Research and development, technological innovation, competitive Essay

Research and development, technological innovation, competitive advantage, etc - Essay Example Some of the key milestones in the company’s history are shown in the timeline below (Reckitt & Benckiser, 2014a): Technological innovation may be described as the continuous process of engaging with the internal and external environment of the organization to discover more profitable and efficient ways of marketing knowledge. It results in the creation of new products, processes and marketing methods. Technological innovation may be defined as â€Å"the process beginning from the idea of a new concept to the success in a meaningful way of the practical application of the idea for non-technical phenomenon (Liu et al., 2010, p. 6).† In contrast to R&D, technological innovation is not restricted to laboratory work and is not necessarily performed by scientists. Technological innovation can be performed by everybody in the organization by identifying potential problems and taking initiative at solving them. Reckitt & Benckiser depends on continuous R&D and innovation to develop new and innovative products and compete effectively in the marketplace. According to Forbes magazine (2012), it is the fifth most innovative company in Europe and sells more than 20 million units in 2010 in the categories of health, hygiene and home. The company maintains a policy that 30% of the annual revenue should derive from products developed in the last three years (Reckitt & Benckiser, 2014). In 2008, the company spent  £102 million in R&D which had gone up to  £119 million in the following year. However, during 2010 and 2011 the spending had declined to  £33 and  £26 million respectively. In 2012, the spending had increased again to  £171 million. According to Hughes and Mina (2012), the United Kingdom is a laggard when it comes to R&D spending. The percentage of GDP spent on R&D has declined in recent years. Hughes and Mina (2012) note that the ten biggest organizations make up 34% of R&D expenditure in the UK

Early Phase and Development of Airbus Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Early Phase and Development of Airbus - Essay Example The name Airbus was taken from a generic term used by the Airline industry. One of the other reasons for choosing the name was the linguistic acceptance of the name to the French. Initially, the stakeholdership of the company was distributed between a number of players. Aerospatiale had 36.5% of the controlling stake in the company, whereas Deutsche Airbus also had a 36.5% share in the company. This pattern was evident in the company due to the multifarious origin. The other stakeholders were Hawker Siddeley with 20% and Fokker-VFW with 7%. A major change came in the year 1979 when the British Aerospace acquired 20% stake in the company   The A-300 was the first Commercial Airline to come out of its stable. The work of the development of each of parts was given to separate countries (that, in turn, is routed to the various companies in the consortium). Initially, the sales of the aircraft were extremely slow, but later the sales of the aircraft picked up considerably. This was mainly due to the development of subsequent superior models of Aircraft as well as the innovative marketing strategies used by the company   The fact the Airbus was a consortium a number of companies were working against it. The group companies were not ready to divulge information on the technical breakthroughs. The attempt on the part of the companies to maximize the prices on the transfer of the sub-assembled parts had detrimental effects on the financial fortunes of the company. Secondly, the Company was in a stage where it was developing a large number of new aircraft to fend away competition from the other players as well as to augment market share. In the early half of 1990, a lot of steps were taken on an executive level to merge the various entities of the various companies to ensure a smoother environment for the purpose of decision making (Matthew, 1997).