Module BUSI3342: Innovation Accelerator

Department: Management and Marketing

BUSI3342: Innovation Accelerator

Prerequisites

• None

Corequisites

• None

Excluded Combination of Modules

• BUSI3232 Dissertation AND BUSI Advanced Topics in Critical Organisational Studies

Aims

• The module aim is to:
• To enable students to apply the major theories of innovation to the development of a technology or startup firm
• To equip students with the skills needed to research, scale-up, and disseminate commercialisation strategies for innovations and technologies within a commercial market place.
• To appreciate from theoretical perspectives the principles and practice of managing innovation and technology at an advanced level.
• Develop Innovation Management capabilities (e.g. forecasting and planning capabilities) and encourage broad awareness of factors impacting technology development in modern organisations.
• Advanced ability to apply relevant analytical tools to assess innovation strategies to pursue commercialization opportunities.

Content

• Indicative Content
• Areas of application – academic and commercial knowledge of start-up phases for new technologies, business models, and new ventures. This will include:
• The role of innovation in the evolution of new markets, the fluid phase of technological uncertainty, the emergence of the dominant design and establishment of variety-based forms of innovation.
• Invention and innovation, radical and incremental models of innovation.
• The influence of architectural and modular innovation on competitive markets
• The role of alliances and strategic maneuvering in establishing new markets
• Christensen’s disruptive/sustaining model of innovation.
• How innovations are communicated and diffused across social systems and to the potential adopters of technologies; The diffusion process and the danger of the ‘chasm’: traditional and social network-based approaches to diffusion of innovation.
• Assets of the firm and innovation management; Intellectual capital, and intellectual property strategies to gain competitive advantage from innovation
• New product development: static models of innovation, technology-push and market-pull models. How to manage technological innovation within organisations; a review of the historical approaches to innovation and new product development
• Distributed innovation, open innovation, and the implication of diversity on innovation and technology management. Technology brokering and recombinant innovation.
• Breakthrough innovation: current perspectives in the management of innovation, the shift from economic models based upon scarcity to abundance and the role of ‘The Long Tail’ concept to innovation management.
• Technology-led vs Design-led innovation. The role of design in maximising competitive advantage from innovative technologies

Learning Outcomes

• Subject-specific Knowledge: 
• An advanced contextual knowledge of innovation as a key organizational process in modern companies, and how innovation can shape and determine new industries and markets.
• A deep and critical appreciation of theoretical debates and practical context involving the process in which new technologies and innovations are developed.
• Critical appreciation for the complex nature of industrial context, knowledge management and the emergence of creativity.
• Advanced managerial competencies to craft and analyse innovation strategies, by enhancing critical capabilities to analyse the contradictory motors of change and often paradoxical logic associated with ‘planning’ for innovation.
• Be able to critically evaluate the impact of innovation on organisational strategy.

• Subject-specific Skills: 
• To have acquired skills of independent research and project management. 
• To be able to demonstrate an ability to present and analyse data in a clear and appropriate manner. 
• To be able to demonstrate an ability to present arguments and conclusions in an extended and coherent form. 

• Written communication - through summative assessment. 
• Planning, Organisation and Working to deadlines. 
• Problem Solving and Analysis - e.g. by designing research, manipulating concepts and applying analytical skills. 
• Initiative by gaining access to relevant sources. 
• Computer literacy - by production of the dissertation in word processed form, accessing literature and other sources via electronic means, relevant use of computer based experimentation and data analysis methods.

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• The learning outcomes will be met through a series of lectures, seminar discussions and presentations, together with guided reading.
• The assessment of the module, by written assignment and group presentation, is designed to: test the acquisition and articulation of knowledge; test conceptual understanding and skills of application and interpretation within the business context
• Formative assessment is in two forms: evaluation of, and feedback on, work undertaken during the tutorials; and through feedback on the preparation of the project outline, draft chapter, and tutorial discussions.  
• Summative assessment is in three sequential parts: Technology Enterprise, Market Analysis, and Business Model Configuration

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

Continuous tutorial preparation and feedback throughout Terms One and Two.

■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University