Center of Excellence
Uploaded by CaseyP on Oct 04, 2016
Center of Excellence
Introduction
Innovation is the most vital element in any business venture. With the ever growing business rivalries, companies have been forced to rely on creative aspects to maintain their competitiveness. In that regard, companies invest substantial amounts in the Research and Development (R&D) docket to ascertain the available opportunities. However, some frequently stagnate due to the lack of sufficient grounds to expand. Others just fear failure. Some entrepreneurs are afraid to venture in novel projects owing to the intricacy involved. Whereas, others are always willing to try something new. Nestle is one such company that was established from novel opportunities. Presently, it is the largest food company across the globe as determined by its revenues.
Back in 2014, it was ranked number 72 out of 500 on the Fortune Global. It has a wide variety of products including; bottled water, frozen food, snacks, pet foods, ice cream, baby food, breakfast cereals, dairy products, confectionery, coffee, and tea among others. The company is a practical example of how simple innovation can lead to greater things. Based in Switzerland, the company began with the creation of powder that mixed in with milk to help mothers who could not breastfeed their infants (Monk, 2016). Another aspect related to innovation is the target market. In other words, once the innovator realized some mothers could not breastfeed their children, a solution was developed to alleviate the issue (Monk, 2016). In that regard, innovation is more effective when it targets a particular issue. Such was the exactness of the innovation that resulted to the current expansions in chocolate, coffee and so on (Nestle, 2016).
A standard feature in big brands is the ability to monitor the “weak signals.” These are untapped ideas that probably have not hit the market. They can be common in one state yet not popular in another (Monk, 2016). In that respect, companies must have the ability to monitor the ideas and join them together to form a working product or service for the consumers. The companies listen to the trends through platforms such as social media and figure out how improvements can be made. In that regard, consumer insight is one of the key elements of innovation. Relationships are also critical when it comes to innovation.
As exemplified at the center of excellence, the marketing and R&D team must have an idea of how a particular product will impact on the...