, Process, and Products
Because of challenges that are associated with innovation and growth management of corporate organizations has to contend with issues related to paradox. Hewlett Packard has solved these problems by coming up with products and technologies that change the landscape of existing industries. Through this emerging markets have sprung up. HP has embraced the use of disruptive innovation to break with its past and come up with new technologies and processes to enhance the value that its customers get from its products. They have integrated the use of radical innovations that transforms the entire market. This has been witnessed by the introduction into the market of Hewlett Packard’s Ink Jet that completely replaced Dot-matrix printing. This catapulted the company into a leadership position.
HP uses several business strategies and these include Radical cannibalism that involves a company’s successful product with a new technology or process to enhance customer value. This has enabled HP to only grow but also increase its market share; Competitive displacement involves displacement of HP’s competitors’ products and technologies (Hamel and Prahalad, 1994). This has helped in doing away with the existing traditional competition. Through this strategy, HP has continued to provide its customers with surprising, creative, and effective mechanisms for enhancing value. This has been witnessed in their PhotoSmart line of products which encompasses digital camera, scanner, printer, and image editing services. Other strategies include market invention and industry genesis.
Impacts of innovation on Microsoft Strategy, Process, and Products
Microsoft has used enterprise resource planning strategy to steer industry-specific innovations tailor-made for its customers. To extend its core capabilities for Microsoft Dynamics AX, it has come up with four industry solutions. The solutions are meant to offer flexible business solutions relevant to ever-evolving business needs. These solutions include availing a manufacturing solution that tightly integrates business processes in discrete and process manufacturing; professional service solution with a single system that manages products and resources as well as executing financial transactions; retail solutions that provide an end-to-end retail solution (Redmond, 2009). Acquisition of such technology has enabled Microsoft Corporation to provide core industry functionalities.
Reference List
Hamel, G. and Prahalad, C.K. (2003). Competing for the Future. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
Redmond, W. (2009). Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009: Take Your Business into the Future. Web.
Slywotzky, A. and Wise, R. (2003). Demand innovation: GM’s OnStar case. Strategy and Leadership, 31(4), 17-22.