Notes on Ei

Study Guide for Chapter 1 of Exploring Innovation – Introduction By Team 1 of G27 Members: Lee Qian Yi, Mai, Sharon, Alicia Poon, Terence Tan Learning objectives: 1. Appreciate the importance of innovation for business and the national economy 2. Understand the nature of innovation and able to distinguish between invention and innovation 3i. Describe the activities associated with innovation 3ii. Appreciate the part business models play in innovation 4. Understand the link between innovation and diffusion Note: The words in blue are our group’s examples and the underline parts are the important keywords

1. Importance of innovation: 1.1 Innovation is important for business for the following reasons: * It allows them to respond to social/global trends and competitions via the processes of differentiation. Social trends are always in a constant course of change due to our drive for development and the ever-zealous competitions between multinational corporations. As such, this conveyor belt of responses to social trends allows for differentiation because it encourages varying companies to come up with unique selling points of their own. * In doing so, businesses benefit from innovation as consumer’s demands are constantly being met while satisfied customers in turn are willing to pay for an assured value of their purchase every time a new innovation is being announced. This form of value proposition signifies the importance of innovation to businesses because not only profits are to be gained from improvements to existing products or from radical innovations. * Businesses are essentially expanding their pool of consumers by further satisfying their needs and demands. This in turn provides for a steady stream of profits for the businesses. * Innovation can also assist businesses in cutting down production costs on the whole. For example, Toyota’s manufacturing lines are