Innovation in business

Innovation in business

Read a blog post about being innovative in business to practise and improve your reading skills.

Do the preparation task first. Then read the text and do the exercises.

Preparation

Reading text

What does it mean to be innovative in business?

In order for a business to survive in today's world, it is important that we regularly review what we are doing and how we are doing it. By considering new ideas and new ways of doing things, and trying to innovate, we can improve on our products/services, increase sales, reduce costs and make our processes more effective and efficient. Innovation is key to increasing profits.

There are several ways a company can be innovative with their products and services. Today we will look at four of them.

1. Using the latest technology to improve your product/service

When we think of innovation, we often think of new technologies. While they might be impressive, we should not use new technologies just because they are available. It is important to consider how the technology can improve our product/service and make a difference to our customer. Companies that produce cars, toiletries, household appliances, etc. often have a large R&D department to work on making their products better.

2. Responding to customer demands by changing what is on offer

By listening to customer feedback, we can get their opinions on how we are doing and find out about what it is that they want. We also need to be aware of changes in customer demands and keep up with the times. When fast-food restaurant McDonald's realised that the market wanted healthier choices, they introduced fruit and salads, while removing the 'super-size' option from their menus.

3. Offering a new product/service to reach new customers

Your business might be doing well, but there is no growth or development and there is a risk that your competitors might take away some of your customers. Innovation sometimes means developing a new product that targets a different market. Although video games were often played by boys, in 2006, video games giant Nintendo introduced the game console Nintendo Wii, successfully targeting girls and older customers with games like Cooking Mama and Brain Training.  

4. Changing the way you provide a service

By looking at the changes to the customer's lifestyle and needs, we sometimes realise that there might be better ways to serve them. Customers who do not have a lot of time might prefer to have their food or their shopping delivered to their homes, or they might like to do their banking online rather than in an actual bank.

Not all innovation will bring success to our businesses, but it can give us the opportunity to grow and learn more about what we do and what our customers might want.

Discussion

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Submitted by ubaid332 on Thu, 27/06/2024 - 06:08

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What are some of the latest innovations in the products/services that you use?

Many products and services are innovated. If we take the example of learning that we are learning via the British Council website this type of interactive learning was not available before 20 years. It means that with the help of innovation, we can learn easily. Moreover, look at the laptop or mobile which is daily improving as in the text I read many big companies have R&D departments that continuously improve their products for customers. Lastly, there are many innovative products/services that we are using in daily life.

Submitted by Alexander on Tue, 21/05/2024 - 09:42

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Over the past several month I've been using AI tools, like ChatGPT and I think that techology is game-changer for all companies. Most of them already trying to use AI for theirs products and services. 

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Submitted by Libra23 on Mon, 22/04/2024 - 18:50

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I use a lots of technological instruments in my daily routine and sometimes I have a break and I start thinking about the innovations behind an object (such as a smartphone, or a laptop etc.).

How many work, time, money are there inside a single product? 

The human being has improved his condition during ages, and all of us should be grateful for that and share our fortune with the others. 

Submitted by Safe_Mode on Sun, 24/03/2024 - 09:44

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I've discovered about cool feature about motorcycle helmets - the built-in camera, it would be really comfortable to not fasten descrete camera to helmet, but today's helmet's cameras don't provide the same quality of video as GoPro, for example, and not every helmet's manufacturer produce those helmets, but I really wait these stuffs to be useful.

Submitted by juanpi593 on Tue, 13/02/2024 - 22:50

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I use AI for learning languages and coding.

Submitted by ddddsky on Fri, 09/02/2024 - 10:07

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"What are some of the latest innovations in the products/services that you use?"
I think TWS (True Wireless Stereo). I actually prefer the old ones, with wire, because the audio quality is better. But I'm tired of changing it every six months because the wire is often damaged.

Submitted by Toan3002 on Mon, 08/01/2024 - 02:35

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In my opinion, smartphones have been the latest technology for over a decade. There have been many changes in phones, like appearance, cameras, memories, efficiency, and so on. Moreover, they also help people stay in touch, do work, entertain, and study more conveniently.

Submitted by Zafarbek12 on Sun, 12/11/2023 - 05:31

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I actually , task 1 was difficult for me

Submitted by Raho on Wed, 01/11/2023 - 07:10

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i used real-life app to speak with other people around the world while staying in my home

Submitted by betelf on Sun, 22/10/2023 - 18:03

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I use AI for learning languages and coding. It can be useful in many different ways.