Introduction
Managing and organizing the innovation is the need of modern organizations. At different competitive industries, the management is looking to streamline the main ideas to enhance the visibility of innovation and differentiate the outputs. It seems mandatory to gain and sustain the sustainable competitive advantage. The innovation accelerates business growth. This critical essay revolves around some innovative concepts and several initiatives, which have been taken by the firm. The impact of innovation is positive. Several types of innovations open new ways for the organization to take a competitive advantage and grow in the competitive landscape.
Strategic Summary of Threadless
Threadless is an online organization or community in the United States of America. This company was founded by Jake Nickell and Jacob DeHart in 2000. The main products of the company are apparel and print designs. It is an online community of artists. These artists make the design (1000 each week) for the site. After the voting process, the top ten preferred designs are to be selected to use on clothes and many other products. After printing the design, the form sells through its online stores.
Target customers of this company are men and women who like the creative design of their clothes. Teenagers and young adults are the main target customers of the organization. The age range of target customers is 15 to 40. The customers are becoming creators of their clothes, and it seems the new change (Zotto et al., 2018).
The firm has created value through the differentiation process. For Instance, the company is streamlining some creative designs through different innovative techniques. Customers are wearing clothes differently. It can be said that creative designs have to change the customer experience, and it seems great value.
The consistency in the creative design and differentiation process has helped the company gain competitive advantage over other fashion retailers. Combining the efforts of designers or artists and the use of the voting system is a remarkable approach to provide options to customers. Thus, the different type of operations has led towards the competitive advantage.
Innovative in the Marketplace
This company has initiated innovation in the competitive market through the democratic approach. The term democratic innovation comes into life, which can be observed in business operations. Designers or artists are free to share their designs and ideas. However, the firm started the innovation through streamlining the business model innovation. For Instance, Threadless has reinvented the business process, which is quite different as compared to other fashion retailers. Millions of designs or artworks have been transferred to online strangers, and it is not a normal thing (Vasiliu & Cercel, 2015). The online platform of the company has been shaped to implement consumer-focused strategies. Threadless has created the culture of innovation, and it seems the first step to drive the innovation in the marketplace. Artists are collaborating and sharing ideas, which make the whole working environment quite innovative. Another factor regarding the innovation is innovative business technology. Threadless is using advanced technology that leads towards the creative designing process. For Instance, recently, the Threadless Company has introduced the dead technology designs for the T-Shirt. It seems like an innovative way to target young customers and fascinates them to make positive buying decisions (Berman, 2012).
Formation of Basis of Competitive Advantage
The innovative business process is leading towards competitive advantage. The firm has gained a sustainable competitive advantage through integrating with the needs, wants and expectations of the customers. Innovation is a way to make things different for the consumer to attract more customers. It drives the sales for Threadless and grabs an immense range of customers in the competitive market. Thus, regarding the customer range, sales, and strong, innovative workforce, the company is way ahead of its rival. In the competitive market, the product quality and pricing are two important elements to gain the advantage. However, Threadless has changed the perception of people regarding apparel, and it sets the base for the competitive advantage (Caniato et al., 2013).
Type of Innovation Dominating (Open Innovation/Crowdsourcing)
The type of the dominating innovation is the open innovation, as far as the operations of Threadless Company are concerned. The Threadless Company is using the open innovation along with the support of crowdsourcing to reduce the cost of the business. For Instance, there is not a need to conduct an intense research and development process and prepare a product for the customer. Artists are collaborating in an innovative culture. The biggest benefit that this company has gained is the connection between internal and external innovators. Open innovation is dominant, as the firm can come up with low-cost designs for customers. As mentioned, the company is focusing on the customer demands innovatively. Crowdsourcing is an effective way for the Threadless Company to get more customer insights and align with some new trends. Meeting the customer demand at the right time has justified the open innovation or crowdsourcing. The Threadless Company is dominating in the competitive market due to the exploitation of some new business opportunities. The company navigates different sources to make some improvements in designs. The Threadless firm is also using open innovation or crowdsourcing as a key marketing activity. The information flow is quite fast on different social media channels, and the firm is in the position to streamline design and get the bundle of feedback or ideas (Malhotra et al., 2017)
Schumacher’s Innovation Theory of Profit
According to this concept and theory, the company can gain financial benefits in the form of profits or revenue streams by introducing flourishing innovation. Interestingly, through the innovation, Threadless Company has strengthened its financial position. This concept of innovation can be divided into two different phases or categories. In Threadless, the category indicates some initiatives by the company, which are effective in reducing the cost of operations. An example is the collaborative and open innovation, which saved the time and cost of the company (Kohler & Nickel, 2017).
On the other hand, category 2 indicates an increase in product demand. The firm selects the segments of winning designs every week. These creative designs, selected after the voting process, caused customer demands in the market. Thus, both these categories are to be successes if the Threadless Company wants to gain high profitability in the long run. The high profitability is an element of the sustainable competitive advantage as well. Thus, Schumacher’s Innovation Theory of Profit is linked with the competitive advantage as well.
Exemplifying a Combination of Some of these Innovation Types
Critically, Threadless Company has not persuaded the open innovation completely. No doubt, crowdsourcing or open innovation is dominating. However, the firm always wants to align the business model with this innovative technique or style. For Instance, the business model innovation refers to shaping operational ways, which are innovative. User innovation has also been practiced in this firm. User designs are appreciated or encouraged in this firm. It reduces the dominance of open innovation. It is a fact that the company is navigating all possible options to enhance the innovation process. Thus, is to be said the Threadless company; organization exemplifies a combination of some of these innovation types (Shen et al., 2016).
Managing & Organizing the Implementation of Innovation
Ways of managing and organizing the innovation in organizations are different. Threadless always tries to manage and organize the innovation effectively. The innovation starts with the business philosophy of the company. The firm usually develops its capability to embrace the change and streamline some innovative ideas (Ukko et al., 2016) For Instance, Threadless Company organizes the implementation of the innovation by aligning the innovative ideas with the business philosophy. Innovation has become an integral part of the business process. Threadless has considered innovation as a core business value, and the whole business operation is based on it. It seems to organize the innovation from the root, and it can help to get long-term benefits (Berman, 2012).
Interestingly, the company is taking the lead in every aspect. This innovative company wants to be the first in the competitive market to streamline or adopt the new trends. Through voting, the firm becomes the first to come up with a new and unique design for the customer. Aggressively, the firm takes the lead in the market. It seems the implementation of the innovation in the company. The innovative technology plays an important role and helps the management to manage the vast voting process. The output of this implementation is the winning design, which is to be sold to the customers (Caniato et al., 2013).
The best way to manage the implementation of the innovation is to enable the seamless flow of information. Open innovation or crowdsourcing needs the effective flow of information. Accordingly, it can be managed by implementing the technology for collaboration. It has been revealed that Threadless creates an innovation-friendly environment to make outputs predictable (Dewett et al., 2007)
However, in modern organization, it is necessary to assess or measure innovation. It is a fact that the innovation must be meaningful for all key stakeholders of the company. Threadless, with its 10 years of experience of innovation, has created some key measures. For Instance, the company has to assess the time, which is spent in the creative session on the online platform. Also, the amount of money, which is spent on the development of innovative skills is also to be measured or assessed. It seems a better way to manage the innovation. The Threadless Company wants to process only relevant ideas that can improve the quality of products and improve performance (Wu & Lin, 2011)
The Achievement of Strategic Innovation Outcomes
In the innovative implementation process, the firm is looking to reward creative talent. The best way to manage the innovation is to combine the efforts of different innovators and retain them for a long run. The best talent is to be retained for the best innovative outputs, and it is the beauty of innovation implementation. Collaboration, ideation, value proposition, and implementation are pillars of strategic innovation. By aligning with all these initiatives, some strategic outcomes can be developed. For example, Threadless Company can become the innovative market leader in the fashion and design industry in the next 5 to 10 years. Another strategic outcome is profitability. Through effectively implementing the innovation, the firm can boost the attraction and sales process. Of course, the prominent strategic outcome is the sustainable competitive advantage. Managing and implementing the innovation effectively can help to make products different from the competitors (Kohler & Nickel, 2017).
Strength and weaknesses of the platform
· Strengths
According to observation, there are several strengths and weaknesses regarding the company’s platform. The biggest strength of the company is the immense range of designers or artists. Crowdsourcing or open innovation is also a big strength of the company to combine the efforts of these people. The platform is the ground for artists to play with their ideas and share information with each other. The company is containing the good brand image in the fashion retail, which also makes customers quite assertive. The online platform of the company supports creativity and innovation. For instance, it has been observed that hundreds of designs are accepted or submitted on the platform, which depicts the assertiveness of the company to support creativity and innovation (Vasiliu & Cercel, 2015). These are some strengths of the platform
· Weaknesses
Weaknesses are regarding the structure of the design of the platform. The shipping cost is not clearly written on the platform, and it seems a big weakness. The user has to navigate the whole ordering process to know about the shipping rate. Also, the shipping rate is quite high as compared to other online fashion companies. Being an innovative company, the company can introduce some innovative ways for transactions. The biggest weakness is that the company only accepts debit or credit cards. The advanced payment methods such as PayPal and many others are not used. Sometimes, it frustrates the customers, and they can move towards other online platforms. Threadless is struggling in corresponding with users or customers. On this platform, the firm is using the computer generated the reply to all customers. It usually dissatisfies the customer. Also, it does not integrate with the innovative business philosophy of the company. Another prominent weakness of the platform is the design imitation. Despite having the copyright laws in the United States, the firm cannot save all its top designs from the imitation. Same designs can be copied and sold at low prices on other platforms (Kohler & Nickel, 2017).
Challenges in Participation and Engagement
Despite containing the successful, innovative operations in the online market, the firm is facing some challenges regarding participation and engagement. It has been revealed that many customers due to these weaknesses of the platform have been distracted. It seems tough to convert them due to the high switching cost. In the customer engagement process, the management usually faces the rejection of many designs. Most of the designs are worn by stakeholders internally, and it seems tough to attract customers. Therefore, the customer engagement is slightly different from this firm as compared to other companies. People in the fashion retail industry have changed their expectations with time. Interestingly, customer engagement and participation are triggered by the demands and perceptions of customers
Revealing the process of implementation of digital, collaborative forms of innovation
Implementation of digital, collaborative forms of innovation is mandatory for the company. Through effectively managing and organizing the implementation, long-term benefits can be attained by the company. The process of the implementation of digital innovation starts with the delegation. Qualified IT professionals have emerged in the company to align with the idea, purpose and business philosophy of the company.
After aligning with the business philosophy, the first step is to change the business process. Threadless has reshaped the online business process to embrace digital and collaborative innovation. After that, Threadless identifies key technologies, which are to be used or installed to carry the particular business process. In the next phase, Threadless has created the innovative paradigm. Work delegation is the most important factor in this phase, adopts or embraces innovation easily in the future. In the next phase in this process, it looks imperative to shape different ideas into the different actionable strategies. Collaborative innovation needs the collaboration of people in the firm. The firm defines the talent pool for this kind of innovation
Finally, when implementing innovative technologies, it is effective to develop the key performance indicators. Regularly, the company updates its digital innovation strategy. Key performance indicators help to derive the impact of this implementation process (Dewett et al., 2007).
Conclusion
In the end, it is to conclude that Threadless Company is implementing some innovative techniques to grow and expand in the competitive market. The online platform of the company welcomes or embraces creativity and innovation. To retain the best artists or designers on the platform, there is a need to evolve with time. The comprehensive critical analysis of Threadless is presented along with key insights. The (Caniato et al., 2013) innovation creates an impact on the business process, and this impact is quite visible in the operation of this online platform.
References
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