Managing Innovation

Course Lectures by Prof. Qaiser Malik

32 sessions

Course Requirements

Managing Innovation requires classroom attendance (32 Sessions) as well as the

completion of a team project that unfolds during the Term.

Career Focus

The course is intended for a broad range of business careers in which innovation is
critical to the development of new products and services, e.g. Entrepreneurial start-
ups, management consulting, and senior positions in R&D, marketing or strategic
planning. Because product and service development is fundamental to the
management of organic growth, the demand for MBA students with course work in
this field has generally been very high.

We will focus on the tools, techniques and concepts necessary to the design,
development, and management of innovation processes in product and service-based
businesses.

Educational Objectives

Managing Innovation (MI) introduces you to the critical elements of designing and
developing innovative products and services, how these can be configured, and how
the results are managed. These elements include the pivotal roles played by
experimentation, prototyping, and learning; product/service development process
design and improvement; the understanding and integration of customer needs;
development strategy and project management; and the powerful challenge of
designing and managing development networks. Along the way you will encounter
many of the best management practices, tools, and frameworks currently in use as
well as new approaches just now being deployed.
The course materials intentionally cuts across functional boundaries, for the focus is
squarely on the managerial skills and capabilities needed for effective practice. So
while many situations you encounter emphasize the role of (new) technology, you will
approach these as a manager, not as a technologist. If you happen to be a
technologist, however, the managerial perspective will be enriching! But it's important
to note that this managerial perspective is not undifferentiated. Depending on the
situation, you will be assuming the role of team manager, project manager, functional
manager, general manager, or CEO. This array of roles suggests how fundamental
innovation is to firms at every level, and how excellence in its management is critical
to competitiveness.

Specifically, MI will help you learn:

How experimentation, learning, and prototyping are fundamental to innovation and

fuel the development and improvement of products and services, processes, and
systems.

How to design and manage development systems that maximize learning.

How to integrate customers and new technologies into product development processes.

How to design, build, and manage development networks and communities of

innovators.

Course Content and Organization

The course is divided into three major modules:

Module 1: Design Thinking: Why innovation matters;

Module 2: Sources of Innovation: Where new products and services come from;

Module 3: Challenges in Managing Innovation: Technology, organization and change.

The learning, from the cases, readings, videos and from class discussion is
cumulative. That is, each session introduces new ideas, while reinforcing the topics
you've debated in previous sessions. In this way, even though you will be plunged into
what may look like amazingly different circumstances, in fact you are encountering
best practices that cut across all situations. By the end of the course, you will be able
to see these commonalities and discuss them cogently.

Project
The purpose of the project is to give students a hands-on experience in designing an
innovation approach to a major issue facing an organization. Student teams will work
closely with staff of any willing organization to identify issues and opportunities.
Teams will prepare a report and presentation group wise.