Essay Sample on Customization and User Involvement in Innovation

A critical milestone in any business venture or company

Innovation is a very critical milestone in any business venture or company. Any business or organization to strive well must be flexible enough to create and implement new ideas so as to function efficiently, develop strategically and be par with others. Being creative and innovative is what gives the technical background of coming up with novel and new ideas. As most companies are reported to be undergoing crisis currently, most of them need sustainable transformation through impressing new technologies for their future prosperity. Meeting customer's perceived needs is a paramount element in any given company. It calls for a need to employ customization and user involvement in the promotion of innovations which ultimately will lead to meeting the customer's needs. It is because the most valuable asset of the company are customers (Della et al 2005). Therefore, it is the mandate of the enterprise to ensure that it meets its customers needs by allowing and accepting their participation in the innovation, and in policy making processes. This paper gives out a detailed explanation as to why customization and user involvement should be essential in the nowadays change trends and how the perceived needs of the customers will get met with companies such as Lego Mindstorm and Nintendo WII.

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Customization helps in the development of the capabilities that have been set by a corporation. With time it will have to promote and supplement the already existing business to very high levels. For instance, Nintendo WII Company allowing its customers to submit views concerning what they want especially based on everyday electronics and software items that it produces, the company can conceptualize the things that the customers prefer and value most. It an overview and a pathway to market the items publicly because already they are aware of what the customers require. When a company identifies its customer's personal needs, it will be in a position to determine and delineate what to provide in the market, and what they are not supposed to offer (Dellar et al 2005). A company ought to collect data from its potential customers and through the analyzation of the results they are capable of discerning the customer's preferences. With this in mind, they are in a position to come up with refined solution spaces and also explore their potentials and eliminate their shortcomings thus adamant growth and generation new of ideas.

Individual involvement

Customization also enables a company to come up with robust design processes, which helps in the Reutilization and recombination of the already existing knowledge leading to the creation of new products, items and also new means of comparing their customers' attention and devise better ways to ensure they don't lose their customers. Customization is known to reduce paradox of choices (Hueba 2004) which refers to having overwhelming options which will lead to wastage of too much time and resources that may result in reduced or losses in a company. Mass customization also serves as a very powerful tool in the competition of the enterprise with others.

User involvement critically evaluates and assess creative ideas and give the recommendation to denounce or embrace them. When different users are involved in an organization in decision making, they may bring about innovation in the following ways. They give a range of choices of preferences and tastes which represents the needs of the whole community externally at large. They give out malt-channelled solutions to the existing problems. Some will provide genuine support regarding new ideas, and others offer moral and ethical supports that may improve the reputation of the company. With all this put taking place, the company will be in a position to deliver new and quality products hence remaining at the top of the brink (Feldmann and Rupert 2012).

Through user involvement, a company can design new approaches based on the products they supply (Hippel, 2001). For example, a company like Lego Mindstorm Company will be in a position to come up with the best-designed products as a result of the advice they may obtain from the people involved in the operation of the company. Individual involvement may also trigger a company to use the information provided in evaluating, setting alternatives and priorities which may steam up innovations in the process.

Feasibility reports

The information collected from the customers serves as essential items used in the decision marking of the new company (Franke, and Piller, 2004). A company can come up with feasibility reports based on the information obtained and in the process new skills are developed to promote the company's innovative abilities. The goals and the objectives of a company also usually relays on the users of the products from the enterprise. Without customization and user involvement, a company might not be in a position to understand how their products are rated and what the customers' preferences based on the products (Lewis 2000). Lack of new knowledge may lead to the downfall of the given company or its total collapse. The two processes provide pertinent information about the trends and approaches that the business ought to implement (Franke and Von Hippel, 2003).

In conclusion, it should be well understood that innovations and creativity will far much be capacitated and reinforced to higher standards if customization and user involvement gets the first priority by any given company. Lack of this may make a business stagnant in the process of innovations.

Bibliography

Dellar, H., Walkley, A. and Hocking, D. (2005). Innovations. 1st ed. London: Thomson.

Feldmann, D. and Rupert, T. (2012). Advances in accounting education. 1st ed. Bingley, U.K.: Emerald.

Franke, N. and Piller, F., 2004. Value creation by toolkits for user innovation and design: The case of the watch market.T Journal of product innovation management,T 21(6), pp.401-415.

Franke, N. and Von Hippel, E., 2003. Satisfying heterogeneous user needs via innovation toolkits: the case of Apache security software.T Research policy,T 32(7), pp.1199-1215.

Hippel, E., 2001. User toolkits for innovation.T Journal of product innovation management,T 18(4), pp.247-257.