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OPEN INNOVATION CRITIQUE

Funmilayo O. Joe-Oka

Department of Business Administration, Nexford University

BUS6120: Introduction Intrapreneurship and Innovation

Dr. Geoffrey Vanderpal

APRIL 24, 2024

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OPEN INNOVATION CRITIQUE - P & G, COCA-COLA, AND NIVEA

Introduction:

In the present-day competitive world, an Open Innovation strategy has become crucial for

businesses that seek to stay relevant. By sharing ideas, knowledge, and expertise across the

boundaries of their organization, these businesses can accelerate growth, stay ahead of the

competition, gain market share, and take advantage of new technologies to better satisfy their

customers. According to Nick (2023), the framework utilizes both ideas from outside the

organization as well as ideas generated inside the organization to drive innovation.

This critique examines the open innovation practices of P & G, Coca-Cola, and Nivea

and provides insights into their approaches, successes, and future strategies.

Summary

P & G is one of the world’s largest producers of consumer products. The company

employs open innovation to find good ideas and bring them to enhance and capitalize on their

internal capabilities. To expand its innovation collaboration the corporation launched a new

website (Connect + Develop platform) in 2013 with external partners to speed up and

simplify external innovation connections. This platform connects the top company gaps, and

P & G business leaders to external innovation submissions via partnership to generate new

products. This won the corporation the New Product Pacesetter in 2013 with seven of its new

products making it to the top 10 most successful non-food products of the year. (Nesli, 2015).
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Coca-Cola is another multinational beverage corporation and one of the forerunners of

innovation in the industry. With its competitive advantage and market share in the industry, it

has adopted open innovation between its team and other entrepreneurs from one side and the

company and its consumers on the other side via a Facebook app for suggestions and

inventions from its followers, and networking tool for staff both locally and across the border

where ideas can be shared. (ideaconnection.com, 2012). Another initiative is the freestyle

dispenser machine that enables consumers to blend flavors and propose new ones for

potential inclusion in a new product line with the ability to record suggestions using the

Coca-Cola mobile application.

Nivea is one of the world’s largest personal care companies that specializes in skin and

body care products embracing open innovation to stimulate idea generation and product

development. Emphasizing crowd-sourcing for innovation, Nivea co-creates directly with its

consumers through social media, an example is the launch of a new product, the Black &

White Deodorant leveraging its external idea generation for evaluation, and refinement while

partnering with Evonik, a specialty chemicals company to jointly develop new products.

(Smith, 2018).

Comparison and Contrast:

P & G, Coca-Cola, and Nivea all engage in open innovation and have customers at the center

of their business, however, they have different approaches and emphases. P & G’s main focus

is on external partnerships through its Connect+Develop platform to find solutions to specific

challenges. Coca-Cola’s focus is on both internal and external collaboration. It engages with

its consumers and entrepreneurs to drive innovation Nivea on the other hand co-creates with

its users directly in the process while seeking feedback and collaboration through social

media and partnerships.

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Major Drivers for P & G, Coca-Cola, and Nivea;

P & G seeks to depend on external collaboration to efficiently bridge the gaps in its

processes. Coca-Cola seeks to maintain its brand through continuous innovation while Nivea

engages directly with its users to address their needs and foster brand loyalty.

Their techniques:

P & G depends on its Connect+Develop platform as a channel for external innovation.

Coca-Cola uses its structured program like the Freestyle Dispenser Machine to gather

external ideas. Nivea directly engages with users via social media and partnerships to gain

insights and co-create solutions.

Evidence of successful innovation sourcing in the three companies:

Through their open innovation initiatives, P & G developed new products from its

engagement with external partners which led them to win the New Product Pacesetter in

2013. Coca-Cola developed new products based on its consumers' engagement in the process,

and Nivea based on its consumers' input came up with the creation of the Black & White

Deodorant. All of these are concrete evidence of successful innovation sourcing.

Future Open Innovation Strategies

Based on the case studies of the three companies future opportunities for Open innovation

strategies could be explored. P & G could further diversify their innovation channel to gain

more insights into a range of ideas and expertise to advance their product development cycle.

Coca-Cola can expand its freestyle initiative by integrating customer feedback into its

innovation processes to continuously develop a wide range of new flavors. Nivea can

strengthen its engagement with users via its social media platforms and partnerships to gain
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insight into a better understanding of its consumers to co-create innovative solutions in line

with their needs.

Conclusion

Despite the size and reputation of P & G, Coca-Cola, and Nivea in the case study it is evident

that open innovation is the key strategy for businesses to remain competitive and drive

continuous improvement in the present-day global market dynamism. With an understanding

of the drivers, techniques, and success of open innovation, businesses can utilize ideas and

strengths from outside the walls of their organization for better and improved innovation

processes.
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Reference

ideaconnection.com. (2012, September 23). Coca-Cola to Put More Fizz into its Innovation

Endeavours. https://www.ideaconnection.com/blog/coca-cola-to-put-more-fizz-into-its-

innovation-endeavours.html

Nesli N. O (2015, July). An Example of Open Innovation : P & G

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/282556889_An_Example_of_Open_Innovation_PG

Nick J. (2023, July 14). What is Open Innovation? Definition, Types, Model, and Best

Practices https://ideascale.com/blog/what-is-open-innovation/

Smith J. (2018, November 13). Nivea: Leveraging Open Innovation to Drive Product

Development in a Race to be the World’s Leading Skincare Company

https://d3.harvard.edu/platform-rctom/submission/nivea-leveraging-open-innovation-to-

drive-product-development-in-a-race-to-be-the-worlds-leading-skincare-company/