Automobile Industry Assignment Sample
Research Proposal
(Determining the role and importance of corporate innovation in automobile industry)
Introduction
Background and purpose
In today’s competitive environment it is important for all industries to focus on innovation. This is because innovation lead to developing new products and services (Andreasen and Van Vaerenbergh, 2018). Also, it helps in growth and development of company as well. Without innovation any industry cannot survive in market for long term. Innovation is base of success of organization by giving them a competitive edge in market. In automobile sector there is stiff competitive within companies. It is because the product offered is same. Corporate innovation is concept of implementing innovation within business models. The reputed companies in automobile sector is thriving to adopt innovation. In present times, the new product developed is electric vehicles. Besides that, innovation is done in technology, structure, process, etc. Now, in automobile sector there is huge investment being made in R&D.
Relevance of proposed research
This study is important as it gives overview to companies about role of corporate innovation. Along with it, how innovation is important to them and in what way. Also, research will provide various ideas on what type of innovation can be done.
Justification of topic
This topic is chosen because in future there will be drastic innovation in automobile industry (Fraga-Lamas and Fernández-Caramés, 2019). Therefore, organizations will require to implement innovation. So, they will have to adopt it within business model. So, that’s why this topic is chosen.
Value of research
The research will help companies operating in automobile sector to adopt innovation as per their need. It will give insight to that how innovation can be adopted.
Research question and research objective
Aim– To evaluate role and importance of corporate innovation in organisations. A case study on automobile industry.
Objectives:
- To understand concept of corporate innovation
- To examine impact of corporate innovation on automobile industry
- To analyse models of corporate innovation
- To recommend how corporate innovation can be implemented within industry
Research questions:
- What is the concept of corporate innovation?
- What is impact of corporate innovation on automobile industry?
- What are different models of corporate innovation?
- How corporate innovation can be implemented within industry?
Literature review
Concept of corporate innovation
As said by Geissdoerfer and Evans, (2018) innovation is base for success of many companies. It allows them to design new products and services, adopt new business model, technology and many other things. There are various types of innovation which is being implemented. It depends on their need and type of business model. The concept of corporate is not new. It is being applied since previous times. It refers to implementing innovation in existing business model. In order to achieve this, it require for firm to think outside box and acquire potential markets. They can also collaborate with start-ups and identify scope of it. Moreover, when innovation is implemented the corporate may allocate resources in various projects. Basically, this concept allow firm to become large companies and survive in market for long term. In automobile sector, corporate innovation is being adopted by GE. The company has highly invested in RD. Due to that, they are able to develop new products and acquire customers.
Figure 1 Corporate innovation
(Source: Michal, 2019)
As elucidated by Ghobakhloo and Fathi, (2019) corporate innovation is important because it provide a way to firms to integrate innovation strategy. With help of R&D they acquire start-ups and other companies which help in their growth and development. Thus, through start-ups corporate consists of variety of ideas that is useful to expand in other markets. Hence, in this way they remain ahead of rivals and gain competitive advantage in market. It is found that there are two types of innovation. One is open and another is closed. Closed refers to using of internal resources to create new ideas. It is done through several ways such as creating innovation teams, launching accelerator program and others. On other hand, open innovation means souring of new products, ideas outside corporate structure. This is done through investments, acquisition. Most firms use open innovation as it provides them better opportunity to implement innovation.
Models of corporate innovation
Grzybowska and Łupicka, (2017) stated that there are several models of corporate innovation that are used by firms. The models are only available in open and close innovation. It depends on firm need that what type of model is being applied by them. Besides that, sometimes there are one or two combination of model applied as well to implement innovation. So, they are described as below:
Figure 2 Models of innovation
Employee sourcing – It is most common model that is applied in it. The existing employees of firms are aware market, structure, product features, design and many other things. Hence, they provide new ideas to solve challenges.
Dedicated innovation teams – In this model that are innovation teams developed. The team consists of scientists, experts and strategists who give idea to develop new product. The team is also aware about rival innovation done. This model is applied by organisation who have converted their R&D department into innovation labs.
Internal corporate accelerator program– It is model in which a program is launched in which corporate provide staff with technology driven. They also provide resources to solve challenges by providing them innovative capabilities (Lin and Yang, 2018).
Investment and acquisition– The organisations who are having a large amount of cash in hand acquire innovative firms or start-ups. Through this, they are able to fulfil customer needs and it also save their innovation time.
Innovation outposts– The organisation set up their satellite office in tech hubs such as Silicon Valley or Detroit. It provides a high networking level with emerging companies. Thus, it allows them to focus on innovative ideas.
External corporate accelerators– They are completing different from internal corporate as they work independently from corporate funding to allow start up to innovate. These start-ups are being funded and connections are built with it. The new product idea is acquired in program. Here, start-ups who are at top is being acquired by corporation or they receive funds.
Hackathons and pitch competitions– The forward-thinking companies utilize hackathons for innovation. The events are done in several ways like team of amateurs, team of start-ups to solve challenge.
So, these are certain models of corporate innovation that is applied by firms. It enables them to work on new ideas and do innovation (Müller and Voigt, 2018).
Impact of corporate innovation on automobile industry
In the view of Nambisan and Kenney, (2018) it is found that there is great positive impact of innovation in automobile industry. This can be viewed by taking example of GM where they thought outside the box. They have formed a new business entity e- GM. This development has allowed in creating network of suppliers and also B2B commerce. The network allows supplier to handle and manage all transactions. Moreover, a new process is innovated that is based on sense response learn approach. It gathers data from market and analyse it. The analysis is useful in guiding vehicle. In GM innovation there is contribution of R&D. There were innovation programs started along with projects. It is said by Rachinger and Schirgi, (2019) that in future there are various new trends emerging in this sector. But automobile industry will be customer centric. It will focus on needs of customers and on basis of that vehicles are produced. Furthermore, mobility will impact on design of vehicle. There is no experiments done in regard with innovation. However, organisations R&D department is impacted in positive way with corporate innovation. There is complete change in tactics, strategy, product design, etc. The firm is able to expose into new market with innovation. In future there occurs a drastic change in automobile sector. It will force firms to implement innovation. With that organisation is able to grow. There are new products designed and developed.
Teece, (2018) stated that corporate innovation has benefited automobile sector to a great extent. It has enabled in innovating entire process through which productivity has increased. Alongside, new techniques and equipment’s are used in processing. So, it has resulted in reducing errors in process and saving time. The start-ups are providing new ideas related to product design. Hence, by acquiring them companies have entered in new markets. In addition, firms are searching out start-ups that are emerging in automobile sector. It has led to bringing new ideas and concepts in it. Furthermore, it is found that various change models are applied to adopt innovation. Apart from it, innovation is adopted in technology, process and manufacturing. Besides that, firms are spending huge funds in R&D to sustain in market.
Literature gap
It has been identified that in present literature there is only limited discussion done about impact of corporate innovation. Apart from it, the models are not applied in automobile sector and is just described. Also, no recommendations are given regarding which model can be applied by company. It is necessary to explain different types of innovation occurring in automobile industry and how corporate innovation can be useful.
Method
In every research, it is required to determine that what research methods are being used by scholar. This is because it enables in conducing study in systematic way and obtaining relevant and precise outcomes. Also, it gives insight that what methods are being used. Thus, methods are described as below:
Research philosophy- This is first component to be mentioned as it makes easy for scholar to move further. It refers to belief that how data will be gathered and analyzed. The philosophies are of different types like positivism, realism, interpretivism. In positivism only facts is being gathered by scholar. The data gathered is limited in it. interpretivism is based on principle of social world. In this scholar interest is considered. However, realism is based on dependency from reality. There are several assumptions being made (Wang, 2021). The philosophy that will be used is positivism. It is because factual data will be collected about corporate innovation.
Research approach- In this, researcher defines how data is gathered and analyzed. It helps in doing study in systematic way. Usually, 3 approaches are there that is used. It includes deductive, inductive and abductive approaches. Inductive is based on generation of theory. In deductive various expectations are made. However, in abductive there are facts and figure gathered. The scholar will use inductive approach. This is because theories is generated of innovation. Also, concept of corporate innovation is obtained from it.
Research strategy – This means process to gather data. Qualitative and quantitative are two strategy used. In qualitative there is only theoretical data and info gathered. There is no facts and figures collected. But in quantitative only facts is collected. There is only precise and accurate info is obtained. The researcher will use qualitative strategy. It is because more knowledge is examined from it about importance of corporate innovation.
Data collection – It is necessary to gather data in proper way as entire outcomes depends on it. Besides that, the sources of data collection must be precise. It is a process in which info is used from various sources to find out data and analyse its outcomes. Basically, there are 2 data collection methods used that is primary and secondary data (Lin and Yang, 2018).
Primary data– In primary data is collected for first time. This is through various ways such as questionnaire, interviews, surveys, focus groups and many others.
Pros
- The data is highly reliable as it is collected from its original source
- The data is up to date
Information gathered is unique as no one is having access to it.
Cons
- It is expensive as compared to secondary data
- It is time consuming
Secondary data – In this data is gathered from previous articles, journals, books and other sources. There is no fresh data collected in it.
Pros
- It is time saving and cost free
- The data gives insight to new analysis
Cons
- Data might not be specific and precise
- There is no control over quality of data.
In present study, the researcher will use secondary data collected method. This is because from scholar, articles more knowledge is gained in topic. It also saves time and cost of study.
Research ethics
It is essential for researcher to follow certain ethics. There are different rules formed that help to do study in ethical way. Similarly, scholar will follow certain ethics. First is he will ensure no privacy or confidential data or info of any person is leaked. Also, all data will be stored in database and only authorized person will be allowed to access it. The research report will not be shared with any person or third party or business (Müller and Voigt, 2018).
Timescale
There is need to examine the time required for research to be completed. Also, it is important to find out how much time is needed for collecting of data and analysing it. So, the activities are broken down into steps and a timescale is prepared. Hence, it is as below:
| Activity | 2 days | 5. days | 3 days | 2 days | 2 days | 3 days | 3 days | 8 days | 7 days | 2 days |
| Identify research topic | ||||||||||
| Review of Literature | ||||||||||
| Drafting Methodologies | ||||||||||
| Complete Proposal | ||||||||||
| Writing summary | ||||||||||
| Collection of data | ||||||||||
| Analyzing data and interpretation | ||||||||||
| Discussion and Conclusion | ||||||||||
| Submission |
Resources
In order to carry out research, there are several resources which is required in it. The resources have to be identified properly so that accordingly cost is determined and allocated. Thus, in current research there will be direct and indirect cost incurred in it. The direct cost will include travel, stationery and other (Teece, 2018). Whereas indirect cost include time, software cost. Therefore, total cost required for project will be $2000.
Expected findings
It is expected that in automobile sector corporate innovation is of designing electric vehicles. Moreover, all companies will implement this innovation and it may result in tough competition in market. Furthermore, it is expected that various change models have to be applied to adopt innovation. Apart from it, innovation will be adopted in technology, process and manufacturing. Besides that, firms may have to spend huge funds in R&D to sustain in market. The study can provide results that small firms in automobile sector may not be able to compete with large ones.
Conclusion
It can be concluded from research that in automobile industry new product innovation of electric vehicles is being done. There are various models of corporate innovation such as investment and acquisition, innovation outposts, employee sourcing and others. The secondary data collection method is used to collect data. The time for completing research is 37 days and cost required is $2000. Moreover, certain ethics like consent of people security of data and info.
References
Books and journals
Fraga-Lamas, P. and Fernández-Caramés, T.M., (2019). A review on blockchain technologies for an advanced and cyber-resilient automotive industry. IEEE access, 7, pp.17578-17598.
Geissdoerfer, M. and Evans, S., (2018). Sustainable business model innovation: A review. Journal of cleaner production, 198, pp.401-416.
Ghobakhloo, M. and Fathi, M., (2019). Corporate survival in Industry 4.0 era: the enabling role of lean-digitized manufacturing. Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management.
Grzybowska, K. and Łupicka, A., (2017). Key competencies for Industry 4.0. Economics & Management Innovations, 1(1), pp.250-253.
Lin, D. and Yang, Y., (2018). Strategic response to Industry 4.0: an empirical investigation on the Chinese automotive industry. Industrial Management & Data Systems.
Müller, J.M. and Voigt, K.I., (2018). What drives the implementation of Industry 4.0? The role of opportunities and challenges in the context of sustainability. Sustainability, 10(1), p.247.
Nambisan, S. and Kenney, M., (2018). On open innovation, platforms, and entrepreneurship. Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, 12(3), pp.354-368.
Rachinger, M. and Schirgi, E., (2019). Digitalization and its influence on business model innovation. Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management.
Teece, D.J., (2018). Profiting from innovation in the digital economy: Enabling technologies, standards, and licensing models in the wireless world. Research Policy, 47(8), pp.1367-1387.
Wang, Z., (2021). EXPLORING THE POTENTIAL OF LEAN PHILOSOPHY TO SPREAD THE VALUE OF SUSTAINABILITY IN THE JAPANESE AUTOMOBILE INDUSTRY: THE CASE OF TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION. Управління розвитком складних систем, (45), pp.176-181.
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