Sustainable Process and Product Innovation in the Eyewear Sector: The Role of Industry 4.0 Enabling Technologies

This paper aims to provide the reader with an organic view of the eyewear sector considering both market and quality aspects and evaluating the role of Industry 4.0 in process and product innovation for managing consumer health, analyzing a case study of a leading multinational company in the eyewear and ophthalmic lenses sector. The research has been developed with a qualitative approach. The study is a conceptual development and it uses an exploratory interview to create a single case study. The case study was developed with the realization by the researcher of a semi-structured interview. The selected interlocutor was the Innovation Manager of Alpha Optics. It has been decided to focus the attention on this figure, as it was responsible for the realization and introduction into the company of Industry 4.0 enabling technologies for developing health innovations. From this case study it was possible to observe how the connection with the trends that influence the demand for eyeglasses is a driving factor for product innovation. Products increasingly adapted to the needs of young people and the use of digital devices seem to be the ones on which the greatest number of innovations are concentrated.

Project Managers Are the Best Candidates to Manage Innovation

<p class="0abstract"><span lang="EN-US">N</span><span class="Ninguno"><span lang="EN-US">ew technologies are changing our society bringing both great opportunities and enormous risks; therefore it is of paramount importance to understand how to cope with the ongoing digital transformation and how to manage the innovation it brings in all sectors and at all levels. The ability to innovate is a crucial factor for long-term corporate success. Everybody agrees on the importance to bring innovation within companies and organizations but there is little consensus on how to do it. Over the last years, a strong debate has raised on the identification of innovation manager’s tasks and duties and, above all, on the background and skills that this new professional profile should possess in order to effectively manage innovation. Very often, the innovation manager is seen as someone mostly resembling to a R&amp;D or an IT Manager. Nevertheless, innovation is not only technology-led but encompasses a broader variety of aspects. This suggests that a different and more comprehensive background should be considered when codifying the innovation manager profile. This paper intends to identify this background by showing the strict correlation between project management and innovation management with the aim to emphasize why project management should represent the proper competency and experiential framework for innovation managers.</span></span></p>

Implementation of employee suggestion programme: a case study of the Middle East health-care service company

Learning outcomes After studying this case, the students should be able to: explain the importance of employee engagement; illustrate the role of the participatory management style in an organizational context; discuss why managers may use engagement practices to operate effectively in businesses to lead change and innovation; identify the critical success factors, barriers and outcomes of employee involvement in driving high performance; and discuss the dilemma faced by the managers in the emerging economies while driving the momentum of excellence in the long run. Case overview/synopsis This is a real case about a leading health-care service company located in the Middle East. The health-care organization’s name is changed to NOVA for reasons of confidentiality. The NOVA is an independent, public joint stock company created to meet the curative needs of the public health-care system in Middle East. The company introduced the Employee Suggestion Scheme named Minara in 2011 in a Federal Government decree, introducing innovation as a major pillar of management in 2013 with intent to encourage organizations build innovative solutions and pioneer initiatives and apply it effectively in services, processes and programmes. Making the Minara programme work in line with the national health agenda, Ms. Fatima who headed the Excellence and Innovation Department took the initiative of accelerating the innovative Programme (Minara). The case data were collected based on both primary and secondary sources. Although the case is based on the real data, it has been ammonised. The case describes the transformation of the innovation process at NOVA through the employee engagement programme (Minara) in meeting the disruptive challenges. This case addresses the challenges faced by the Excellence and Innovation manager who used effective employee engagement practices through the Employee Suggestion Programme in a creative way to bring about innovation in the health-care sector. The case outlines the dilemma faced by the Excellence and Innovation manager in bringing about innovation through the Employee involvement programme in the emerging economic scenario. The case will focus on the analysis of the different aspects of the issues pertaining to employee engagement, employee motivation and the framing of empowerment strategies to bring about innovation and continuous improvement through an effective employee suggestion programme. The case is intended to give budding managers an insight into innovation and employee engagement practices that impact performance in the organization. Complexity academic level This case will be suitable to be used in Human Resource Management and Management of Change and Innovation course at undergraduate and Master’s level. Supplementary materials Teaching Notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email [email protected] to request teaching notes. Subject code CSS 1: Accounting and Finance