Great service offerings and new products can give starting businesses the launch it needs to reach pivotal milestones in placing their everlasting stamp in the market. However, ideas and products are not enough to maintain a prevalent mark, especially against well-equipped, large corporations with the necessary tools to combat new industry players. Corporate innovation is an essential component in the business strategizing process that will help firms set them apart from other industry players and potentially solidify their presence in the market. Corporate innovation is the process in which businesses review current business models and apply unique innovation updates that can disrupt the market.
One way to incorporate corporate innovation within a business is by finding opportunities during a crisis. By looking past adversity and finding the seeds of opportunity, corporations can find competitive advantages that other players have yet to exploit. The COVID-19 pandemic, for example, is a global crisis that many corporations have used as an opportunity to innovate their business strategy models. Many firms throughout the Philippines have innovated their business strategies to meet the needs of the new world by evaluating the current crisis.
SM Supermalls applied corporate innovation by creating a Viber community to cater to food takeouts and delivery from the many restaurants and food establishments located within the mall. By understanding that the current crisis encourages consumers to stay within their homes, SM Supermalls innovated themselves to bring products directly to the consumer. Passenger transport and curbside delivery service, Angkas, innovated similarly to SM Supermall by creating the “AngkasxResto” initiative in which they partnered with restaurants throughout Metro Manila to deliver food from these establishments directly to the consumer. Burger and burrito specialist, Army Navy, innovated by adopting the drive-in restaurant model of the 1950s and 1960s, which allows costumers to pull up in the food establishment’s parking lot where they can order their food and eat their meal within the safety of their cars.
Corporate innovation is not limited to adopting current trends within the market. It can also incorporate business strategies of the past and implement them in modern times. Corporate innovation is essential in any business looking for long-term resilience and by looking for opportunities in adversity, firms can achieve long-term success.