Critical Success Factors of a Design Startup Business

Creativity, the generation of novel and useful ideas, and innovation, the transformation of these ideas into new products, processes, and services, are both critical for the long-term viability, profitability, and growth of organizations. Moreover, the complex, risky, and uncertain nature of innovative efforts demonstrates the importance of organizational leaders to effectively manage the innovative process. In this element, we discuss the role of leaders in effectively facilitating the creative problem-solving process that gives rise to innovative products, processes, and services. More specifically, we highlight the knowledge, skills, and behaviors needed to effectively lead across three integrated facets of this process-leading the people, leading the work, and leading the firm. This discussion promotes an understanding of how leaders manage those asked to engage in innovative efforts and, moreover, how leaders systematically integrate creative ideas within the organization to ensure the development and success of innovative products, processes, or services.

Economic instability conditions, which can be caused by various factors such as financial crises, political turbulence, or global events, highlight the importance of developing effective investment strategies to ensure the sustainability and development of enterprises. Effective investment can help businesses unlock new opportunities for competitive development. At the same time, the growing importance of innovation and technological progress is becoming increasingly significant, placing enterprises in need of constant renewal and modernization. Investing in high-tech solutions can provide desired competitive advantages and growth opportunities. Moreover, today consumers are paying more attention to the social responsibility of businesses. Investing in the development of environmentally friendly and socially responsible business can provide enterprises with a positive reputation and consumer support. Thus, in constantly changing market conditions, enterprises must be ready to adapt to new economic realities. Effective investment can help enterprises maintain competitiveness and respond to changing consumer and market demands. © Dmytro Donets, 2024 Received: 02.08.2024 Accepted: 24.08.2024 Published: 30.09.2024 This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 license, which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Cite as: Donets, D. (2024). Investment strategies in enterprise: unlocking opportunities for development. Economic analysis, 34 (3), 286-300. DOI: https://doi.org/10.35774/econa2024.03.286 The purpose of the article is to identify key factors that influence the effectiveness of investment activities of enterprises and provide recommendations for developing and implementing effective investment strategies for businesses. The article emphasizes that investment strategies in enterprises are aimed at stimulating the development of the business entity. As according to the chosen investment strategy, new paths and opportunities for further development can open up. This may include investments in new technologies, expansion of markets, modernization of production, development of innovative products and services, etc. This approach reflects the importance of investments as a strategic tool for stimulating effective and sustainable growth of the enterprise in a competitive environment. The investment strategy ensures the implementation of the appropriate mentality of investment behavior in the most important strategic investment decisions of the enterprise. In addition, in the process of investment activity, the significance of the main criteria for evaluating the selection of the most important investment management decisions is formed. The article also proves that the development of investment activity is one of the basic prerequisites for strategic changes in the overall organizational structure of management and organizational culture of the enterprise. It is emphasized that the development of the enterprise involves, primarily, the technological development of production, improvement of economic and financial performance indicators of the enterprise, in particular, the growth of production profitability, improvement of the characteristics of the social environment in which the investment project will be implemented, improvement of environmental performance indicators of the enterprise.

Introduction. European integration has fostered a dynamic and interconnected market in the European Union (EU), offering significant growth opportunities for companies in the leisure and innovation sectors. By understanding and effectively managing the conditions of European integration, companies can take advantage of this huge market potential, expand their reach and drive sustainable growth. The purpose of the paper is to illuminate and reveal the importance of managing the development of recreational innovative companies in the context of European integration. Results. In the paper, the importance of innovative management in the recreational sphere is considered, in particular in the context of European integration. The authors emphasize the role of sustainable development, digital transformation, joint innovation and compliance with regulatory requirements in ensuring the competitiveness of companies. The importance of strong leadership and strategic decisions for the successful development of companies in the recreational sector is also highlighted. An algorithm for managing the development of innovative recreational companies in the context of European integration is proposed, following which Ukrainian recreational companies can navigate the complexities of European integration while effectively managing their innovative development. Strong leadership combined with strategic decision-making and adaptation will ensure these companies succeed in the European market. Conclusion. Managing the growth of recreational innovation companies requires attention to market competition, quality and safety standards, changes in legislation and the regulatory environment, and consumer needs. The development of innovative products and services that take into account the principles of sustainable development can attract more customers and increase more interest in the market.

Currently, the interest in design thinking in the world has made it possible to add many techniques and visual schemes that can solve various kinds of problems, including for building a strategy to achieve the company’s goals, its corporate spirit and the development of creative skills of its employees. Already today, it is possible to call the merit of design thinking the shift of emphasis in corporate goals to customer orientation, to the mobilization of collective intelligence to solve problems, to understanding the importance of empathy, creativity and entrepreneurship. A comparative analysis of existing design thinking frameworks is given, including from researchers of companies and design centers such as Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford University (d.school), The HPI-Stanford Design Thinking Research Program, Stanford d.school’s Design Thinking framework (IDEO), Google, Intel. Frameworks structure the process of design thinking in 5-6 phases: from empathy, when the needs and requests of consumers are studied, to testing an innovative product or service being created. The place of “design thinking” approach in the general concept of human-centered design is shown. The task of design thinking, the development of innovative products or services focused on human needs, is to provide a solution to a specific problem of a certain target audience. The paper outlines the principles of designing a digital innovative product. The five steps of designing a new product are described and the features of using various visualization techniques are given. The study uses such tools as the “Persona” model, Job Stories and User Stories frameworks. The creating process features of an innovative product based on the integration of design thinking, Lean Startup methodology and the theory of Jobs to Be Done are described. The life cycle of the innovation development “Creation – Evaluation – Training” is presented which is based on the process of validated learning. Changes in the outline of the business model in the lean startup methodology are presented. New segments have been added to the Lean Canvas business model – “Key Partners”, “Key Activities”, “Key Resources”, “Consumer Relations”.

<p>Over the past 50 years there have been many innovations in New Zealand's mental health services. Using case study methodology this research examined two innovations involving general practice - the Newtown Union Health Service (NUHS) mental health programme and the Hawke's Bay (HB) shared care pilot - targeted at people with serious and ongoing mental illness (SOMI). The intent of the research was to inform service delivery arrangements and to provide new knowledge concerning the development of innovative services. Four sources of data - programme documentation, evaluation reports, utilisation data and stakeholders' experiences acquired through questionnaires and interviews - were used in developing the case studies. While the history of these innovations was traced to specific actions, these innovations emerged because of the national and clinical context. The NUHS programme was a bottom-up development the innovation occurring because NUHS needed to find a way of meeting the needs of the people with SOMI who were registered there. NUHS practitioners in consultation with the community made decisions concerning the programme's development The HB pilot was a top-down development that was purchased because new money became available. Primary and secondary service practitioners, managers, researchers and the purchaser made decisions concerning the pilot's initial development. The factors that shaped the innovations included: funding, staffing, clinical and financial risk management and time. Similarities in the innovations included the range of arrangements for mental health care for individual people (from GPs being the sole providers through to GPs providing only physical health care, with the mental health service providing the mental health care), issues of trust and poor communication between the primary and specialist services and the frequency and length of consultations. Differences included the payment arrangements, access issues, the formalisation of co-ordination arrangements and the role of the nurse. The research found that to be adopted for routine use these innovations needed to develop effective service delivery arrangements. The NUHS programme was more successful than the HB pilot at delivering accessible, acceptable, co-ordinated, comprehensive, efficient and effective services. The findings regarding targeting, funding mechanisms, practitioner roles and the time it takes for trust to develop so that innovative services can become established have implications for Primary Health Organisation development. Research is needed on other innovative services to establish whether evaluating the effectiveness of the service delivery arrangements provides a useful framework to monitor and guide the implementation of an innovation in service delivery.</p>

This study proposes a new approach to the responsible development of innovative products, processes and services by companies and organisations operating in the bioeconomy and related industry sectors. It departs from much of the recent and currently available research on responsible research and innovation in that it recognises the very different challenges faced by innovating organisations, compared to conventional approaches with a strong emphasis on upstream engagement. It attempts to move away from the politicised perspectives that have dominated many engagement initiatives on disruptive innovations like synthetic/engineering biology, and to focus on practical downstream outcomes, the extent to which they will fulfil the aspirations of ordinary citizens, and will comply with prevailing industry norms of responsible behaviour. The proposed consolidated responsible innovation framework builds on the framework developed in 2012 by the then Technology Strategy Board, implemented using the anticipate, reflect, engage and act approach devised by UK research councils. It distinguishes between routine, company‐specific aspects of responsibility, expected to be addressed within an organisation's standard operating procedures, and project‐specific aspects requiring regular appraisal throughout the development of an innovation. It is designed to be simple and feasible for a company to implement within a commercial environment.

As of the increase in energy consumption globally, the efficient use of energy is becoming more and more important (International Energy Outlook, 2014). In this sense, this paper introduces a pattern for consumer behavior change for energy efficiency. The authors used their knowledge acquired through previous works on the topic to mine this pattern and dedicated their research to the energy efficiency investigation -- modeling, development and implementation of innovative products and services. They used a mix of methods and techniques to assess energy efficiency insights and improve the current situation through stimulating consumer behavior change.

The article discusses health, business, and sustainable development in relation to the 2016 U.S. presidential election, and it mentions how some governments and business sectors around the world are leading the development of environmental improvement-related innovative products and services. Companies' reporting of progress on environmental issues is examined, along with efforts to improve business reputation and access to capital. Employee and community health are assessed.

IntroductionMany manufacturing firms introduce service innovations to satisfy customer needs and grow their business (Gebauer, Gustafsson, & Witell, 2011; Bettencourt & Brown, 2013). For these firms, the installed base of products acts as a platform for selling services to utilize the entire life cycle of the products to increase profits (Wise & Baumgartner, 1999). On the basis of the identification of value for the customer, manufacturing firms develop new services and use different value constellations for service provision (Kowalkowski, Witell, & Gustafsson, 2013). Theoretically, these services should be developed in a state-of-the-art new service development process (Gebauer, Krempl, Fleisch, & Friedli, 2008; Kindstrom & Kowalkowski, 2009); however, what should this process look like? Previous research confirms several important hypotheses about how new product development (NPD) (Griffin, 1997) and new service development (NSD) (Menor & Roth, 2008; Edvardsson, Meiren, Schafer, & Witell, 2013) should be performed - but do these findings hold for NSD in manufacturing firms?To achieve a competitive advantage, manufacturing firms need to innovate both products and services (Gebauer, Gustafsson, & Witell, 2011). Given increasing competition, manufacturing firms are emphasizing the development of new services (Wise & Baumgartner, 1999). Using service differentiation as a competitive advantage requires the formation of new service capabilities (Prahalad & Hamel, 1990), the development of service strategies (Gebauer, 2008), and knowledge of how to organize for NSD (Fischer et al., 2010). However, our scientific knowledge on NSD in manufacturing firms relies on a few conceptual contributions (Kindstrom & Kowalkowski, 2009), case studies (Gebauer, 2007), and cross-sectional surveys (Santamaria et al., 2012). Many of these studies viewed NSD as a strategic maneuver for manufacturing firms interested in services and treat NSD rather superficially. The present study aims to provide additional knowledge about NSD in manufacturing firms summarized in a set of propositions on how to successfully develop and introduce service innovations.An empirical study was performed to investigate the validity of previous findings of NPD and NSD for NSD in manufacturing firms. A survey was performed on 791 NSD projects, including both manufacturing and service firms. The results show that NSD in manufacturing firms is treated in a step-motherly manner. Often, no special unit for NSD exists, a service development strategy is missing, and the NSD process is either not used or was adopted from the product development process. The possibility of succeeding with service innovations in manufacturing firms in the long run under such conditions seems impossible or even a certain road to failure.Theoretical FrameworkNSD in Manufacturing FirmsWindahl and Lakemond (2006) claimed that the research on NSD focuses solely on the service sector, underexposing NSD that occurs in the manufacturing industry. Moreover, most research on NSD focuses on consumer markets rather than industrial markets. However, exceptions exist, such as Atuahene?Gima (1996) who suggests that service and manufacturing firms should focus on similar factors for improving their innovation performance. De Jong and Vermeulen (2003) argued that organizing NSD is an important topic for decision makers in both service and manufacturing firms. However, a service innovation builds on a different logic than a product innovation. This fact forces manufacturing firms with a challenge to manage different innovation logics and development processes. Product innovation concentrates on changes in product characteristics, while service innovation involves changes in the delivery process and client interface (Gebauer et al., 2008). Much knowledge exists on the innovation logic for product innovations and the NPD process. Reviewing the research on NSD in manufacturing firms shows a knowledge gap on what contributes to success with service innovation in the NSD process of manufacturing firms. …

在线旅行社的服务创新管理：中国的实证分析研究目的目前关于在线旅行社(OTA) 的服务创新管理的研究相对贫乏。本研究旨在阐明OTA的服务创新管理的具体元素。研究设计/方法/途径：本研究以携程网（中国最大的在线旅行社）为对象进行深入案例分析。通过改善已有的基于新服务开发;理论（NSD）, 以及综合服务创新成功要素的理论框架从而提出一项连贯的服务创新管理理论框架。基于理论综合以及实证分析，本研究改编，整合和改善了NSD理论框架从而为在线旅行社的服务创新管理框架所适用。研究结果：被提议的理论框架包括三个层面以及相关管理元素：1） 资源，包括利益相关者，科技和系统；2）应用环境，包括创新战略，结构和文化；以及3）构思能力，包括概念生成，概念应用。管理元素与不同的成功要素相结合。这些层面，管理元素和成功因素作为提出框架的组成部分。研究理论限制/启示：本研究为学术领域提供了分析框架，从而进一步了解和诠释了在线旅行社的服务创新，从而作为今后研究的起点。研究实践启示：本分析框架促使在线旅社管理者在服务创新中借用更加结构化的方法，并且鼓励政策制定者来设计相关的干预措施研究原创性/价值：本研究提供了在中国的环境下迈向在线旅社服务创新的第一步。提议的框架对其他产业也存在潜在贡献。

Modern times has brought major changes to the conceptual social life. Even the dimensions to be assessed not only sociologically and conceptually, but also to consider more joint efforts of the state, society and family. Especially for building social rights policies, integrated by improving the structure of social relations. This should be the essence of each regional social policy, local way of organizing community life. In terms of decentralization of social services, integration services are indications that local authorities should assess not only to root "society board" but target the most vulnerable groups. Rendered necessary by the implementation of a community instruments of the most innovative social policies being considered as trace methodological work and how to move forward strand of improving: Social Plan Area. In this case its implementation will affect the strategic development of innovative social services to improve and provide more social services integrated with health not only for the city but also in Elbasan Municipality Paper, Labino -Fushe, Tregan, Shirgjan, Shushicë, to meet local policies for economic, social and cultural, creating social integration of health services, a calendar of activities for the implementation of the priorities in the field of social protection , to a common vision on the delivery of services DOI: 10.5901/ajis.2016.v5n3s1p52

The continuous development of new services is a prerequisite for the development and prosperity of Museums in today’s competitive environment. So far, however, limited research effort has been devoted on the development process of innovative services within cultural and creative industries and particularly Museums. Given the crucial importance of cultural organisations for the dynamic cultural and creative industries, this research work aims at studying the development of new innovative services in the Museums of Athens and their ability and capacity to adopt innovation management (i.e., development, organisational, functional and technological aspects of management) as the basic strategy for diversification. To achieve this task, a systematic desk-top research took place in order to identify and analyse models, practices and processes available on the design and development of new services. Based on the results of this work, a survey was designed aiming to identify the current status with regards to innovative services development and innovation management within Athenian Museums. The fieldwork was carried out in 62 museums in Athens and investigated the development process of 184 different services. The analysis was based on data collected via an in depth structured interview with questionnaires from museum directors knowledgeable about new service development in their organisation. A multicriteria methodology was used to examine the potential of a predictive model for successful new service development projects in the cultural industry.

This is a summary of the author’s PhD Thesis, supervised by Francisco J. Miranda and defended on December 14th, 2007 at the Department of Business Management and Sociology of the University of Extremadura (Spain). The thesis is written in Spanish and is available from the author upon request. This research work deals with the role of internal marketing orientation as a factor of success in service innovations. A conceptual model is suggested on the basis of PLS methodology.

Human capital is a precondition for regional development and influences, to a great extent, the value or worth of a region. Especially in a turbulent environment, human capital is a key factor to keep a region competitive and innovative. This paper addresses employer branding as a sustainable strategy for companies, located in the border region of Northern Austria, to manage their human resources. The region is characterized by mostly small and medium sized enterprises which increasingly face labour shortage because numerous residents commute to more urban areas. Hence, employer branding contributes to regional development by attracting and retaining qualified people who not only live in the region but are also willing to work there and invest their talent into the development of new and innovative products or services. An empirical study was conducted to gain insight into how precious human capital can be secured in order to reinforce regional development and encounter the labour shortage problem. Interesting information about employers’ and employees’ values was discovered. Based on the results, companies in the target region require an enhanced human resource strategy in order to be visible for potential employees and to retain existing employees. That is to say, companies that are noticeable and attractive have better chances to entice qualified people which, in turn, positively influences regional development, as people not only live but also work in the region and invest their potential. Talented people not only spur the innovative strength of a company but also determine the success of an organisation. New approaches towards managing human capital and their impact on the target region are presented in this paper.

This research aims to develop an Android-based IT product and service sales application with the application of Model-View-Viewmodel (MVVM) architecture, using the Flutter Framework. In addition, this research involved the integration of Headless CMS technology for dynamic content management and LeafletJS map features for a more interactive user experience. Flutter framework is used as the main development tool to create responsive and efficient cross-platform applications. MVVM is adopted to separate business logic, user interface, and data management in a structured and maintainable way. Headless CMS technology allows content management without dependence on frontend structure, while LeafletJS map feature provides interactive location visualization. This research involves the process of developing a prototype application using Flutter and integrating it with Headless CMS and LeafletJS technologies. Evaluation was conducted on the responsiveness of the application, the reliability of integration with Headless CMS, and the user experience when using the interactive map feature. The research results are expected to contribute to the development of efficient and innovative IT product and service sales applications, especially in the context of using the Flutter Framework. The integration of MVVM, Headless CMS, and LeafletJS in the framework creates an application that is responsive, easy to maintain, and provides a better user experience through the interactive map feature.