Enhancing Business Innovation and Creativity

Introduction

In the recent era of globalisation and the digitalisation, all the competitive firms are looking for better strategic planning by ensuring innovation and creativity in order to lead the business towards achieving success. It is the responsibility of the entrepreneurs and management team to enhance innovation and creativity in order to enhance the performance of the organisations as a whole and gain high competitive advantage over other competitive firms, so that it is possible for the companies to sustain in the business and secure future sustainable development (Katsikis, Lang and Debreczeny, 2016). The study aims at discussing the ‘mega trend’ in the business, where it is possible to identify different trends of the business in order to ensure high innovation and creativity, so that the firms can get high market share through innovation and creative strategic planning. In this mega trend of the business, the company Oak Cash & Carry is also able to serve the customers in a better and unique way, where it is grocery wholesale business, which is operating as SME in the UK. The opportunities of product differentiation, service development and improvement of entrepreneurship are important for the multinational corporate firms to get high market share and sustain in the business strategically by improving its business innovation and creativity. The study focuses on the retail industry, and it provides a scope to analyse the impacts of mega trends in the business and evaluating different mega trends in enhancing the innovation and creativity in the business.

Megatrends and it implications in retail SME firm

Mega trends are global, sustained and the macroeconomic forces development which have crucial impacts on the business, economy and society, culture and personal lives and it further defines the creativity and innovation in future world for increasing the peace of change. In the recent years, all the firms are focusing on the creativity and innovation and implement the mega trends in the business in order to ensure future sustainability of the business. Hereby, mega trends are necessary to be implemented in the business and it provide a scope to all the corporate firms to enhance business innovation and creativity to serve the world in a better and unique way (Utikal and Woth, 2015). The mega trends have important impacts on the business of Oak Cash & Carry, where the entrepreneur can create values for the social communities and all the stakeholders of the business. Through creating innovative business strategy, the firm Oak Cash & Carry is able to maximise the values of the stakeholders including the government, employees, customers, suppliers and distributors, managers, partners, shareholders and the social communities as a whole. Through innovation and creativity, the organisation Oak Cash & Carry is able to establish their business in a different manner which increases branding and positive brand image in the market. Herby, through implementing different mega trends, the companies are efficient to improve their activities and contribute to social development.

Gaining the market share and competitive advantage are other benefits of implementing mega trends in the business. Recently, all the retail firms introduce new strategic planning through ensuring innovation and creativity for exploring more business opportunities and gaining high competitive advantage. The strategic planning of product differentiation and service innovation are common among the retail firms through which the company like Oak Cash & Carry try to grab the customer’s base across the globe and strengthen their customers for long run in order to sustain in the business and run the operational activities strategically (Jones, Cope and Kintz, 2016). Hereby, strong customer’s base and satisfaction of the customers are managed through innovation and creativity which in turn helps the organisations to explore more market opportunities to secure future sustainable development. In the recent era of globalisation, the firm Oak Cash & Carry is also trying to create values for the social communities as well as aim at economic growth and social development (Curley, 2015). Innovation and creativity with technological advancement are contributing in the corporate firms in order to create values and ensure future development. Moreover, profitability and sales volume of the firm Oak Cash & Carry is also enhanced by implementing the mega trends in the organisations through which the corporate retail firms try to expand their business operational activities across the globe and improve their market share through strengthening their ling run customer’s base.

Opportunity under megatrends

Business opportunities utilisation and implementation of the mega trends of the business in the retail industry are effective for the retail firms to expand their business sustainably and gain high competitive advantage over other competitive firms across the international countries. In the recent era of globalisation, the issue of negative environmental footprint and high emission of greenhouse gas influence the entrepreneurs to identify and create new business ideas for running the business sustainably (Dentchev et al., 2016). The retail firm like Oak Cash & Carry in this regard, focuses on utilising the renewable resources for reserving the natural resources of the globe. Hereby, the implementation of solar panel and the investment on wind energy are active initiative in the recent era of globalisation to secure future sustainable development of the brand. The retail firms like Oak Cash & Carry focuses on implementing the solar panel at the rooftop of the physical stores of the firm in order to utilise the renewable resources and reserve the natural resources.

Apart from that, utilisation of the electric cars is another great initiative under the mega trend of the business, where the entrepreneurs are trying to develop green supply chain and mitigate the greenhouse emissions, so that it can serve pollution free society to the social communities as a whole. For transaction of the products and managing warehouse and stores of the companies, the entrepreneur of the Oak Cash & Carry invests on electric cars and use battery cars for reducing the greenhouse gas emissions. Additionally, investment on charitable home and educational activities in the society are other activities through which, the entrepreneurs try to improve business innovation for creating the values for all the social communities as they are the major stakeholders of the business (Zhou, 2015). In the era of smart city, people prefer to be sustainable and the above mentioned smart initiates of the retail firms are effective to maximise values for all the stakeholders, where the entrepreneurs try to provide pollution free society by ensuring green environmental footprint. Hereby, mobility and the activities of utilising renewable resources and mitigating the greenhouse gas emission are appropriate initiatives for utilising mega trends of the business.

Product differentiation is another mega trend, where the retail firm Oak Cash & Carry focuses on developing new product line after analysing the market trend and personal needs and preferences of the customers. It is necessary for the retail firm Oak Cash & Carry to provide high range of variety products to the customers among them the customers can make effective purchase decision according to their personal choice and preferences (Sigala and Kyriakidou, 2015). This is effective for retaining and attracting the customers for the new innovative products in the market. On the other hand, recently, people prefer healthy lifestyle and organic products are in high demand. Hereby, for example using organic ingredients for the food items and beverages, as well as using fresh raw vegetables and fruits and organic colours in clothing are efficient initiative through which the retail firm Oak Cash & Carry can expand their business ethically by creating values for the social communities and customers (Cruickshank, 2016.). On the other hand, the rise of middle class is another factor influencing the entrepreneurs to set affordable price which can be competitive and also help to boost the profitability of the firms. In this regard, cost minimisation strategy and managing economies of scale are effective to set lower price which can be affordable by the customers across the retail market.

Role of entrepreneurship under such megatrends

Business opportunities are said to exist when the entrepreneurs are trying to explore and identify new opportunities for the business through new product development and service innovation in a particular market. The products and services are required to be differentiated in the Oak Cash & Carry to attract the audiences and fulfil the actual needs and preferences the customers in the market. In the retail industry, the entrepreneurs aim at service innovation and managing product diversification strategy in order to improve variety of the product line and service innovation and retain the trustworthy customers for long run in the firm Oak Cash & Carry, so that it can strengthen their customer’s base and secure future sustainable development by gaining high competitive advantage (Katsikis, Lang and Debreczeny, 2016). In this regard, the entrepreneur of the Oak Cash & Carry needs to explore new market opportunities and analyse the market trend and customer’s demand for product differentiation and development of new products which can meet the needs and preferences of the customers and will maximise the customer’s satisfaction. Hereby, the entrepreneurs are playing important role in implementing the above mentioned strategies of mega trend to explore new market opportunities and run the operational activities in a unique way so that they can strengthen their customers’ base and maximise the competitive advantage.

In this regard, the problems solving skill, experience and knowledge and critical analysis skill as well as decision making skill of the entrepreneurs are important to enhance creativity and innovation, so that the retail firms can establish the business in the global retail industry in a unique way. The entrepreneurs try to describe the business activities and identify the market trend and technological advancement for new product development and service innovation to serve the customers. Critical thinking skill of the entrepreneurs further helps to create new business ideas for more innovation (Helfat and Martin, 2015). Continuous motivation and encouraging employee’s creativity as well as proper empowerment of the employees in the organisational decision making are appropriate for becoming a successful entrepreneur in the Oak Cash & Carry, where the entrepreneur is able to lead the change towards more creativity and innovation, where through technological advancement, service innovation, developing and managing new product line and organisational infrastructural development, it is easy to implement mega trends of the retail business of Oak Cash & Carry and create values for all the stakeholders in the market which in turn provides a scope to the firms to gain high competitive advantage and run the business activities sustainably.

Innovations under the megatrends

Service innovation is another important initiative, where the retail firms focus on improving customer’s service excellence to maximise their satisfaction. Online and e-commerce activities are increasing in the global retail industry, where people prefer online activities and e-commerce service for making purchase and payments of the products and services. In this regard, service innovation through developing mobile application and personalise website of the company Oak Cash & Carry are important initiative for more innovation and creativity of the retail firms, where the customers can get service 24*7 and place their order easily with one click option. This is one of the effective service innovations, where the customers feel comfortable to make their purchase decision after reviewing the availability of the organisational products and services. Digital networking, online communities and computer simulated environment will govern the retail business which enhance the organisational performance and improve interaction between the organisational representatives and the customers (Nguyen, and Hipsher, 2018). Cloud computing is another technological up gradation for mega trends which would help the business of Oak Cash & Carry to manage the customer’s data as well as manage confidentiality for securing the customer’s data and information. Additionally, management of warehouse and store through implementing ERP system and tracking the customers by GPS are also effective innovation of the retail firm like Oak Cash & Carry, where the services can be improved as it helps the suppliers and the distributors to manage their warehouse efficiently and distribute the products at right place within right time. Hereby, mega trends influence the retail firms to implement smart initiatives through technological advancement and green environmental footprint in order to establish the brand sustainably in the market and create values for all the stakeholders of the business.

Marketing mix analysis

As per the marketing mix strategic planning, the 7P marketing mix strategic planning is appropriate in this case for utilising the opportunities and mega trends in the retail business, where the company Oak Cash & Carry can establish the business in the retail industry across the country. It is a small business and it is necessary for Oak Cash & Carry to utilise the organisational resources and capabilities in order to enhance future opportunity to grab high market share in the market. In this regard, as per the 7P marketing mix strategic planning, there are 7Ps which are product, price, promotion, place, physical evidence, people and process (Frankenberger, et al., 2013). These are important to establish the business of Oak Cash & Carry in the market.

Product:

For product strategy, the company Oak Cash & Carry needs to focus on product diversification in order to maintain the product line and sere high quality products to the customers. It is necessary for the Oak Cash & Carry to promote the branding through providing quality products and services to the customers in order to satisfy them in long run. In this regard, the firm also needs to focus on managing product diversification strategy and maintain the product line with variety of products and services, so that the customers can choose their products among variety of products and services in the market.

Price:

Pricing is another important strategy for branding, where the Oak Cash & Carry needs to charge effective price that reflects the quality and quantity of the products. In this regard, in order to grab the opportunity of high market share and competitive advantage, the firm needs to deliver quality products at competitive pricing so that the customers can afford the products in the market. Additionally, in this context, premium pricing strategy is effective for the firm Oak Cash & Carry to establish the firm by setting lower price for their products in the market.

Place:

Placing is necessary for v and in this context; the company needs to strengthen their supply chain and distribution network for successful placement of the products as per customer’s requirements. Oak Cash & Carry needs to manage supply chain and stock of the products in the store where the customers can access all the products successfully.

Promotion:

For promoting the brand, it is necessary to invest on traditional and digital media marketing strategy, where the televisions advertisement is beneficial for the company to attract the audiences in the market. Moreover, opening a FaceBook page for posting the attest innovation and availability of the products is also effective for Oak Cash & Carry to promote the company in the market and gain high competitive advantage by strengthening their customer’s base. Moreover, sending personalise email and word of mouth are other effective channels of promotion through which the company can attract the audiences of their quality products and services.

Process:

For successful process, the company needs to enhance the organisational performance and promote the brand in the market, through process innovation, where the implementation of ICT and IT framework in the company as well as developing organisational own website and mobile application are beneficial to manage the customers and treat them fairly with continuous support.

Physical evidence:

It is necessary for Oak Cash & Carry to develop organisational infrastructure so that it can maintain its product stock and attract the customers in the retail market.

People:

People management is necessary for the organisation Oak Cash & Carry to retain the efficient employees in the organisation and strengthen their performance in near future. in this regard, providing them proper performance related pay, salary and bonus as well as respecting each other, giving suitable organisational culture, freedom and harmony are necessary to manage the people at the workplace and lead them towards achieving success by utilising the mega trends of the business.

STP analysis

STP analysis is effective to identify the audiences in the market and in this regard, the company focuses on proper segmentation and in this regard the economic and segmentation and segmenting the customers on the basis of their taste and preferences are appropriate (Houman Andersen, 2001). In the economic segment, the company Oak Cash & Carry targets the middle and high class customers, where the chance of purchasing the products in the retail market is high. Additionally, the company Oak Cash & Carry targets the audiences where the customers prefer the latest products and choose latest innovation. In this regard, utilising the mega trends in the business are appropriate for Oak Cash & Carry to target the customers in the market. In this regard, the organisation also focuses on positioning by developing the store of the company in the market so that the physical presence of the brand can attract the audiences in the market. Apart from that, the firm needs to develop the mobile application where the customers can place their orders and also the company should develop own organisational web page for attracting the audiences and positioning the company successfully.

Porter’s five forces

As per Porter’s five forces analysis, there are five forces, which are competitive rivalry in the market, threats of new entrants, threats of substitute products, bargaining power of the buyers and bargaining power of the suppliers (Avramenko, 2012). For the company Oak Cash & Carry, there are high threats of competitors due to high numbers of competitive firms operating in the market. in addition to this, the threats of new entrant is moderate, as the company Oak Cash & Carry is also small and medium sized firm and it is possible for the new entrants to enter into the market were Oak Cash & Carry does not have strong market share. The bargaining powers of the suppliers and the customers are low as the firm is small and medium sized and the suppliers do not have the chance to bargain for better payment. The threats of substitute products is high, as in the retail markets, there is string availability of the retail products due to high numbers of competitive firms, operating in the market.

GE matrix

As per the GE matrix, the company Oak Cash & Carry can utilise own strengths for better performance and grab the industry opportunities so that it can serve the customers in a better way. In this regard, the company Oak Cash & Carry hereby focuses on financial strength, locality and retail market growth as well as manage product diversity for expanding the business in the market. Additionally the firm also ties to invest more for creating safe environment and achieve future market growth (Day, 2011). In this regard proper investment in marketing and process innovation as well as enhance the performance of the firm in the market to attract the audiences and achieve future success.

BCG matrix

As per BCG matrix, the firm Oak Cash & Carry focuses on star for ensuring high market share and market growth which can be possible to achieve through the mega trends. Oak Cash & Carry aim at gaining high market share by establishing the business successfully and in this regard, the company develops the strategic planning of managing product diversification and premium pricing to attract the audiences in the market as well as enhance process innovation for better performance. It in turn provides a scope to grab the market opportunity and gain high market share.

PESTLE

As per PESTLE analysis, there are different factors such as political, social, economic, technological, legal and environmental which contribute in the business where it is possible to restructure the business activities for better performance (Constantinides, 2006). Political stability in the UK and support from the government in investing in the SMEs are effective for Oak Cash & Carry to run their business and expand the business sustainably. economic growth and high GDP further contribute positively in Oak Cash & Carry to grab the market share and apart from that, society is developed well across the UK, where the customers prefer quality products at affordable price and in this regard the activities of Oak Cash & Carry are favourable to attract the audiences in the market and strengthen their customers base, technological advancement through the mega trends as well as environmental initiatives such as using electric cars for reducing greenhouse gas emission, utilising solar panel for using renewable resources are effective for Oak Cash & Carry to sustain in the business and gain competitive advantage.

Conclusion

Mega trends of the business provides an opportunity to all the corporate firms to run the business activities in an efficient way, where innovation and creativity are effective for improving new products line and service innovation in the retail industry, where the companies can establish the brand in the market in a unique way, where the stakeholder’s values can be maximised by more innovation and continuous creativity.

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