Course Overview

This course is designed to do two things. First, to give you a sense of why building a rich understanding of innovation is both exciting and critical to modern managerial practice, and second, to give you a solid grounding in the tools necessary to manage it in large, established organizations. In particular, there is no “one best way” to manage innovation -- for example, the tools and techniques appropriate to managing incremental innovation are quite different from those appropriate to managing radical innovation. Taking a management perspective, this course complements approaches in marketing and strategy by focusing on process and organizational issues related to innovation in a wide range of multi-national firms.

Course Topics

• Organizing for Innovation: Building on cases like Iridium and Pfizer, topics include the design of innovative organizations, the complexity of innovation in organizations, and the structures and processes in organizations which support innovation
• Managing Incremental Innovation: Building on cases like BMW and Google, topics include the shifting work practices used to facilitate innovation, the creation of new organizational routines, and the strong resistance to change in organizations
• Managing Radical Innovation: Building on cases like Procter & Gamble and IBM, topics include the systemization of creativity in organizations, the diverse sources of breakthrough ideas, and the impact of company culture on innovation adoption
• Managing Innovation Development: Building on cases like Unilever and Bank of America, topics include models of innovation development, the role of experimentation in delivering services, and the integration of personnel into the development process
• Managing Innovation across Boundaries: Building on cases like 3M and Danone, topics include the solicitation of new ideas from outside of the firm, the management of evolving business opportunities, and the appropriation of non-proprietary knowledge