Amita Project Case

This is the first case study report for the course ED5317: Strategies for Managing Innovation that is based on the Harvard Business School case titled ‘Design Thinking and Innovation at Apple’. The report consists of the following question:

Shared leadership is optimal during the initial stage of product development life cycle, but leadership evolves to focus on key individuals whose leadership stands out as the team evolves. Team leadership approach is important in problem-solving (including conflicts) as the leader decides what to do and how to do it. In the creation of innovative products, knowledge management within the organization, information processing, and technology transfer collaboration with a research institution would be helpful. In addition, as the product being developed is related to the well-being of humanity, ethics is important and the team leader and members need to consider the impact of their design on the safety and the human ways of

In this case, the innovation and product development teams work as one from the early stages of discussing the supplement concept, the nature of demand of Airborne Supplements, how we can benefit our customers by producing them, to getting them on the shelves of our retailers.

Sales Force- have the knowledge and information about the organizations customers’ needs now an in the future needed to forecast sales revenue.

Production development team primarily responsible for bringing new ideas, innovation and improve products to keep up with evolving technology and

Teams include a sales person, product engineering specialist, and customer service representatives. These specialist teams would not have been possible without the support of a

The most critical role any member of top management must fulfill in the integration of previously ad hoc, highly innovative teams is that of change management champion. Senior management in this situation must create a highly unique, differentiated and well supported segment of the business structure that will enable the innovation happening in the ad hoc team to continually flourish and improve (Bejestani, 2011). The role of the entire senior management team is to create a culture that strives for accountability to the project management level of the business while also creating a culture that allows for innovation to flourish (Killen, Hunt, 2013). This is exceptionally difficult to do well and often the project management teams will be placed under a

Euchner’s main concern is whether Stamp Expression was the right product to promote to market. Based on analysis below, it is found that Amita project has several pitfalls which led to the slow initial sales and possible failure in growing this product. It would be better if Pitney Bowes uses acquisition to grow the small business segment.

Our organizational structure promotes a direct relationship with customers. There are no middlemen or resellers - we provide maximum value to the customer by delivering the right products with the right features and functions just when they’re needed.

of the possibilities of an idea. When working on the quality of a product, it must be a team

Also, R&D team has the responsibility to find innovative and more customer and user friendly marketing platforms and tools in order to improve the sales and contribute to the brand equity of

The study presented in this paper was made with the purpose of investigating how organizational and product-related factors encourage or hinder creativity and innovation in a PD project team. 2. Theoretical framework Although, innovation has been widely discussed and still attracts extensive research efforts, there is limited knowledge of how internal (organizational) and external factors affect innovation in product development teams. In order to facilitate and enable these identified factors for innovation projects are also highly dependent on the execution of leadership. Creativity is an important dimension of innovation and of particular interest when studying the interactions between people in product development and their work. Creativity is the start of innovation because creativity encompasses the creation of new ideas, with the implementation of these ideas being a part of innovation [4]. The following theoretical framework presents important factors to consider when analyzing innovation at a project team level. 2.1. The innovative organization Strengthening the capacity for innovation in PD organizations has been a focus of research and could be summarized in 10 factors [5]. Effective innovation has to be based on a clear and firm customer focus. Companies must possess a will to innovate backed by vision and leadership consistent with a focus on explorative thinking in both products

Zhong, Neeley and Zhao talks in an article about how to properly manage marketing and R&D integration in new product development processes. They say that the higher the quality of the relationship between marketing and R&D is, the higher the quality and quantity of information will be between these two. This means that the quality of relationship between these two departments are of importance. There are factors which contribute to this, such as trying to have a give-and-take relationship where both departments feel they are on an equal and have the confidence to challenge the other team in discussions. Another characteristic was that there was a joint involvement in the early stages of new product

Product Manager must be able to coordinate with sales personnel, think creatively and laterally, focus on the overall objectives of the company, and interact with different corporate areas. The growing complexity of building brands demands that Product Manager must be increasingly versatile and keep up to date with various developments. Product Manager will also be responsible for obtaining Senior Management approval and funding for proposed strategies and plans.

The author of this case study aims to help the company to come up with a good plan and proposal for the said product with the gathered information from the company.