Introduction
Many businesses understand the need for creativity and innovation of new ideas and concepts in their operations. The organizational managers link the innovativeness with consumption and employee satisfaction hence translating to the business’ success. Innovation is creating new ideas that reduce commotion and trouble within an organization and improve productivity. Therefore, employees must be interested in bringing new ideas on board and play their role in ensuring that the product or service they offer is of better quality than what they previously sold. Organizational management must also allow their employees to prove themselves by giving them room to make decisions and create new concepts. Businesses thus gain new quality goods that increase consumer satisfaction. The employees gain contentment too and always avail themselves to promote a healthy environment. This report analyzes a business idea from an innovation consultant on how a business may offer cleaning services to generate income.
Job Description of a Consultant in Innovation Management
A consultant in innovation management plays various roles in ensuring that the business succeeds in creating reliable and practical ideas. First, the consultant helps firms to reveal and fix broken processes. Companies need to analyze their previous actions that have contributed to their current situations. In reviewing earlier actions with the aid of a consultant, the management may identify the areas where they went wrong in the implementation of the past processes (Rogiers, De Stobbleir, and Viaene, 2021). The consultant then helps them draft a conclusive way to deal with the problem and fix the business’ progress. A consultant has to evaluate past business activities that might have prompted the need for new ideas and concepts.
Another function of a consultant is to provide fresh perspectives on how a company or individual may run an activity. Firms may approach the consultants for different reasons: to review their current states and offer other ideas to approach the matters. A fresh perspective may be a new approach to the same idea. The consultant advises businesses on the best way to approach existing ideas by coming up with activities that lead to a higher success rate. Though many companies identify the need for innovation in their operation, only a few of them effectively implement the ideas brought up by the employees. An innovation consultant’s role is to help the business to view the creatives in a different dimension that helps them grow and succeed in fulfilling their objectives.
Additionally, a consultant clarifies the client’s vision and makes every participant understand their role in fulfilling the dream. The consultant finds all the facts and objectives of the client and analyzes them to understand all parties better. The consultant ensures that every individual understands their role in the prosperity of the vision. Consultants classify areas in the vision that need much attention and outline them to the client (Rogiers, De Stobbleir, and Viaene, 2021). They must critically evaluate all the outcomes that the client might obtain from their vision. If the idea is challenging to clarify, the consultant helps the client create a well-defined vision and mission statement that act as their guide while operating. Defining the client’s vision helps them understand their duties and execute incredible planning skills. Prior planning and understanding the concept are crucial for every business seeking prosperity.
Identifying new growth strategies is another critical function of the consultant officer. If the current business plans do not meet its objectives, then the management mandates the innovation consultant to create new strategies to aid in the firm’s growth. Every business aims at extending its operations to serve a broad audience. The consultant identifies new techniques that the company may apply in its operations to attract a huge customer base. They utilize all the available resources to create a progressive business approach that will fulfill the business’ mission and vision in the long run. Business prosperity is vital for investors since it helps them evaluate how much the company is willing to go. The business strategy is an indicator of how the business is likely to operate. Thus, the management must obligate the consultant to identify an effective plan to attract more investors and customers to participate in its operations.
Innovation consultants support and develop their client’s team. The consultant is responsible for ensuring that every individual within their client’s team is intact with the innovation. They must convince everyone to participate actively in contributing ideas and embracing the new approach. Every participant must feel that other teammates appreciate their contribution even if they do not get accepted (Cruz, 2022). Teamwork is critical for businesses since it indicates the value of one’s ideas and encourages the team to be proactive in defining the organizational goals and concepts. The consultant must identify the weak people in the group and motivate them to gain confidence in themselves and create ideas that will help the entire team prosper. A consultant should promote cohesion within the team and support the members in dealing with personal issues that might hinder their effective involvement in the team’s decision-making. Promoting teamwork gives the group a sense of unity, and each of them understands their role in obtaining the mission.
The consultant must uncover opportunities to build a new business. The consultant can identify a gap in a market and remember all the critical aspects that a new player in the market needs to conduct to meet their obligations. A consultancy position enables the withholder to objectize the existing business opportunities requiring completion. The consultant is a problem solver because they identify solutions to the current complications. The consultant provides alternatives for business plans that are on the verge of failing and promote the accommodation of new prospective ideas that facilitate the extension of the businesses. It might be difficult for companies to identify new opportunities dues to the existing pressure. However, the innovation consultancy position aids in identifying the existing business loopholes that require to be filled. Both small scales, medium-sized and large businesses need consultants’ advice related to how they may extend their operations to meet new business ideas.
Finally, another duty of the consultant is to identify new product prototypes and testing that may do well in the market. Companies, especially those in the manufacturing sectors, need advice from innovation consultants on new prototypes that they may produce. Innovation consultants formulate new models for the current products that are likely to help the business relationships with new customers (Rogiers, De Stobbleir, and Viaene, 2021). Having different prototypes gives the organization a wide variety of goods hence maintaining customers for the various interests. The main goal for many businesses is to make profits. Therefore, these businesses have to support all kinds of customers by increasing their range of products. Increasing the number of types of products gives the company a competitive advantage over rivals. Competitive advantage helps the brand build its image and preserve customers.
Innovation Models
Various innovation models provide a detailed framework to identify and implement ideas. The innovation models help the consultant to identify different skills that a business may apply to make its operations successful. Consultants use the models to create sustainable experiences for companies and promote their prosperity through these models. Moreover, the innovation models help divide labor and assign duties to oversee the business meeting its objectives. The consultant uses the models to guide the managers in decision-making regarding the business’ (Cruz, 2022). Firms also use the models to analyze and rate their performance in the market. The decision on whether the firm has met its objectives is based on the models. If the models indicate, the business is adhering to the protocols set initially at the beginning of the period. Some of the innovation models involved in the innovation process include the black box, linear, interactive, system, evolutionary, and innovation milieu models.
Black Box Model
The black box model is the first generation of innovation models and helps provide critical information for the innovators. The black box implies a model that offers valuable information for the researcher without giving its internal communication. Consultants use the black-box model to identify insightful data. The black box in business could be other organizations that provide ideas without generally indicating their fundamental operations. The consultant’s responsibility is to read through the lines and detect possible business opportunities that firms may run. The consultant identifies the options from the information that the firm gives.
Linear Model
This is the second generation of the innovation models that provide data that consultants may convert into excellent business ideas. It is based on the belief that innovation is a scientific field. Therefore, the consultant conducts research and recommends a specific model that other peers may follow. Many consultants use this model to identify market opportunities. The model is helpful for businesses since it provides information that has existed before to obtain new ideas. However, the model faces criticism since many proposals lack references on where the information provided has been received.
Interactive Model
The interactive model is a third-generation model that relates innovation with the organizational structure, technological approach, and other environmental factors. The model implies that the invention within an organization should be based on closely related factors. A business has to identify its strengths or weaknesses from which it takes a course of action to correct or applaud the main identify points. The internal and external environment of an existing business is the main areas that the consultant looks at to recognize the new ideas. An innovation consultant may locate a business opportunity by evaluating the existing business’s conditions. The interactive model is helpful in companies since it helps them identify the current market conditions while seeking new ideas. It thus saves on the cost of employing company evaluating agents and consultants separately.
System Model
The system model evaluates the interaction between different processes in the business. The relationship between these activities helps the firms assess possible opportunities where various activities appear simultaneously to compute an everyday item that is sellable to the population. The system model may propose combining two products in specific ratios to add a common good that the business may sell. Many existing companies use the system model to identify new ideas that they may embrace in their operations to promote their sales.
Evolutionary Model
The evolution model of innovation proposes the evolution of the current processes, systems, and structures to better ones. The changes may involve altering the entire project and creating a new one with similar functions to the old ones but more improvised characteristics, including technological upgrades. The idea is to improve the quality of their products and allow customers to obtain better servicing items. The model applies in many industries, such as processing and manufacturing firms. Businesses engage in more operations proactively and build products that will retain current customers while attracting new ones and granting them a competitive advantage.
Innovation Milieu Model
This is the sixth generation of the innovation models and focuses on using the relationship between private and public institutions. The relationship between these institutions may be a source of ideas that help the business proceed with its operations.
The New Business Idea
The new business idea revolves around providing cleaning services in homesteads and other institutions that may need cleaning. The business involves dusting, cleaning, and polishing the client’s furniture. Some items that require the services are floors, carpets, roofs, and other furniture within the client’s premises. The business is an excellent idea since many households and business premises need cleaning. It has a vast market and few competitors that are easy to deal with, and since it, there is a strategy to give the new firm a competitive advantage over them. Cleaning is a business that has a broad market since households continue emerging hence enlarging the investment opportunity. Additionally, the company has few legal procedures that the interested investor may approach without constraints. The proposed business has the following requirements:
Legalities
These are the legal conditions that the business must conduct before engaging in business operations. The firm must meet the requirements to gain permission to operate as a cleaning agent. First, the business must be registered with the government by the owner to facilitate easy coping with the markets. The registration process is not long, and the investor may register the business as either a sole proprietorship or a Limited Liability Company (L.L.C.). A sole proprietorship is when the business is owned by one individual who provides all the finances the firm requires to meet the expenses. Conversely, the limited liability company is owned by a group of people that offer all the necessities of running the business. The cleaning business may be owned by one individual or several hence the need to register it as recommended by law to avoid any problems that may arise due to misunderstandings within the business’ management in case one arises.
After registration, the business must also pay for the licensing that the local or national government awards. The licensing regulates the number of new companies joining the market and helps businesses remain firm in their operations without shifting to other functions that they are not authorized to conduct. The license, in addition, acts as evidence for permission from the government to run the operations. The registration and licensing process may require $40-$60 and $75-$425 based on the nature of the business.
The company must pick insurance policies that protect itself and the entire staff from any hazardous activity that may arise during its operation. Insurance is critical for the business since it restores the initial condition of the work before tragedy or facilitates the easy recovery from the adversities brought by the company. All companies need to have an insurance policy. The insurance policy in this business should cover against theft of cleaning materials and the life of the employees in case something wrong occurs while they are in the line of duty. The insurance for a starting company is mainly the general liability coverage and the workers’ compensation insurance that consume an insurance premium of $550-$3500. The insurance policy is a must-have for the business before its operations begin. The total cost of the legalities, assuming that each of them consumes the average of the range, is:
Equipment
These are the items that help the employees within the organization to conduct their operations. A cleaning service company cannot work without some essential things. These items include a mop, broom, cleaning bucket, feather duster, vacuum cleaners, glass/window cleaner, furniture polish, bleach, disinfectant, washing up liquid, paper towels/wipes, garbage bags, gloves, sponges, and a lint roller. These materials are critical for the business to run smoothly and build a brand image. The presence of these materials aid in protecting the brand image such that the initial customers may recommend the firm to others needing similar services. Facilities help the employees do their work comfortably and eliminate the pressure to prevent other unprofessional products from destroying the customer’s property, hence time-saving and problem-solving. These items may consume an average cost of $375. The business will need a van, too, to help in the day-to-day movement of the cleaning materials; hence the budget totals $8375, assuming the truck costs $8000.
Labor
A business requires people to run it and manage the resources available. The number of employees in an organization should be based on the amount of work available and the organization’s size. The cleaning service idea is approachable in different ways. Initially, due to the lack of awareness of the business and lack of many customers, the company may have a few employees running all the activities, managing and operating the firm’s duties. However, with time, as the business expands, the number of employees may increase to deal with the customers (Cruz, 2022). Effective service delivery is essential for most companies since it boosts income. Employees also require regular training sessions to expand their knowledge about their working environment and how they should handle customers’ property to avoid losses and enhance effectiveness during the cleaning process. The cost of labor is dependent on the amount of work available hence challenging to estimate in the beginning.
Marketing
The business may apply some marketing strategies to advertise its operations and increase awareness of its existence to the customers. The advertisement may be through social media platforms or electronic media. The cost of advertising will vary depending on the means the company uses to promote itself.
Budget for the Proposed Business Idea
The Source of the Idea
The business idea elaborated above originates from thorough research where the information used is obtainable from other existing firms on the requirements for the initiation of a cleaning service business. The same report retrieved from other similar companies concludes a financial analysis statement that indicates the most repetitive expenses that the similar incurred companies during their first financial year. The information is thus reliable and guides the essential elements that must be present during the project’s initiation.
Innovation Theories and Models Used in the Invention of the Idea
Some of the innovation theories identified during the computation of this idea are the diffusion of innovation theory and Schumpeter’s theory. The distribution of innovation theory implies that ideas may flow from one person to another through communication (Min, So, and Jeong, 2019). As people share information, one may obtain a strong idea that helps in the innovation of a new product. The diffusion of innovation concept details the different ways people can retrieve helpful information from the details shared by other parties. The communication channel is essential for the flow of clear information for accurate decision-making. The theory suggests that people are a social system and share extensive ideas as they interact among themselves. Some of the data is too personal that it requires a unique understanding to be influential. The way people perceive the information varies from one person to another, as the theory suggests.
Conversely, the Schumpeter theory of innovation suggests that every innovation in a business is profit-oriented. The demand for higher profits by firms pushes them to identify new innovative strategies that would increase the profit margin. This theory has been applied in the innovation above to create a business whose primary function is to make profits while satisfying consumers’ needs for a clean and conducive environment for living or working (Cruz, 2022). The Schumpeter theory of innovation implies that businesses come up with new models to make more profits by charging higher than the prices of the precious commodities. This model has been influential in many existing and upcoming businesses since they identify the importance of profits in their progress.
The Management of the Idea
The idea of offering cleaning services is approachable in many dimensions. First, the management may decide to turn various marketing strategies to create awareness about the company’s existence in the market. The advertisement appeals to those with homesteads, businesses, or furniture and fittings that require cleaning to communicate with the business’ communication department and ensure that they make bookings for the services. The company will thus gain customers to start its operations. The implementation process of the campaigns should be through platforms that are cheap and affordable for the business. Seeking cheap communication media helps the industry control expenses, hence regulating costs. Cost control tactics are vital for the business since they help increase the profit margin. The company may, in addition, control the costs by incorporating waste management practices in its operation. The most common resource that a cleaning service company may find critical to recycle is water. The company must avoid leaving the water running or engaging in any other activity that does not promote resource management.
Another style to manage the idea is ensuring an ethical articulation of the assigned duties. The employees must understand the customer’s conditions when giving them work. This creates a conducive working environment and ensures that the customer is satisfied with the job done. The idea suggests that the management be present too in the working environment to support the workers and guide them in meeting the customers’ requirements. The business idea allows workers to make decisions on their own depending on the prevailing conditions to protect the firm’s reputation and satisfy the consumer. The cleaning process must not damage the customer’s property since it might ruin the long striving reputation and create commotion during work. Being ethical in the performance of the duties requires the company to use the correct cleaning materials such as detergents to avoid destroying the consumer’s items.
Another way of managing the idea is by protecting it with regulators to prevent other people from using it before the inventor. Owning the patent rights eliminates other rivaling companies that may emerge with similar ideas hence destroying the market for the innovators. The innovator must also keep detailed records concerning the concept, such as financial statements and tables that provide information regarding the business. Proper record-keeping aids in the protection of data and eases the accessibility process. Upcoming businesses should adequately keep all the relevant information since it may assist in future decision-making processes. Managing the idea enhances sustainability in the industry and creates reliability.
Competitors and Potential Markets for the Idea
The cleaning service business idea attracts a broad market base from most households, government and non-governmental institutions, and offices globally that require cleaning of their furniture, property like carpets, roofs, and walls, among others. There is a significant market opportunity since the current cleaning service renderer like Professional Clean Care ltd, Hurricane Cleaning Services, Candy & Candy Cleaning Services ltd, and others cannot fully satisfy. These companies are the competing agents for the business idea.
How to Commercialize the Idea
Understanding the Idea
This is the initial process of commercializing a business idea or an innovation. The business should identify its prospective customers and know their main problem. The business idea should seek to solve the situation in the market. For instance, the cleaning service business idea identified its most customers to be domestic and commercial organizations. The domestic organization refers to households, whereas the commercial one relates to the offices and other public and private institutions. These institutions possess furniture and fittings that often need cleaning and renovation. The business idea seeks to help these organizations to solve these problems at a specific cost for each service that they receive.
Run a Divergent Innovation Session
The business assigns different people within it the responsibility of coming up with a problem-solving idea. Giving the role to other people raises extraordinary measures that the company may employ to solve the issue. For example, the business may issue the concept of solving the problem of having dirty materials within a household or a company.
Hold a Convergent Innovation Session
At this stage, the company holds a meeting with all the participants in the divergent innovation session and shares the proposed ideas with them. The participants then select the most innovative proposal and provide other ways that the bid may be implemented to get the best results.
Build a Work-Like Prototype
The process involves developing a mentality within the society to indicate that the problem has a solution. It consists in providing the organization with possible solutions to the existing issues.
Create a Looks-Like Prototype
In this process, the business uses designers and other parties like advertisement channels to paint an image of the solution to the problem by praising it in all manners possible (Gbadegeshin, 2019). The process develops anxiety in potential customers undergoing similar issues and encourages them to join the team by seeking help.
Combine a Full Prototype
At this stage, the business combines the impacts created in the fourth and fifth stages to understand the market’s desire. Conceptualizing the feedback from the two steps into a common agenda helps the business to structure its operations and examine the impact of its emergence in the market hence promoting its success.
Start Calling
The business extends its operation size and evaluates its success in the operation. This process is critical for the idea since it elaborates on the areas that the company needs to work on to correct the complications in the service delivery process in the long run (Gbadegeshin, 2019). The process helps the business to identify the problems it is likely to face in the delivery process of the solution.
Conduct a Soft Launch
Researchers advise businesses to implement their programs in a particular small market segment before reaching out to the larger market. This process acts as the final test for the prices, effectiveness, and other vital aspects of every enterprise in existence. The small market segment helps to rate the customers’ satisfaction and reaction before joining the larger market.
Conclusion
The business idea above involves offering cleaning services to various institutions in society. Some of the products that the business may clean include carpets, walls, roofs, cars, furniture, and other fittings. The implementation and commercialization processes are implementable through various stages that seek to reveal essential information critical for the business’ prosperity. The innovation process is guided by multiple theories and models that provide valuable information to the innovator. Furthermore, the report provides a financial analysis of the proposed cleaning service business idea and evaluates specific mandates of the consultant during the innovation process.
References List
Cruz, I.S.O.Q.D. (2022) ‘How to not kill creativity: A look through an innovation consultant’s culture (Doctoral dissertation)’. Web.
Gbadegeshin, S.A. (2019) ‘The effect of digitalization on the commercialization process of high-Technology companies in the life sciences industry’, Technology Innovation Management Review, 9(1).
Min, S., So, K.K.F. and Jeong, M. (2019) ‘Consumer adoption of the Uber mobile application: Insights from the diffusion of innovation theory and technology acceptance model’, Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 36(7), pp.770-783.
Rogiers, P., De Stobbeleir, K. and Viaene, S. (2021) ‘Stretch yourself: Benefits and burdens of job crafting that goes beyond the job’, Academy of Management Discoveries, 7(3), pp.367-380.