Barriers and Enablers of Innovation
- Apr 17, 2017
- 7 min read
Within any organisation one would hope that innovation is at the forefront. Many, if not all organisations aim to be innovative, but often there are many factors; both internally and externally, that play a significant role in whether or not the innovation process is restricted or will completely prevent innovation from occurring. By conducting a situational analysis of the external and internal factors one can review it in conjunction to the barriers and enablers of the organisation.
Determining the barriers and enablers of an organisation is the same as conducting a SWOT analysis on them. The SWOT analysis evaluates a brand’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Barriers, much like weaknesses and threats, are factors and characteristics that hinder or completely prevent a brand from achieving innovation. Enablers on the other hand, are much like strengths and opportunities which can elevate and successfully bring about innovation.
Enablers:
When we speak of enablers, which are similar to strengths and opportunities, we speak of factors that support the brand’s ability to exercise innovation. Enablers give organisations the ability to envision innovation and cannibalize or stretch the business outside of its expected scope.
When it comes to Blu Betty, one of their enablers can be seen in terms of their product offerings. Blu Betty’s style is very quirky and hippy with a classic edge, thus making them a product that can attract a diverse group of people. This in turn is why they are a tough competitor in their market. Because of their style being so aesthetic, trendy and different, they have had the pleasure of featuring on multiple online magazines, thus gaining free publicity for the brand.
Leadership is another one of Blu Betty’s strong enablers. Their leadership style is very democratic, meaning all of their internal stakeholders can present their opinions, visions and ideas and have a say that will be heard and considered. Their individual voices within the organisation are appreciated and valued, which makes their working environment enjoyable and their relationships within the organisation strong, with everyone playing a role in successfully keeping the business afloat. In terms of Blu Betty and their team, an enabler is the size of their team. Their team is small and has been kept small, which is an enabler because it allows them more focus and allows them to give direct roles to individuals in the team so that there is no confusion on the individual team members roles and responsibilities.
Social media allows the opportunity for Blu Betty to showcase their latest designs and all of their other products. It also gives them easier access to research and development. With social media they are able to see what is trending and receive feedback from people concerning their products, product design, promotions and just general feedback about their communication and services. From the feedback received they are able to develop more as a brand and develop their products further and achieve customer satisfaction.
Barriers:
Barriers, like the word implies, hinder something from taking place, in this case innovation. When we look at it in terms of the SWOT analysis the barriers would be the weaknesses and the threats an organisation faces. These weaknesses and threats open up an opportunity for an organisation to establish where change is necessary and where things within the organisation can be improved.
When it comes to Blu Betty, external communication is something we feel is a barrier and a weakness that needs to be worked on. Whilst trying to work with Blu Betty we found it difficult to communicate with them and receive information from them. When we would try to set meeting dates, they would always fall through because we would stop getting responses from Blu Betty. Understandably they must be very busy, but a core lesson that needs to be learnt is how to prioritise and make time for inquiries, as this would be beneficial to the development in their customer services.
According to Blu Betty’s Founder and Owner; Colleen Mossman, communication with consumers is extremely important to them, and they ensure to always respond to their consumers and interact with them via email, social media and phone calls. Although their customer communication is good, we feel that their participation and response regarding this task was extremely poor, and frustrating for us. There was always an excuse such as having too many emails to respond to, having too many orders to process and so it went on. We feel that if they didn’t even have time to meet with us once, perhaps human resources could also be a barrier for them, and perhaps it would be wise to hire more individuals to decrease the pressure that the current team members have to deal with. Therefore, resources are another barrier. Due to Blu Betty being such a small team, they can’t always get around to doing everything, which in turn limits the growth of the business.
Blu Betty target a niche market therefore they are very selective of what products they develop. As a brand they only cater towards woman, they are therefore losing out on the male market. Blu Betty did try and approach the male market but did not do it for long enough. They did release one male range with 4 styles of male shoes but they did not continue producing male shoes, and did not put enough effort into advertising. This range failed because they did not announce and advertise the range enough; therefore men were not aware of Blu Betty’s offerings. Due to them usually targeting women, their social media sites have a minimal male following base; therefore it may have been beneficial to put more effort into other advertising mediums. Product pricing is also seen as a barrier and threat. Their products are very expensive and only a selective market can actually afford to purchase their shoes and handbags within that price range.
According to Blu Betty another barrier and threat they face is seen in terms of production. Because there aren’t many shoe factories around anymore, the upskilling of staff can become quite an issue. Lastly one of Blu Betty’s major barriers is their want to remain a small business. Remaining a small business is technically not a choice that they have, because if people desire their products, they as a retail company have to deliver, therefor they constantly have to expect growth if their clientele grows. If more people are interested in their brand they have to produce more products, therefore their team will have to expand as well. If expansion doesn’t happen internally they will not be able to deliver as a brand and will therefore fail.
Below is Blu Betty's SWOT Analysis:
Strengths:
One of Blu Betty’s strengths is seen in the effective growth of e-commerce. Statistics tell us that e-commerce stores and online shopping is growing at 300% a year, as opposed to the retail sector which is under enormous pressure.
Blu Bettys skill set matches almost perfectly the offering or niche of Blu Betty individuals who are creative in: design, style, branding, and photograph. Basically the individuals who make up the stakeholders in Blu Betty are Blu Betty’s strengths. (Stakeholders abilities =strength in organisation)
A major strength is seen in the fact that Blu Betty has its own operating capacity. They don’t rely on finding a factory to make a line, they have a partner who owns a factory and they operate out of it, so they constantly have an innovating and evolving culture as well as products. Within the factory they have a research and development component which allows them to mix it up and change different styles. Having their own factory is strength as many of their competitors don’t have their own factories.
Blu Betty leaders have the infrastructure of 35 years in the industry. Because their leaders have been in the industry for so long they have networks, they know where to get the best prices for leather, they know the changing trends in leather, they understand where to access mechanics and technicians around their machinery, they understand how that machinery works and they have people who can add value to the running, operations and maintenance of the factory. Finally Blu Betty has its own internal design team this is beneficial as many of their competitors have to outsource those components in their business leaving them sometimes weak.
Weaknesses:
One of Blu Betty’s weaknesses is their ability to “keep it together” whilst in the face of an increasing and demanding market. What happens is they keep growing and the capacity is out strik by demand. It is a weakness because it means they have service levels which are found wanting and they are extremely busy. The actual growth of the company is a weakness in terms of their offerings but they are mitigating that by scaling up their resources.
The shoe industry in this country is under pressure. Because the economy is in shambles, very often when having to source something it is difficult. Since the supply levels are more expensive the fact that the industry itself is under pressure means it does make production more difficult. And finally new technology and equipment is extremely expensive as the machinery comes from Italy and the South African exchange rate is plummeting.
Opportunities:
Blue Betty has a number of opportunities, they get approached daily to grow as a brand, they have investors who can put money in to grow the brand and the opportunity to network with and work with other artisans The export market is another one of Blu Betty’s opportunities, the export, whether it be through online or to other shops, outlets or initiatives outside the boarders of the county is a big opportunity.
Finally Blu Betty has the opportunity of expansion. Their future endeavours include: bags, wallets, belts, high heels, wedding shoes, accessories, clothing etc. They want to expand organically first then bring in other products.
Threats:
A big threat for Blu Betty is the fact that there are copy cats. People have seen the success of their online strategies, initiatives, and the way they present their brand and obviously the styling of their actual products. Factories are duplicating their designs and taking them on as their own.
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