Innovation Evaluation and Continuous Improvement Plan

Introduction

The significant improvement of a company’s efficiency is the main goal of the transformation of the business processes. There are definite stages of the implementation of the innovations and transformations in the organization. However, not to worsen the indicators again, the acceptance and the embodiment of the ideology of a continuous improvement of business processes are necessary. Business is not static; thus, there are always opportunities for its improvement. Besides, the ideology of a continuous improvement of business processes focuses the personnel on a client and the improvement of the quality of its service. It also presupposes the establishment of the management and controlling systems as well as the culture of the business processes, aimed at the satisfaction of the requirements of the customers. The given research paper discusses the components of the continuous improvement plan, the evaluation plan of the innovative activity, and the incorporation of the innovation and new technologies in the ZTE Corporation.

Components of the Continuous Improvement Process That Foster Innovation and Transformation in the ZTE Corporation

The methodology of the improvement of business processes in the ZTE Corporation covers numerous actions for the improvement of the work of separate departments and company, in general. They range starting from the gradual modernization up to a full redesign of the whole structure. The purpose of the innovations is the transformation of the organization in such a way to meet the requirements of the information era and the ideology of management from the point of view of business processes. The extension of the company’s goals and the change of the needs and requirements of the customers caused the innovation process in the corporation (Godinho & Ferreira, 2013, p. 3; Kang, 2014).

The main components of the innovation process in the company include:

1. The external environment – the impact of the external factors;
2. The organizational component – the current and the future business processes;
3. The technological component – the informational platform and communications for the current processes.

The corporation is not able to afford to stop working for the period of transformations. Therefore, providing a continuity of the transition to the new structure is the main requirement of methodology. Changes are carried out in the form of the sequence of steps; detailed planning should precede each stage.

The strategic business planning is one of the main components of the improvement process. It provides a context of the development of the company’s new vision, which is the fundamental tool in the implementation of the improvement process. The more radical changes are required to be made, the more crucial it is to connect the efforts on the improvement of business processes with strategic business purposes and tasks. Planning defines the direction of development while the methodology of improvement of business processes represents only means (Godinho & Ferreira, 2013, p. 6).

The redesign of business processes composes the second important component of the improvement process in the ZTE Corporation. The main tool of this stage is modeling of the offered condition of business processes. Models allow to analyze the processes from the point of view of compliance with the main criteria of efficiency to make an optimum choice from alternative offers. The only reliable criterion allowing to make a choice between alternatives is the economic analysis of the estimated benefits and expenses, including the cost of the project and the risk connected with its realization (Kang, 2014).

The planning of the organizational changes in the ZTE Company composes the third component of the innovation process. The improvement of business processes will affect the organization, in general, including its organizational structure and the culture of the relationship between employees. At this stage, the ability of the corporation to accept the offered concept of business processes is estimated. Furthermore, the organizational changes, necessary for the support of a new structure of business processes, are planned.

The planning of the technological changes is the next essential component of the continuous improvement process in the company. Thus, the cardinal improvement of the productivity is possible only owing to the active application of the informational technologies. Technologies have to promote the improvement of business processes. Thus, the technological changes should be developed together with a redesign of business processes.

The implementation of the project is the most critical component of the whole innovation process, as it impacts the existing business process. The success of the implementation of the innovative planning in the ZTE Company in many respects depends on the correctness of the decisions made in the previous stages. For the implementation of the innovations and transformations, it is necessary to consider the fact that changes affect people and their relationship (Kang, 2014).

The Evaluation Plan for Measuring the Innovation Plan in the ZTE Corporation

The formation of a certain mechanism of measurement of the proceeding processes of the innovative plan plays a vital role in the effective management of the development of the innovative system in the company. The systems of monitoring and evaluation compose the process of definition of a real condition of an object in relation to a desirable state or other objects.

First, the assessment of the innovative activity is a set of operations on product indicators choice, determination of their values, and comparison with the basic ones. The algorithm of the evaluation process consists of:

• A choice of product indicators (criteria);
• Justification of a product’s need and reliability;
• A choice and development of the methods of determination of their numerical values (parameters);
• A choice of the basic data for the definition of the basic indicators;
• Definition of the actual indicators and their comparison with the basic ones;
• The comparative analysis (dynamics of ratios).

The results of an assessment are generally used for the justification of administrative decisions, the definition of effectiveness or efficiency. The evaluation criteria of the innovative process include the characteristics of the company’s potential and the efficiency of the innovative planning. However, the indicators of efficiency have both the general characteristics, like the dynamics of the produced goods, and the specific ones, reflecting the peculiarities of the ZTE Corporation (Godinho & Ferreira, 2013, p. 8; Kang, 2014).

The fundamental problem of evaluation includes the determination of the correlation between the innovation and potential of the organization. There are three main stages of the evaluation plan for the measurement of the success of the innovative planning:

• The evaluation of the innovative potential of the company;
• The evaluation of the innovative potential of innovations;
• The comparison of two types of potentials and development of the recommendations of the rational implementation of the innovations and transformations (Kang, 2014).

The comparison of two types of potentials should be carried out based on the life cycle concept. From this point of view, the ZTE Corporation implements the evaluation of its innovative planning inside itself. ZTE aimed at the occupying the leading place in the new sectors of the market. The current phase of the company’s functioning is the one of expansion, development, and growth. To implement the innovations and transformations in the company, the ZTE’s management should take the synergistic effect of the transformations into account. The innovations are implemented in the latest stages of the life cycle; therefore, they composed one of the directions of the company’s functioning. Thus, it is necessary to evaluate the efficiency of the innovative planning, risks and threats of potential transformations within the company, and business potential.

However, the evaluation of the efficiency of the innovative planning by the traditional methods cannot give sufficient information for decision-making regarding the implementation of innovations and transformations in ZTE. The methods of efficiency evaluations should not be perceived as the unambiguous filter for the elimination of the unprofitable innovative projects. It is necessary to evaluate the conditions of the implementations of innovations, as well as consider the implications and the parameters of the potential transformations. Thus, decision-making concerning the implementation of the innovative planning should be carried out based on the combination of the formalized evaluation methods and not quite formal procedures carried out on the basis of experience, knowledge and intuition of the experts participating in the innovation management (Godinho & Ferreira, 2013, p. 9; Kang, 2014).

The Incorporation of the Innovation and New Technologies in the ZTE Corporation

The problem of the formation of the effective mechanism of the implementation of innovations in ZTE represents a special interest. In particular, its salvation allows to provide the realization of the purposes of the corporate innovative policy that will promote the increase of the innovative activity of the company. Secondly, it forms the prerequisites for the further commercialization of the internal innovations, created by the divisions of the corporation.

When forming the mechanism of the incorporation of innovations, ZTE adheres to the following principles:

• The principle of consistency. The mechanism’s elements, forming the system of incorporation of innovations and new technologies, should be united by the system properties providing the synergistic effect of their interaction;
• The principle of variety. The functional subsystems forming the mechanism should correspond to the functions of this mechanism;
• The principle of adaptability. The formed mechanism should be rather flexible and adjusted according to the dynamics of the requirements to the structure and functions of the mechanism;
• The principle of economic efficiency. The functioning of the mechanism should be economically justified, proceeding from the criteria of economic efficiency accepted in the ZTE Corporation. “The innovation capability and self-developed technologies have been the key to ZTE … in catching-up with the competitors” (Godinho & Ferreira, 2013, p. 9). The corporation has developed dynamic capabilities in innovation. First, it absorbed advanced technologies; thereafter, the company invested in research and development, which contributed to the enhanced growth of patent applications. (Godinho & Ferreira, 2013, p. 9).

The essence of the mechanism of the introduction of innovations should reflect its functional orientation. Moreover, it should unite the intra-corporate infrastructure of the introduction of innovations, the elements of which represent the system of the regulations ensuring a normal functioning of subsystems and necessary narrowness of their information exchange. Thus, the combination of the principles of the regulation and self-organization will provide an effective functioning of the corporate mechanism for the implementation of transformations (Kang, 2014).

Conclusion

The research on the implementation of innovations, their evaluation, and a continuous improvement plan in the ZTE Corporation showed that the productive use of innovations and their transformation in certain commercial results are some of the important conditions of the economic growth. The business of ZTE is connected with innovations, hence counting on the continuous modifications in production technologies. On the one hand, for the supply with strategically competitive advantages, innovations are not an essential kind of activity. On the other hand, it represents such a kind of activity as a result of which there are scientific and technical achievements applied further as a kernel of innovations in the company.

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