Stanford Data Stream Management System †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Stanford Data Stream Management System. Answer: Introduction: The objective of the plan is to study a disruptive technological innovation in organisations and the steps to bring them about. The firm chosen for the study is Cotton On Group, the Austrlian retail chain known for premium clothing for men, women and teenagers. The company has its headquarters in Geelong, Australia and has presence in several other countries like the UK, Brazil and Singapore (cottonongroup.com.au, 2017). The plan would cover the processes to bring about technological innovations and the issues companies face while bringing about those innovations. The proposed project would aim to build a technological application would have advanced features, which would allow the staff to accede to information subject to certain restriction. The new data management and sharing software should be synthesis of HR software, data management software, performance monitoring software and formal communication enabling software. The name of the new innovative system would be Data Synthesis and Management or DSM. The system would use the official mail ids and passwords of the staffs when they attempt to enter the system. The email ids would be linked to the designations and employee information database. For example, the sales staffs would be able to see data related to clients but not pertaining to other departments. Their managers would be able to view their details of the employees reporting to them. The portal would allow the superiors to allocate tasks to their subordinates and monitor their performance on the same. The superiors would be able t o give feedback to the employees they command. The employees should update their performances on the portal on regular basis. The HR would be able to gain information about the performances of individual employees while appraising. The new product to be introduced in Cotton On Group would be an advanced data management and access system following the technological process innovation. Technological process innovation involves improvement in the production or delivery method. Adoption of the advanced data management and access system would require changes in the working methods of Cotton On Group like installation of advanced technology and well trained human resource capable of operating the technology. It would involve obtaining of patents and copyrights before commercialising the new technology to prevent the competing firms from copying it. This analysis shows that the appropriate method would be the most appropriate method to introduce an innovative data management and access system (Hollis et al., 2015). The development of new product and commercialisation can follow state-gate model, which involves managers, apex management and the intermediate managers. It is appropriate for development of new products li ke software. The state-gate model considers the business needs, risks involved with the innovation and the resources required for the innovation. The figure below shows that the model consists of five stages starting from idea conceiving followed by idea screening and scoping. The stages to bring about the innovation consider aspects like concept tests and risk assessment. The case study speaks about an introduction of a innovative software. In the light of the above, it can be inferred that state-gate model is the appropriate innovation model. The analysis of the new technological portal shows that can be adopted and commercialised by training of employees to change the ways they work. The company would have to invest huge amount of capital in technology to bring about the advancement. The management body and the middle level managers of Cotton On Group should have thorough knowledge about the new system and they should arrange of employee training in the same direction. The company must educate the suppliers and customers about the tool, which would help it to commercialise it successfully. Thus, it can be construed from the discussion that the appropriate ways to adopt and commercialise the portal would be technological process innovation (Cavallo et al., 2014). Preparedness of Cotton on Group for advanced data management and sharing system: The innovation diamond shows that readiness of the firms for innovations which would requirement them to advance their modus operandi, human resource and financial resource allocation (Arasu et al., 2016). The research would judge the readiness of Cotton On Group to embrace the advanced data management DMS based on the following criteria: The market index of Cotton On Group shows that the retail chain has a strong international presence. As a per a leading international daily, Cotton ON Group is gradullay strentheing its presence in the US and Europe (latimes.com, 2017). The cotton apparel retail chain already has captured the Australian retail fashion market (fibre2fashion.com, 2017). These two evidence show that Cotton On enjoys highest position on the market index. This analysis shows that the position of Cotton On on the innovation diamond is 1. The highest position Cotton On enjoys in the market shows its power to bring about innovation in its products to cater to a vast diverse consumer base. Its presence in several nations like, Brazil, the United Kingdom and Malaysia proves its capability to cater the needs of a diverse customer profile. The official website of the company shows the locations of the retail outlets but does not provide the online purchase links. Thus, Cotton On features at 5th position in the innovation diamond index (Reddy et al., 2014) Cotton On sources high quality organic cotton from all round the world. This international presence points out to the capability of Cotton On to allocate human, financial and material resources. This places it above the 4th position on the innovation diamond, which shows that the company is ready to adopt the new data management system. The strategic planning of Cotton On is above fifth position and hence, sound on the innovation diamond. This is evident by the strong foreign presence and top position in its home market in Australia. The sustainable production strategy of the retail chain proves its strategy to use highly advanced sustainable technology. The strong presence points out to the efficient market expansion strategies. This proves that Cotton On Group is capable of adoption of Data Synthesis and Management (Kipnis, Broderick Demangeot, 2014).. Explanation on the innovation diamond diagram: The discussion of the four indices namely, market index, innovation index, strategy index, innovation index and resource index shows that Cotton On occupies high position in all these indices. The figure of innovation diamond in the appendix 1 is divided into four quadrants each belong to one of the indices. The axes X and Y are divided into ten equal divisions, five divisions belonging to each quadrant as shown above. Since, according to the analysis, Cotton On Group occupies positions above 5, the position assumed for all the indices is 5. The blue lines show the highest position of Cotton On shows that it is capable of adopting DSM (Carayannis, Sindakis Walter, 2015). Return Risk analysis of the new technological innovation-DSM: The return risk profile of the new technology Data Synthesis and Management or DSM would follow the RENT model. The RENT model tries to compare the amount of return the use of an innovation can bring and the investment to adopt the innovation (Mazzarol Reboud, 2017). According to a leading Australian daily, the sales target of Cotton On is $1.51 billion with the profit margin is twenty percent. The tenure for the target is a year. Component of RENT Indicators Volume Size of industry or market sector-International Geographic diffusion potential-Australia, Brazil, the UK etc Size of end-user markets-Large market Limits due to prior patents-NA Rate Type of innovation process involved- technological process innovation Type of innovation involved-synthesis Level of prior protection for intellectual property Length Technological basis of innovation-advanced technology Innovation intensity of the user centre-high Legal and technical protection of intellectual property-Yes Innovation champions and champions of innovation Cotton On should employ specialists who have deep knowledge in innovations. They would drive the software innovation in company. Cotton On Group should collaborate with other firms to bring about the innovations. This would help it in becoming a champion of innovation. Figure 2. Planning contingency matrix (Source: Mazzarol Reboud, 2017) The planning contingency matrix consists of two axes, the organisational configuration showing the Y-axis and the level of uncertainty showing the X-axis. The figure clearly shows that when level of complexity increases, the apex management body has to form central operation strategy which they communicate with the subordinates. The preferred channels to communicate such extreme complex strategies to handle contingency situations are formal communication channels like emails and conferences. The CEO in the same situations becomes the representative of the company to communicate contingency plans to the external stakeholders like government and shareholders. As discussed in the RENT model, the aim of Cotton On is to achieve a sale of $1.51 billion. The company is seeking to expand its reach in Europe and North America. This would require complex business strategies formation to adopt the new data management technology, which would require the top management to form business strategies . The CEO would use the formal channel of communication like press releases to communicate the complex business strategies including adoption of the new advanced data management technology to external stakeholders like government (smh.com.au, 2017). Hence, as per the response contingency matrix model, Cotton On Group belongs to the two top quadrants, joker and champion. Consider the readiness of the market: Companies aiming to commercialise their technical innovation should first consideration the uniqueness of the innovation. If the technological innovation is difficult to copy by other firms and has been protected by intellectual property rights, the firms should them commercialise it. For example, the Data Synthesis and Management or DSM combines HR portal, performance management portal and communication system. It is evident that the software requires great investment in human resources and technology which most of the firms will not be able to avail. Hence, Cotton One can commercialise the software because it is a strong innovation hard to replicate. The companies seeking to commercialise their technology should take into consideration the availability of premium pricing in a particular market. They should also consider the factors like the cost of obtaining the IPRs. If the IPRs can be obtained easily in a market, the companies can commercialise their technological innovations. The pricing strategy should help the companies to obtain IPRs and resources at differential rates. This facility would prevent the competitors of the companies from availing the IPRs and the resources at the same price. This would prevent them from making similar innovations. The companies like Cotton One should take into considerations existing market plays like the present companies who are capable of making similar innovations. The companies should take into consideration the legal factors prevailing in the countries of operations before commercialising their technological innovations. If the legal frameworks of a country take strong actions against infringements of copyrights and trademarks, the company can release the technological innovations in those markets. These laws provide protection to these companies against fraud organisations, which illegally utilise the products to earn profits. End user and stakeholder consideration: The companies seeking to commercialise software should take into account the support of the stakeholders like financial institutions, customers and suppliers. This is because the technological innovations require huge investments in technology and man power. The companies obtain the financial resources from institutions like banks which finance them. As a result, the proposal for the technological innovations have to be approved by the banks. Secondly, if the suppliers and customers do not accept the innovations, it causes huge losses to the companies like Cotton One. That is why the companies like Cotton One should obtain the support of the stakeholders before commercialising the technological innovations. The companies like Cotton One should be able to choose from the various innovative technological models available. The companies should at first, gain information about similar technologies in use in companies across diverse industry. They should choose from the best available technology which they can use to bring about disruptive technological to gain higher competitive advantage over competing firms. The companies before adopting the technology should study the use of similar technology and its performance. Cotton One should take into account similar technology in use and make sure that the new technology is unique and more efficient than the existing applications. The company should find a suitable market for the new technological innovations. This would ensure high returns due to acceptance of the technology among the stakeholders. Three critical tests of implementing strategies to implement technological innovations: The three critical examinations of implementing technological innovations are: The company must gain support from customer who seek multitasking technology. The company must target customers to seek technology to make their work easier. Cotton One must target customers who seek new modern technology to enhance their benefit. Four key issues regarding adoption of technological innovation: The four important problems on adopting technological innovation are: Failure to accept new technology among customers. Customers often cannot compare between new and existing technology. The customers often keep on shifting from one technology to another. The new technological innovation should be a synthesis innovation instead of being a combination of a combination of radical, synthetic and incremental innovation. This because the current technological products the company uses already have the attributes of the new technology, DSM. The firm has an efficient structure in terms of experts and champions of innovation and a capable management to deal with expensive advanced technological innovations. The finding and analyses of the various concepts show that disruptive innovations are necessary for the companies to maintain their competitive advantage. The companies must allocate huge investments and human resources to support those innovations. Conclusion: It can be concluded from the discussion that companies must enter new markets and adopt new technologies to maintain their market positions. They must seek approval from the stakeholders like customers and government to make those innovations profitable. References: Acs, Z. J., Audretsch, D. B., Lehmann, E. E., Licht, G. (2017). National systems of innovation.The Journal of Technology Transfer,42(5), 997-1008. Arasu, A., Babcock, B., Babu, S., Cieslewicz, J., Datar, M., Ito, K., ... Widom, J. (2016). Stream: The stanford data stream management system. InData Stream Management(pp. 317-336). Springer Berlin Heidelberg. Carayannis, E. G., Sindakis, S., Walter, C. (2015). Business model innovation as lever of organizational sustainability.The Journal of Technology Transfer,40(1), 85-104. Cavallo, E., Ferrari, E., Bollani, L., Coccia, M. (2014). Attitudes and behaviour of adopters of technological innovations in agricultural tractors: A case study in Italian agricultural system.Agricultural Systems,130, 44-54. Cotton On top performing fashion retailer of 2017: Report. (2017).Fibre2fashion.com. Retrieved 11 November 2017, from https://www.fibre2fashion.com/news/fashion-news/cotton-on-top-performing-fashion-retailer-of-2017-report-205981-newsdetails.htm Daswani, K. (2017).Australian retail giant Cotton On gears up for big California expansion.latimes.com. Retrieved 11 November 2017, from https://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-cotton-on-20160531-snap-story.html Global headquarters - Cotton on Group. (2017).Cotton on Group. Retrieved 11 November 2017, from https://cottonongroup.com.au/contact-us/global-headquarters/ Hollis, C., Morriss, R., Martin, J., Amani, S., Cotton, R., Denis, M., Lewis, S. (2015). Technological innovations in mental healthcare: harnessing the digital revolution.The British Journal of Psychiatry,206(4), 263-265. Kipnis, E., Broderick, A. J., Demangeot, C. (2014). Consumer multiculturation: consequences of multi-cultural identification for brand knowledge.Consumption Markets Culture,17(3), 231-253. Mazzarol, T., Reboud, S. (2017).Entrepreneurship and Innovation(17th ed., pp. Ch.11, pp. 339-348; 350-351; and 362-370). Mitchell, S. (2017).Cotton On: The inside story of the retailer's rise to $1.5b in revenue.The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 11 November 2017, from https://www.smh.com.au/business/retail/cotton-on-the-inside-story-of-the-retailers-rise-to-15b-in-revenue-20150326-1m8e67.html Reddy, T. B., Thomas, A. D., Stamatis, D., Bertsch, J., Isbandi, M., Jansson, J., ... Kyrpides, N. C. (2014). The Genomes OnLine Database (GOLD) v. 5: a metadata management system based on a four level (meta) genome project classification.Nucleic acids research,43(D1), D1099-D1106.