IMPACT OF INNOVATION CAPABILITY ON AN ORGANIZATIONS SUSTAINABILITY AND COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE

COM, 2015, p. 3) (Griffin, 2011, p. Strengths 1. The company provides its client base with high quality services 2. The staff are customer focused, service oriented and love dogs 3. The dog trainers have to be individuals who have undergone the right training, before they are selected in the Centre. Based on the fact that the company has not yet grown extensively, it selects and recruits individuals mostly for the purpose of replacement. However, the company has also hired individuals severally, to increase the workforce. Training is also conducted to help the employees familiarize themselves with the organizational setting as well as ensure that they produce excellent results when performing their expected roles. Market planning management Market planning can be defined as the process that enables an organization identify products and services that may satisfy the needs and wants of the consumer market (Ibrahim, 2015, p.

The barriers can be categorized into various groups: cognitive, political, cultural, and resources (Evans, 2014, p. Some of these barriers include the mix-up between the companies’ marketing strategies and marketing tactics, misunderstanding between marketing functions and marketing concepts. Similarly, the organization may lack the ability to keep marketing operations and marketing functions separate, lack of in-depth analysis of the market condition, the organization failing to prioritize its objectives. Presence of organizational barriers as well as the corporate culture being hostile, the existence of confusion between processes and output, which are usually as a result of lack of sufficient knowledge and skills. To achieve the organizational goals, the barriers ought to be handled tactfully. However, for the set goals to be achievable, the organization ought to share them with the dog trainers, cleaners and all other stakeholders.

The organization’s stakeholders are able to scrutinize the set goals and inform the management whether the goals are realistic or reasonable from their own perspective. Additionally, the staff needs to support the objectives of the marketing plan for the marketing goal to be achieved. Conduct a market audit A market audit will involve the training center reviewing and analyzing the marketing activities that have taken place in the organization for the past three years (Self, 2014, p. This will need the company to be as thorough as possible and ensure that it reviews every advertisement, open house, announcements, phonebooks ads, seminars, and brochures. This stage in a strategic market plan enables the organization to have a clear picture of its strategic advantage.

After the organization observes its practices as well as those of its competitors, it is able to obtain answers to some crucial questions, which include: • What are the similarities and differences between the services offered by the training center compared to those that the competitors offer? • Do the competitors offer a broader scope of services as compared to the training center? • Is there any other service that the organization offers that is not offered by any other organization? • Is the dog-training center’s location more desirable compared to that of its competitors? • Can you rate the quality of services provided by your staff as compared to what the competitors provide? An organization is able to obtain competitive advantage over its competitors based on the range of services it offers, the style of its practices and simply by how the staff communicates with the clients.

Identify the company’s target audience After conducting a successful market research, the analysis obtained is crucial in helping the organization identify the target audience (Linton, 2012, p. A target audience can be defined as a group of individuals in the society, which the organization would like to direct its marketing efforts to. In this case, the target audience will be dog owners and potential dog owners. In case an organization is new in the market or is introducing a new service or product, intensive marketing has to take place, therefore, in such an instance, the organization will have to spend at least ten percent or more of its gross income in the first year it implements the new plan (Chernev, 2015, p.

Some marketing practices can be very expensive. For instance, it may cost an organization at least $5000 to obtain the corporate image package inclusive of the stationery, logo and the collateral pieces. On the contrary, some marketing activities cost the organization nothing. For instance building a referral network. Evaluate the whole process To determine whether the market plan is effective, there should be timely and deliberate monitoring, implementation and evaluation of the results. Evaluation involves measuring the results by comparing them with the set goals and standards (Harrison, 2010, p. Additionally, the organization is required to review its plan periodically and it is advisable they do it quarterly. By reviewing the plan, the organization is able to compare the progress with its implementation schedule.

There are various ways in which the organization can use to measure results of its progress. Core competencies in an organization often emerge overtime by the company conducting research and development, which helps it learn how to utilize various capabilities and resources. Additionally an organization is usually able to add value to its products and services by making them different from the competitors’ products. To obtain absolute competitive advantage in the market, the company ought to control its intellectual resources and combine them with other resources in the organization; it develops core competencies, which helps the organization add value to its products and services. An organization is usually able to establish core competencies by use of the four criteria of competitive advantage.

These criteria includes rare capabilities, value capabilities that enables the business to take advantage of opportunities or neutralize threats, nonsubstitutable capabilities and the costly to imitate capabilities. II. Ambidexterity The Cambridge online dictionary defines the word ambidextrous as the ability of being in a position to use both hands equally, at the same instance. The term was however introduced into the business word by Duncan in 1976. Following the increase in economic uncertainties for the past few years, organizations are now considering the adaptability issue that enables a business to move quickly and take advantage of the emerging opportunities. Additionally adaptability enables organizations to adjust in the market. All the three strategies often focus on a particular method of diversification. The horizontal strategy is often used by organizations when they want to introduce a new product or service in the existing market, on the other hand, the concentric strategy is employed when organizations need to increase their products and services portfolio to be inclusive of similar products produced within the particular company (Moutinho, 2011, p.

Lastly, conglomerate diversification, is employed when an organization ventures in two or more unrelated industries. Generally, companies employ diversification strategies to help them maintain the profit margins and increased flexibility particularly during the sluggish economic periods (Moutinho, 2011, p. For the Daniel Dog Training Centre, the horizontal diversification strategy is applicable since the organization aims at doing away with its mono-service culture. In the recent past, there has been tremendous growth in terms of information technology. Technology has greatly contributed in making the world a small village since individuals from all walks of life can interact freely. The company has benefited significantly from the growth of technology since it is able to communicate effectively with the customers as well as the employees using e-mails.

Reports on annual general meetings are now communicated with ease since the organization needs to generate one emails, which is passed on to all the concerned individuals (Sarnikar, 2012, p. The company is now able manage data effectively. The Daniel Dog training center was established several years ago and it has been able to gain and maintain loyal customers by providing the clientele with quality services that cannot match those of the competitors. Theories • Diffusion of innovation E. M Rogers developed the Diffusion of Innovation theory in 1962. The theory originated from communication and it often seeks to explain how an idea on a service or product usually gains momentum and spreads through a particular population or social system. Eventually, individuals in that particular social system end up adopting the new behavior, idea, or product.

113) (Sarmistha, 2017, p. The importance of understanding the characteristics of the target population is to provide the organization with a better picture of which marketing strategy is likely to convince the clientele to change and start using their products or services. Most of the New Territories dog owners appear to fall under the early majority category. This category comprises of individuals who are rarely leaders; they usually need proof that the idea or product they need to adopt has worked for others. Therefore, before the organization introduces new services to the clientele, they need to be convinced that it is for the benefit of their pets. The Daniel Dog training center organizational culture is suitable. Most of the firms that are trying to join the pet industry are often faced with difficulties when trying to generate profit, however, the Daniel Dog training center is able to make a sizeable amount of profits yearly.

The legendary organizational culture is to be credited for this since it plays an important role in motivating the staff to give their best towards the realization of the organization goals. Employee turnover, poor morale, and layoffs are common problem facing the pet industry. This is mostly because the numbers of individuals who have specialized in this field are limited. In market penetration, the Daniel Dog Training Centre can focus on achieving on achieving four objective, which are: securing dominance in the growing market, to increase and maintain the market share of its dog training services (Pizam, 2010, p. The company can achieve this by conducting sale promotions, competitive pricing, and dedicating more resources to personal selling. The third objective the company should aim at achieving is increasing the number of consumers served by the company, the training center introducing loyalty schemes can achieve this.

Market penetration also helps the business restructure the market by driving out the competitors (Herriott, 2010, p. This requires the training centre to carry out aggressive promotional campaigns, which also include pricing strategies that make the market unattractive for the competitors. The company will market these new services to the current market (Sachse, 2012, p. Product development is often carried out in the auto markets where the organization will update or replace its services and market them to the existing market (Jürgens, 2013, p. Following the increased competition in the New Territories, the company can opt to use the business diversification strategy. The business diversification process may involve the Dog Training Centre providing the clientele with new services in a new market. The suitable strategies that the Dog Training Centre may apply are the market penetration and product development strategies.

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