Innovation and Entrepreneurship Performance Analysis

Question: Discuss about the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Performance Analysis. Answer: Introduction Woolworths is a supermarket based in Australia, with 872 stores. It relies on a broad range of staff in its stores to provide efficient services to its customers, (Poid.com, 2008). There is a wide variety of supermarkets and retail stores in this country, making competition very high. Innovation is the putting into use, of new ideas to satisfy the needs of customers. (Burns, 2008) Entrepreneurs usually utilize innovation in creating opportunities and changes that ensure profitability in their firms. Levels of Innovation that can be utilized by Woolworths. Innovation can occur in three levels, which include; revolution, renewal and resilience levels. Revolution level: This level involves changing the structures of the firm. Modern marketing requires the use of online platforms to obtain clients (Drucker, 2014). Woolworths is also not an exception as it uses online locator apps that enable its customers to find its stores quickly. The supermarket could also use more innovative channels to ensure proper interaction with their clients. This can be done through revolution, whereby new platforms of communication are formed. Such platforms may include; listing its products on its Facebook page to receive customer likes and developing more online service channels to reduce the long queues in the stores. These channels could enable the customers to efficiently order products and have them delivered to their premises without physically going to the stores. Renewal level: This level involves changing the whole model of the business. In supermarkets, it can be executed through formulating a creative way of marketing and availing the products to the clients. Woolworths could use this aspect by changing its marketing model. Forming unique ways of promoting and pricing its goods may make customers develop a preference for its products (Bessant Tidd, 2007). For example, it could revert to online ordering and delivery of products, coming up with no noise campaigns and rebranding their products, where customers switch off their phones and remove shoes when shopping in no interference zones. This could make the customers more comfortable when shopping in the stores. This method has been used successfully in the UK by Selfridges. Resilience level: According to Allen Holling (2010), resilience involves administration of continuous changes in values, behaviors, and processes in the business to obtain the more innovative operating structure. This can be executed by stocking new products for customers, (Crumpton, 2012). Woolworths could use this strategy to ensure new products are available in its stores according to the client's preference. This may be done by conducting a proper market research, to precisely establish what the customers need. Displaying products in Facebook and obtaining likes can be used as an appropriate and profitable method of inspecting customers preferences. Woolworths could also use Crowd sources suggestions on its website, to determine the likes of its current and potential customers. This innovative method has successfully been used by most supermarkets in Denmark and therefore could be appropriate for Woolworths as well for it to ensure improved performance. Types of innovation Woolworths could incorporate. Innovation involves getting new ideas. It can be divided into open verses closed and disruptive versus sustaining innovation, (Groden, 2015). These types of change can be utilized by the supermarketin order to ensure improvement in its operations and profitability. Disruptive versus sustaining innovation. In the market, customers can be classified into high demanding and less demanding customers. The high demanding customers expect expensive and high-quality products to be availed for them, while the less demanding customers look for lowly priced and available products, (Christensen, Raynor McDonald, 2015). Therefore, Woolworths could research appropriately on its clients and classify them accordingly. In places where there is a large number of less demanding customers, the supermarket can stock less expensive products so as to attract that particular market. On the other hand, in locations where there is a high concentration of high demanding customers, the costly and high-quality products should be stocked. This could make Woolworths more profitable as it will be able to understand its customers better. Open versus closed innovation. As explained by (Dawson Andriopoulos, 2014), open innovation encompasses getting Ideas both from within the firm and outside the enterprise. It allows the organization to incorporate new ideas and strategies developed by its competitors when executing innovation. Traditionally, businesses used not to include ideas from other firms when formulating their operating plans. This was closed innovation. However, business is an open system, which should be considerate of its external environment in all its operations (Windrum Koch, 2008). Woolworths could conduct an environmental scanning to identify unique strategies adopted by other supermarkets in Australia. This could make it improve more in its operations. Norms that Woolworths could use to promote innovation. Innovation involves risk taking and proper management of the culture of the firm. Risk taking enables the company to venture into new fields without fearing failure or losses, (Dyer, Gregersen Christensen, 2009). Woolworths can execute this by developing many branches in untapped areas and investing in new technology to ensure efficient marketing and distribution of its products. Some norms it may perform are as follows. Risk taking: Innovation involves a lot of risks. Woolworths should be ready to take risk and venture in new technology and marketing strategies. It could do this by using such apps like QThru and So-Post that could be utilized by customers to check the availability of products of their interests through their phones. This could reduce the long queues in the stores. So-Post also uses the email addresses of customers in executing the delivery, instead of using their home addresses. This is a major field of innovation that could be achieved by Woolworths. Tolerance of mistakes: In innovation, some errors may occur. These may involve inaccuracies and variances, (Barringer, 2012). Woolworths must be ready to tolerate these variations to execute innovation and improve performance. Supporting change and proper conflict handling: There must be an appropriate conflict handling forum whenever a firm needs to conduct innovation. This is because there are variations of methods of executing changes in organizations, (Baumgartner, 2011). In the case of Woolworths, the managers could come up with proper avenues of addressing conflicts which may arise during the process of innovation. Supporting the continuous process of learning and idea generation: Innovation involves learning and adopting new ideas. The managers in Woolworths should be able to support the generation of new ideas that would enable proper change. Entrepreneurship After inventing the new ideas and ways of operation, Woolworths should incorporate these ideas to ensure maximization of its customers requirements. This requires entrepreneurial leadership. Entrepreneurial leadership refers to the administration on entrepreneurial skills (Burns, 2008). Some of the elements of this type of leadership include; Framing: Woolworths could use this feature to compose accurate expectations about innovative endeavors. This may involve prediction of profit increments due to the new ideas incorporated and predicting the time it may take to fully install the innovations created, (Cho, Mathiassen, Robey, 2007). It may also entail predicting the amount of returns expected from investing in the new idea. Creating opportunity register: This is coming up with a list of potentially feasible business opportunities, (Morris, Kuratko Covin, 2010). This supermarket could record its innovative ideas and plan on how to execute them to improve its operations. Promotion: Woolworths could promote its innovative strategies to ensure proper execution. It could do this by identifying the creative objectives, forming competitive benchmarks, establishing significant achievements expected and documenting the assumptions formulated. Creating a supportive environment: This involves availing all the resources required to put the innovation into operation, (Snihur, 2016). Woolworths could do this by ensuring all the necessary supportive instruments and technology for innovation are availed. Conclusion: In conclusion, Woolworths could significantly improve its operations and profitability by venturing more in innovation and entrepreneurship. It could do this by establishing better technologically sensitive ways of marketing and provision of services, adopting better methods of innovation and following the elements of proper change. The innovative ideas should also be incorporated and put into use through entrepreneurial leadership. References Allen, C. R., Holling, C. S. (2010). Novelty, Adaptive Capacity, and Resilience. Barringer, B. (2012). Entrepreneurship: Successfully Launching New Ventures, (2012). Baumgartner, R. J. (2011). Critical Perspectives on Sustainable Development Research and Practice. Journal of Cleaner Production, 19(8), 783-786. Bessant, J., Tidd, J. (2007). Innovation and Entrepreneurship. John Wiley Sons. Branson, R. (2011). Virgin's Richard Branson: Apple boss Steve Jobs was the Entrepreneur I most Admired, Telegraph, 6 October. Burns, P, (2008). Corporate Entrepreneurship: Building the Entrepreneurial Cho, S., Mathiassen, L., Robey, D. (2007). Dialectics of Resilience: a Multi-level Analysis of a Telehealth Innovation. Journal of Information Technology, 22(1), 24-35. Christensen, C.M., Raynor, M.E. McDonald, R. (2015). What is Disruptive Innovation? hbr.org website at https://hbr.org/2015/12/what-is-disruptive-innovation accessed 4 January 2017. Crumpton, M. A. (2012). Innovation and Entrepreneurship. The Bottom Line, 25(3), 98-101. Dawson, P. Andriopoulos, C. (2014). Managing Change and Innovation, Sage Publishing, London, U.K. Drucker, P. (2014). Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Routledge. Dyer, J.H., Gregersen, H.B. Christensen, C.M. (2009). The Innovators DNA. Harvard Business Review, December, pp. 60-67. Groden, C. (2015), Why Uber isn't Disruptive but Netflix Is, Fortune website at https://fortune.com/2015/11/17/uber-disruption-christensen/ accessed 4 January 2017. Morris, M. H., Kuratko, D. F., Covin, J. G. (2010). Corporate Entrepreneurship Innovation. Cengage Learning. Poid.com. (2008, February 4). Woolworths Supermarkets. Retrieved January 4, 2017, from Poid.com website: https://www.poidb.com/groups/group.asp?GroupID=153 Snihur, Y. (2016). Developing optimal distinctiveness: organizational identity processes in new ventures engaged in business model innovation. Entrepreneurship Regional Development, 28(3-4), 259-285. Strobl, A., Kronenberg, C. (2016). Entrepreneurial Networks Across the Business Life Cycle: The Case of Alpine Hospitality Entrepreneurs. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 28(6). Windrum, P., Koch, P. M. (Eds.). (2008). Innovation in Public Sector Services: Entrepreneurship, Creativity and Management. Edward Elgar Publishing.

Value-based Pricing for New Software Products free essay sample

Pricing methods such as flat price, tiered pricing, MIPS-based, usage-based, per user, per seat, and pay as you go, are often tactical in nature and easily matched by competitors, which can undermine profitability by accelerating the commoditization process. Conversely, a value-based approach charges a price based on the customer’s perceived value of the benefits received. Value-based pricing methodologies can be used to estimate the market value of new software concepts at various stages of the development process in addition to pricing new products for launch.This paper describes a value-based approach to pricing that is dependent on the firm’s commitment to invest in the development of its long-term â€Å"pricing capital. † This investment in methodologies, infrastructure, and processes to create, measure, analyze, and capture customer value is the key to successful long-term pricing strategy. No tool in the marketing toolbox can increase sales or destroy dema nd more quickly than pricing strategy. We will write a custom essay sample on Value-based Pricing for New Software Products or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The pricing decision is one of the most critical decisions that a firm can make in the launch of a product.Managers in the software industry have traditionally developed their pricing strategies by overemphasizing cost-related criteria at the expense of focusing on the value of the product to the customer. Cost-based pricing strategies are focused on short-term value to the vendor. Conversely, value-based pricing is based on the customer’s perception of the value of the product, not on product costs (see Figure 1). Value-based pricing strategies are focused on creating long-term value for the customer.From a marketing perspective, the goal of pricing strategy is to assign a price that is the monetary equivalent of the value the customer perceives in the product while meeting profit and return on investment goals [37]. This paper posits the view that traditional cost-based approaches to software pricing are short-term, tactical in nature, and place the interests of the seller over the interests of the buyer. Conversely, pricing approaches based on customers’ perceptions of value are strategic and long-term in nature since they are focused on capturing unique value from each market segment through the pricing mechanism.

Easy Fairy Tale Essay Topics

Easy Fairy Tale Essay TopicsAlthough the fairy tale has become a well known story, there are still many people who do not know what the purpose of the essay is. Many adults even give the plot of the fairy tale as the main story line for the essay. The essay can be used to explore the many themes that the story can include. There are a lot of fairy tale themed essay topics.A theme for the fairy tale might be history, romance, humor, family, travel, or fantasy. This makes it easy to think about the topics when you read the fairy tale. These themes can be explored through the writing of the essay.History of the Fairy Tale: Most of the tales feature events that happened long ago. While this could be the basis for the essay, it can also be used to examine the past of the person writing the essay. This can also be used in connection with other essays and to help improve other essay topics.Romance of the Story: The theme of romance is often included in the fairy tale. This can be used in a romance themed essay that is not strictly fairy tale based. A good example of this is a romantic theme for a religion essay.Character of the Story: The theme of the character is also used in essay themes. It can be used to examine the character that is a main character in the story. It can also be used to examine the personality of the main character.Jest and Greed: The theme of jest and greed can be included in a fairy tale based essays. Jest and the romantic theme can be used in a humor essay. Greed can be used in a travel essay.Morality of the Fairy Tale: When students learn that there is more to the story than the romantic theme, they will explore the ethical issues in the fairy tale. This will allow them to consider moral dilemmas. This theme can be explored in essay themes that deal with childhood development, school growth, and high school.References to Original Sources: Since most of the stories are based on fact, the source should be used throughout the essay. This should b e made clear in the essay. The source should be used for the facts as well as the key words that make up the theme. The essay can cover a lot of information through the use of the entire essay and by using the original sources.

History of antitrust efforts in the U.S. and Europe essays

History of antitrust efforts in the U.S. and Europe essays The ways in which nations interact with the world have, arguably since the Industrial Revolution and even more so since the beginning of the jet age, depended upon their corporations. Globalization, first through rapid international physical transit and more recently through instant access, at least concerning intellectual property/goods and transactions surrounding that intellectual property as well as tangible properties shipped and received, is making two things possible, one after the other. The first is the inevitable knocking into each other of the old-world methods of commerce, and those of the new world: the U.S. notably, of course, but also Canada and the NAFTA trading partners, conceivably. The second is that "the forces of globalization may be eroding the elements that once made European corporations unique. Still, historically speaking, and especially when compared with their American counterparts, European companies exhibit enough common traits for us to speak of an old-continent model'." (Amatori, 1999) Naturally, this makes a coherent antitrust policy covering all parties a challenge. Historically, the European model has seen the state as a major player in the economy; as well, close relations between the banking and industrial sectors reinforced this view and the fact of it. (Amatori, 1999) In the U.S., historically, there has been reluctance to bring the state in as an active player in the nation's economic life, and the relations between banking and industrial sectors were anything but close. Indeed, they are often adversarial. Likewise, European and U.S. views of who should benefit from commercial life differ. Europe puts is emphasis on stakeholders, while in the U.S., the emphasis is on shareholders. This has led to the prevalent hostile takeover in the U.S., despite antitrust laws, something seen less often in Europe. (Amatori, 1999) ...

Major General George Meade in the Civil War

Major General George Meade in the Civil War Born at Cdiz, Spain on December 31, 1815, George Gordon Meade was the eighth of eleven children born to Richard Worsam Meade and Margaret Coats Butler. A Philadelphia merchant living in Spain, Meade had been crippled financially during the Napoleonic Wars and was serving a naval agent for the US government in Cdiz. Shortly after his death in 1928, the family returned to the United States and young George was sent to school at Mount Hope College in Baltimore, MD. West Point Meades time at Mount Hope proved brief due to his familys increasingly difficult financial situation. Wishing to continue his education and aid his family, Meade sought an appointment to the United States Military Academy. Securing admission, he entered West Point in 1831. While there his classmates included George W. Morell, Marsena Patrick, Herman Haupt, and future US Postmaster General Montgomery Blair. Graduating 19th in a class of 56, Meade was commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1835 and assigned to the 3rd US Artillery. Early Career Dispatched to Florida to fight the Seminoles, Meade soon fell ill with fever and was transferred to the Watertown Arsenal in Massachusetts. Having never intended to make the army his career, he resigned in late 1836 after recovering from his sickness. Entering civilian life, Meade sought work as an engineer and had some success surveying new lines for railroad companies as well as working for the War Department. In 1840, Meade married Margaretta Sergeant, the daughter of prominent Pennsylvanian politician John Sergeant. The couple would ultimately have seven children. After his marriage, Meade found steady work increasingly difficult to obtain. In 1842, he elected to re-enter the US Army and was made a lieutenant of topographical engineers. Mexican-American War Assigned to Texas in 1845, Meade served as a staff officer in Major General Zachary Taylors army after the outbreak of the Mexican-American War the following year. Present at Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma, he was brevetted to first lieutenant for gallantry at the Battle of Monterrey. Meade also served on the staffs of Brigadier General William J. Worth and Major General Robert Patterson. 1850s Returning to Philadelphia after the conflict, Meade spent the bulk of the next decade designing lighthouses and conducting coastal surveys on the East Coast. Among those lighthouses he designed were those at Cape May (NJ), Absecon (NJ), Long Beach Island (NJ), Barnegat (NJ) and Jupiter Inlet (FL). During this time, Meade also devised a hydraulic lamp that was accepted for use by the Lighthouse Board. Promoted to captain in 1856, he was ordered west the following year to oversee a survey of the Great Lakes. Publishing his report in 1860, he remained on the Great Lakes until the outbreak of the Civil War in April 1861. The Civil War Begins Returning east, Meade was promoted to brigadier general of volunteers on August 31 at the recommendation of Pennsylvania Governor Andrew Curtin and given command of the 2nd Brigade, Pennsylvania Reserves. Initially assigned to Washington, DC, his men built fortifications around the city until being assigned to Major General George McClellans newly formed Army of the Potomac. Moving south in the spring of 1862, Meade took part in McClellans Peninsula Campaign until being wounded three times at the Battle of Glendale on June 30. Quickly recovering, he rejoined his men in time for the Second Battle of Manassas in late August. Rising through the Army In the course of the fighting, Meades brigade took part in the vital defense of Henry House Hill which allowed the remainder of the army to escape after the defeat. Shortly after the battle he was given command of the 3rd Division, I Corps. Moving north at the beginning of the Maryland Campaign, he earned praise for his efforts at the Battle of South Mountain and again three days later at Antietam. When his corps commander, Major General Joseph Hooker, was wounded, Meade was selected by McClellan to take over. Leading I Corps for the remainder of the battle, he was wounded in the thigh. Returning to his division, Meade achieved the only Union success during the Battle of Fredericksburg that December when his men drove back the troops of Lieutenant General Thomas Stonewall Jackson. His success was not exploited and his division was forced to fall back. In recognition for his actions, he was promoted to major general. Given command of V Corps on December 25, he commanded it at the Battle of Chancellorsville in May 1863. During the course of the battle, he implored Hooker, now the army commander, to be more aggressive but to no avail. Taking Command Following his victory at Chancellorsville, General Robert E. Lee began moving north to invade Pennsylvania with Hooker in pursuit. Arguing with his superiors in Washington, Hooker was relieved on June 28 and command was offered to Major General John Reynolds. When Reynolds declined, it was offered to Meade who accepted. Assuming command of the Army of the Potomac at Prospect Hall near Frederick, MD, Meade continued to move after Lee. Known to his men as The Old Snapping Turtle, Meade had reputation for a short temper and possessed little patience for the press or civilians. Gettysburg Three days after taking command, two of Meades corps, Reynolds I and Major General Oliver O. Howards XI, encountered the Confederates at Gettysburg. Opening the Battle of Gettysburg, they were mauled but succeeded in holding favorable ground for the army. Rushing his men to the town, Meade won a decisive victory over the next two days and effectively turned the tide of the war in the East. Though triumphant, he was soon criticized for failing to aggressively pursue Lees battered army and deliver a war-ending blow. Following the enemy back to Virginia, Meade conducted ineffective campaigns at Bristoe and Mine Run that fall. Under Grant In March 1864, Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant was appointed lead all Union armies. Understanding that Grant would come east and citing the importance of winning the war, Meade offered to resign from his army command if the new commander preferred to appoint someone different. Impressed by Meades gesture, Grant refused the offer. Though Meade retained command of the Army of the Potomac, Grant made his headquarters with the army for the remainder of the war. This proximity led to a somewhat awkward relationship and command structure. Overland Campaign That May, the Army of the Potomac embarked on the Overland Campaign with Grant issuing orders to Meade who in turn issued them to the army. Meade largely performed well as the fighting progressed through the Wilderness and Spotsylvania Court House, but chaffed at Grants interference in the armys matters. He also took issue with Grants perceived preference for officers who had served with him in the west as well as his willingness to absorb heavy casualties. Conversely, some within Grants camp felt that Meade was too slow and cautious. As the fighting reached Cold Harbor and Petersburg, Meades performance began to slip as he did not direct his men to scout properly prior to the former battle and failed to coordinate his corps properly in the opening stages of the latter. During the siege of Petersburg, Meade again erred altering the attack plan for the Battle of the Crater for political reasons. Remaining in command throughout the siege, he fell ill on the eve of the final breakthrough in April 1865. Unwilling to miss the armys final battles, he led the Army of the Potomac from an army ambulance during the Appomattox Campaign. Though he made his headquarters near Grants, he did not accompany him to the surrender talks on April 9. Later Life With the end of the war, Meade remained in the service and moved through various department commands on the East Coast. In 1868, he took over the Third Military District in Atlanta and oversaw Reconstruction efforts in Georgia, Florida, and Alabama. Four years later, he was struck by a sharp pain in his side while in Philadelphia. An aggravation of the wound sustained at Glendale, he declined rapidly and contracted pneumonia. After a brief fight, he succumbed on November 7, 1872, and was buried at Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia.

Question about the History of Islam Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Question about the History of Islam - Assignment Example Unlike the men who dress in any type of cloth, the women must always cover themselves in lengthy hijabs complete with a veil that covers both their faces and hair (Ruggles 77). The unique attire portrays the society’s archaic treatment of women who must always behave differently when in public space and when in their private spaces. The history of Islam and early Islamic society shows a unique position and roles of women, especially in marriages. At such times, marriages were alliances. The men, therefore, married their female children to specific families with the view of creating relations and alliances with the appropriate families. Prophet Mohammad had thirteen wives a feature that portrays his belief and resects of women. The men in Islamic societies believed that a man could take care of as many women as they wished. As such, the polygamous society encouraged men to marry as many women as they wished. This portrays a situation where women did not influence the structure of their families since just as stated earlier, men served as guardians to the women. Furthermore, all of Muhammad’s marriages had political connotations. They served as alliances that influenced his position in the society and in the faith. According to the Sharia laws, virginity was a phenomenal issue in the society since it represented honor to both the girl’s family and society (Haylamaz and Hülya 121). As such, families raised their female children strictly with the view to guarding their virginity. Another equally important feature of Muhammad’s polygamous marriages was the fact that she married widows as well. A number of his wives were widows. Such was a strategic undertaking that sought to influence the position of widows in a society that valued virginity of women.  

Answer 7 Questions materials provided - Training and Development Essay

Answer 7 Questions materials provided - Training and Development Questions - Essay Example b) Nominate one publication from the NCVER Statistics publications that you can access, which addresses the statistics of participation in ACE. (NB if not available electronically, how will you access it?) (2 marks) Karmel, T. & Mlotkowski, P. 2008, ‘School-based apprenticeships and traineeships’, NCVER, National Centre for Vocational Education Research. Retrieved 3 April 2009 from http://www.ncver.edu.au/statistics/aag/schoolbased/sp08010.pdf Of the six articles and books located in the search of the NCVER website VOCED database listed in the Topic Notes, which one is available in the UNE library, and which author has another publication available in the UNE library. Give full bibliographic details and the relevant call numbers from the UNE catalogue. Australian Association of Adult and Community Education, 1992, ‘Striking a balance: adult and community education in Australian towards 2000 / edited by Roger Harris and Peter Willis’, UNE, Centre for Human Resource Studies. Call number: 374.994/A938s. Retrieved 3 April 2009 from http://biblio.une.edu.au.ezproxy.une.edu.au/cgi-bin/chameleon?sessionid=2009040401184001311&skin=une&lng=en&inst=consortium&conf=.%2fchameleon.conf&host=biblio.une.edu.au%2b1111%2bDEFAULT&SourceScreen=INITREQ&scant1=Striking%20a%20balance%3a%20adult%20and%20community%20education%20in%20Australian%20towards%202000%20%2f%20edited%20by%20Roger%20Harri&scanu1=4&elementcount=1&t1=Striking%20a%20balance%3a%20adult%20and%20community%20education%20in%20Australian%20towards%202000%20%2f%20edited%20by%20Roger%20Harri&u1=4&pos=1&itempos=1&rootsearch=SCAN&function=INITREQ&search=AUTHID&authid=329794&authidu=4 a) Identify at least one useful article (for the essay assignment) by the author K Schofield that you accessed via the UNE library. Give accurate bibliographic details and the call number (refer to the UNE Referencing Guide for the bibliographic details). Schofield, K. 1996, ‘ACE-VET : is it delivering?