Technological innovation strategies at Procter and Gamble and Apple

¶ … innovation and using technology to make better products. It discuses several tactics taken up by companies and they used the plans for their growth and success. The long-term impact of strategies is discussed and emphasized. Furthermore, personal opinions about the implementation of strategies are also discussed.

Strategic Management

Due to the increase in the rate of technological enhancements and globalization, technological innovation is something crucial to the growth and survival of any company. A business environment is very competitive, complex and ever changing. The strategies taken up by an organization to manage the ongoing innovation play a very crucial role in all of the technology-based companies. This process is basically used to manage the production of a certain product and how that production is organization within in the company. There are many tools that engineers and managers have to implement. This clearly states that both the upper level and the lower level administration need to have a clear cut understanding of the company's process and goals. The company should basically keep itself open to different opportunities. The opportunities can either be external or internal. Apart from being proactive with attain opportunities, a company should be alert to out all of its effort to introduce new ideas, products and processes. Further down management strat4egis of innovation of different companies will be discussed and compared.

Apple

As mentioned earlier, there has to be coordination between the top management and the people who make the products as well. The importance of these top managers is made prominent most by the sense of direction that Steve Jobs' management gave to Apple Computer. Ever since Jobs c-founded the company, he has been on a mission to revive and it excel it to new heights. Jobs didn't only provide one single product but an entire system to the consumers. In 2001, Apple embarked on the journey of making iPod. It was then that Jobs realized that the company could not be successful by only producing and selling hardware.

He thought out of the box and thought of certain possibilities to the product he made. Jobs used the strategy on building on what's already there and expanding it. He knew that digital player wouldn't really be a success if there wasn't an online download store. Jobs thus took the extra step and negotiated digital rights problems with some record companies. This negotiation led to the predication of an online store with a legal access to more than one million songs. Just by three years, Apple was successful in selling 3.7 million iPods. The sales of these new products soared to one billion dollars. The answer that Jobs had to the success that was the company made a solution that works for all. (Hof et.al, 2004)

Motorola

A major strategy in coming up with new products is that a company needs to be aware and alert about all that is going around them. This is basically stated that a corporation needs to analyze the external task and societal atmosphere for newer products. This scan for the new products isn't so the company copies or makes a similar product. IT is also so they can learn from and use it to add to their current or future products. Research shows that companies who carefully analyze their outside environment are more innovative as compared to those who only focus on themselves. This strategy is well employed by Motorola. Motorola has a tendency to invest in technologies that are profitable. It also believes in working on improvements and also has an efficient analyzing system. The intelligence department of the company looks over and analyzes what is new in the market. It keeps itself updated about the new journals, gossip and the new conferences. The information that the team collects is later utilized in making road maps or plans. These plans thus decide and hint to where the company can step in and introduce a new product. These plans also inform how much money the company will make and which of the innovations will actually work for the company.

Generally, there is a rule of thumb about managing innovations properly. The most successful innovations are somewhat new to the market. Along with being new and updated, they save the customers money. They support the existing practices and go on and satisfy the customers' needs. Also, these new products are established on tried-and-tested technology. Where successful innovations are discussed, it only seems necessary to talk about some mistakes that companies make. The unsuccessful strategies are such that the innovations follow an approach that follows companies who have made similar product before. The innovations were created on untested or cutting edge technology. The products were produced with no solution in mind.

A major similarity in all the strategies used by company is long-term thinking. The companies not only look at what the companies. Motorola and Apple both worked in the long-term planning strategies. Steve Jobs didn't only look at the success an iPod would make but looked at problems users would face if an online store was not created. He looked at the future of products that could be produced and would later go on to be successful. Similarly, Motorola looks at what other companies are making and what they plan on producing as well. Based on those plans, the company discusses what they can make and what would be best for them. Contrastingly, P&G looks more at what the customer needs and how the company has been doing in the past. Another strategy that they used was to getting help from outside sources to present their own company in new light.

If I were to implement strategies in my organization, I would surely go for a good coordination within all levels of the company. A director or CEO cannot have its goals accomplished if everyone in the company isn't on the same page. I would also take up the roadmap approach and keep an organized data of what other companies are making and plan on making.