This course focuses on the analysis of innovation as a pervasive process that cut across organizational and functional boundaries. It looks at the sources of innovation, at the tools and techniques that organizations deploy to routinely innovate, and the strategic implications of technical change.
Objective
This course intends to enable all students to:
- understand the core concepts necessary to analyze how innovation happens
- master the most common methods and tools organizations deploy to innovate
- develop the ability to critically evaluate the innovation process, and act upon the main obstacles to innovation
Content
This course looks at technology and innovation management as a process. Continuously, organizations are faced with a fundamental decision: they have to allocate resources between well-known tasks that reliably generate positive results; or explore new ways of doing things, new technologies, products and services. The latter is a high risk choice. Its rewards can be high, but the chances of success are small. How do firms organize to take these decisions? What kind of management skills are necessary to take them? What kind of tools and methods are deployed to sustain managerial decision-making in highly volatile environments? These are the central questions on which this course focuses, relying on a combination of lectures, case-based discussion, guest speakers, simulations and group work.
Lecture notes
Slides will be available on the Moodle page
Literature
Readings will be available on the Moodle page
Prerequisites / Notice
The course content and methods are designed for students with some background in management and/or economics
Performance assessment
Performance assessment information (valid until the course unit is held again)
Performance assessment as a semester course