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Innovation is defined as the process by which an idea or
invention is translated into goods or services for the benefit of the
consumers and replicable at an economical cost. In the business
scenario, innovation is the result of application of technical ideas to
decrease the gaps between expectation of the customers and the
performance of the enterprise. In a social level, this relates to
devising collaborative methods, alliances, joint ventures leading to
increase in the buyer’s purchasing power.

Innovation products is a combination of information,
imagination and intuitive thinking along with a number of processes
making it different from the resource. Innovative products can either be
a new product or an improvement made on an existing one, by using new
components or materials . Nevertheless, it is based on ideas that are
captured from various sources.

Further, today’s aggressively
competitive market, challenges for every enterprise to gain maximum
market value. To meet this challenge, enterprises take up initiatives
such as branding, advertisement, social media marketing to promoting
‘out of box’ thinking, strategies for innovative product development and
idea management techniques. Such initiatives may lead to development of
products that can handle environmental issues, energy conservation or
even bring about simple changes to make a product or service more
comfortable and competitive.

To generate profitable growth of
the enterprise and improve the consumer structure, Billerud- the Swedish
packaging designer came up with an innovation product ‘Fiberform’ a
by-product of petroleum that helped in reducing the consumption of
plastics. ‘Fiberform’- a biodegradable and recyclable packaging material
took plastic out of all products; from food to cosmetics. Made of
renewable, fossil-free raw material, this innovative product confirmed a
reduction in carbon emissions in production by 39%, paving way for
increased market share for ‘Fibreform’ as a climate smart packaging
solutions. This initiative contributed to the company’s profitability,
while at the same time benefiting the global climate.

With 72 manufacturing and technology research centers and 73,000
employees, Whirlpool Corporation promoted the concept of designing
innovation products and redesigning business processes by building an
idea management system to capture ideas from its employees. This not
only changed the culture of the company but also brought out products
such as the revolutionary ‘Smartcook’ pizza oven, that can cook a pizza
in less than one and half minutes, the Duet� Steam laundry pair that
helps to save enough water in a normal wash cycle to fill a 16′ x 20′ x
6′ swimming pool over the course of a year or the Fabric Freshener which
uses only nine ounces of water and 10 cents of electricity per cycle
and removes odors from clothing while relaxing wrinkles without using
chemicals or detergents.

All these innovation products helped
the company attract large number of consumers and generated more than
$2.5 billion of worldwide revenue. This also gave Whirlpool a
competitive advantage and the generation of a robust innovation pipeline
of about $20 billion. Innovative products are the result of bringing
together a diverse group with a common goal and applied processes with
the right combination of tools and techniques.

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