QBM1 Task 1 - Task 1 PDF

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A1. 

The company culture affects the decision-making process by using a collaborative process to focus on innovation. By using a process that includes each employee, from entry level to the founders of the company, the main focus on innovation is fed directly from the vast pool of ideas and concepts that each person brings to the table. This type of culture is beneficial as it provides ample and sometimes far-reaching ideas that may not have been previously considered with a different hierarchy.

The organizational structure affects the company’s decisionmaking process because it is decentralized. By every employee having an equal opportunity at making suggestions, decisions and collaboration with the rest of the team, the decisions made are more likely majority based. Collaboration between entry level and more senior level employees is possible and even encouraged. Due to this, the participation in the process of making decisions can make the company more innovative and closer knit structurally.  The strategic direction of the company affects its decisionmaking process by its key values being placed on innovation, sustainability and customer driven. By placing focus on these core values, the company’s strategic structure is achieved through the decision to use foldable boats. By using foldable boats, the company is using an innovative idea to meet a customer’s needs for a sustainable option other than mechanized boats. By becoming an innovative problem solver in environment protection, they could easily become a leading company in their industry. 

A2.  The company culture of using a heavy emphasis on innovation, along with collaboration from each employee could possibly hinder market entry. By allowing participation from every employee in the decision making, and problem-solving process, choices that typically require precise, quick answers could be help up by the need to include everyone. However, by using this strategy and culture model, the majority rules mindset is usually the norm, and this would allow decisions to be streamlined once everything was finalized. This could be beneficial to ensuring success in market entry. Take more time in the beginning stages to become collaborative and uniform, which in

turn ensures advancement in entering the market by allowing the process to be more efficient and direct. A3.  The company’s organizational structure is an advantage to the company because the core value of innovation can be easily achieved through the sharing of ideas and concepts. With each employee contemplating solutions on what issue they are faced, and what issues need to be resolved, along with the focus on remaining an innovative leader of their industry, the goal of finding customerdriven, sustainable options will be achieved more easily than with fewer minds. Also, employee devotion and allegiance will typically be higher in a company where they feel valued, heard and challenged thus leading to more fidelity to company success from each employee. B1.  There are several characteristics of the emerging market that affect the company’s product. The fishing industry in India, along with the geographical layout of the country are key to the success of the company’s product. With India having many coasts, and the fishing and aquaculture being primary industry in the country, the need for innovative, sustainable products is essential. The company’s foldable boat are beneficial as there are is a high volume, roughly 14 million, people that are part of the fishing industry. The use of a foldable boat would help many people be able to partake more in the fishing industry because the costs to maintain and store the boat would be lower than a mechanized boat. Also, the emphasis of using environment friendly, sustainable options falls right into the company’s mission. Their foldable boat is reusable and more ecofriendly than that of a mechanical, gas powered boat. In India, the business world wants to promote the protection and preservation of the ecosystem and the company’s foldable, nonmechanized boat would do just that. The impact it makes on the ecosystem would be far less than another type of boat, therefore this is beneficial in the company’s favor. B2.  The need to use plastics that originate and are to be recycled in India. Investors want to use the prospect to promote a more sustainable, ecofriendly product as well as taking the opportunity to reduce the waste in the nation’s landfills. The challenge presented to the company would be if they could still produce their origami,

environmental boat, while still using the plastics from India and preserving the craftmanship and innovativeness that their original product promised. The ecofriendly priority from the Indian investors aligns with the company mission, so this seems like it would be an achievable goal. The waterproof coating would be the final design change necessary to secure the business from India. With the target group giving valuable insight as well as the company’s dedication to innovation, the waterproof coating should be a high possibility to satisfying the emerging market’s requirements. B2A.  The stages of the design thinking process the company would need to undergo for the production of their product are as follows… o Empathize- The company will need to be able to relate to the target customer and fully realize their desires and basic requirements necessary to provide a solution to their problem. This can be as simple as conducting research from a group of diverse possible customers to find out different aspects of the product that are important to them. o Define-Using the previous research from the target group, the company can produce several options that will “pinpoint their needs” and begin to “highlight innovation.” (Innovative and Strategic Thinking, 2020) o During this stage, the company takes the human centered design process from the first stage, along with the research received and they define the actual problem so they are able to move forward in the process and can find a solution to the problem. o Ideate- During the ideate stage of the design process, the company can use feedback from their research along with ideas from employees and possible customers to brainstorm ideas for the product. The goal at the end of this stage would be for the company to have a varied but narrow list of ideas for the desired product to begin the next stage. o Prototype and Testing- These stages of the design process work very closely with each other and would include using the list of ideas to create a few suitable products that could be tested and evaluated not only by the company but preferably by a test group of the target audience as well. Granting the test group to access to the different possibilities would not only

allow them to feel invested and therefore more likely to purchase and partner with the company, but also it allows for a more comprehensive and thorough assessment of the product, to make sure the best prototype is put forward. For example, allowing the test group to try the different prototypes of boats could illustrate which one works best for the type of fishing, location, and user. This in turn allows the company to see which boat would be more ideal to produce. o Implement- The last stage of the design process is to take all of the previous knowledge acquired, adjust for any issues that need to me addressed from the prototype and testing stage and to put forth a final product. B2B.  Company Ethics- This company’s ethics would influence the design thinking process because the entire process would be rooted in fulfilling the mission of producing sustainable, ecofriendly products. All the steps of the process would have to consider the best way to achieve their solutions to the problem they want to solve, while remaining good for the environment. By balancing between the need to solve the fishing boat problem in India, and still promoting ecological options, the company’s ethics are benefiting both parties.  Company Culture- The company’s horizonal, decentralized culture affects the design process because it includes every employee’s ideas, along with the collaboration with the test group utilized in the design process. By incorporating both sets of viewpoints, and also using this foundation of thinking during the prototype and testing stages of the design process, the company is ensuring that the most efficient, innovative, sustainable product is put forward.  Emerging Market Culture-The emerging market culture would affect the design process in that the need to be innovative as well as still address the needs of the fisherman. Needing to be non-mechanized as well as environmentally friendly to be sufficient enough to receive endorsement will factor into the design process. Knowing the necessary factors to the answering the problem, the company can incorporate the requirements into the design process the first time around, saving time, resources and money. The company must be able to fulfill these needs if they want to be a competing factor in the industry. B3.

o “We will make decisions that are sustainable for customers and the

environment” is the company’s ethical statement. (Innovative and Strategic Thinking, 2020) Their priority of being a leading establishment in the environmentally friendly industry is only enhanced more by the use of used plastics in India’s landfills. By including this step in the design process, the company would satisfy not only their need to be sustainable but the demand from the Indian business climate to provide a product that enhances the ecosystem, not take away from it. The company ethic statement influences their market entry by pushing their production towards a concept that is essential to both parties.

References: o Innovative and Strategic Thinking (2020).The Design Thinking Process). Retrieved from Acrobatiq: https://wgu-nx.acrobatiq.com/enus/courseware/contents/wgu_D081_15Feb20_innovative_strategic_t hinking_ug_v1_1...