Innovation, Creativity, and Design Definitions Paper

University of PhoenixJanuary 19, 2010IntroductionBusinesses rely on several factors to start business, stay in business and compete with other businesses. These factors include staff such as managers and employees, consumers, the market, economy, and environmental aspects. Innovation can keep a business current and differentiate itself from the competition. Creativity and design play important roles during the innovation process. This paper will define innovation, creativity, and design. It will explain the business implications and identify similarities and differences.

InnovationWhat is innovation and how does it apply to business? According to BusinessDictionary (2010), innovation is the process of applying ideas, imagination and initiative to create new products. Innovation is typically geared to a specific product that will fill a customer's need and provide measurable results on the business' performance. Today innovation has taken over a previous term once known as "new product development" (Stamm, 2003). There are different categories and levels to innovation and the common categories are product innovation and process innovation.

creativity

An Innovation Competence Process Coming From Knowl...

Strategic Innovation Process

Product innovation is the product that is offered by the company and process innovation is the process of creating the product and how it is distributed to the target audience. Bettina von Stamm (2003) defines innovation as "a frame of mind. It is the art of making new connections and continuously challenging the status quo without changing things for change's sake." Innovation is the result of creativity and implementation.

Creativity and ImplementationCreativity is defined as "a mental characteristic that allows a person to think outside of the box which results in innovative or different approaches to a particular task" (BusinessDictionary, 2010). Creativity is an individual act that may be encouraged, trained, and fine tuned; however, it cannot be forced. "Implementation - putting ideas into practice - is made up of three aspects: idea selection, development, and commercialization…" (Stamm,