Module BUSI4BF15: Digital Innovation and New Media in International Business

Department: Management and Marketing

BUSI4BF15: Digital Innovation and New Media in International Business

Prerequisites

• None

Corequisites

• None

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None

Aims

• To enable students to study the major theories of innovation, and to appreciate from theoretical perspectives the principles and practice of managing innovation and technology at an advanced level.

Content

• The lectures and practical classes within this module will be organised around the following themes/topics:
• 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 implications.
• The role of alliances and strategic manoeuvring in establishing new markets, and 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

• By the end of this module students will:
• Have an advanced contextual knowledge of innovation as a key organisational process in modern companies, and how innovation can shape and determine new industries and markets.
• Have an advanced contextual knowledge of innovation as a key organisational process in modern companies.

• By the end of this module students will:
• Be able to critically evaluate the impact of innovation on organisational strategy.
• Be able to understand the nature and scope of firm innovation.
• Be able to understand firm innovation strategy.

• Written communication; oral communication; teamwork; interpersonal skills; planning, organising and time management; problem solving and analysis; using initiative; computer literacy.
• Selecting appropriate modes of communication.
• Data presentation and visualisation.

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 individual 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 and group presentation based either on a case study or on the assessment of the innovation capabilities of a real company. There will be approximately 4 students in each group, and all will be expected to present. All group members will receive the same mark for this element.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

Group presentation

■ 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