Summer University Course

The competitiveness of firms depends on the ability to introduce innovative products, processes and services. This course aims to provide insights into the management of innovation.

Prerequisites

This is a 100-level  introductory course with no prerequisites.

Course description

This course builds analytical insight into relationships between knowledge, innovation and competitiveness and into their implications for the management of innovation. The course introduces theories, concepts, and methods for the analysis of innovations at the levels of projects, firms and industries. The course also introduces a set of tools related to innovation practices of firms, as one of the ways in which the course bridges and integrates academic analysis of innovations with the practical issues of their management. 

Teaching includes lecture-style classes, quizzes, in-class workshops and discussions.

Topics

• Types of innovation
• Collaboration and open innovation
• Challenge of appropriating returns from innovation
• Technology S-curves and disruptive innovation
• Marketing innovative products
• First-mover advantages (?)
• Standards and platforms
• Science as a source of innovation

Learning objectives

At the completion of the course, the student should be:

• Account for the main terms and definitions central in economics and management of innovation
• Recognize how the economics and governance of different organizational types affect their behavior in innovation
• Analyze the characteristics of inter-organizational collaboration on innovation and recognize the skills required to handle them
• Integrate a number of factors, internal and external to the organization, in decision-related analysis
• Describe and assess the potential for formal and informal external knowledge sourcing and how it may help the organization to pursue innovations.

Assessment

Students planning to obtain ECTS credits for the course will write a 60-minute in-class examination. Grading will be based on the written examination (50%) and contribution to class work (50%).

Reading materials

Course notes distributed after the sessions.

Vivék Pundír is a growth strategy consultant, who helps companies achieve breakthrough growth, especially through innovation. Over 20 years across 3 continents, he has advised scores of large multinationals, including The Coca-Cola Company, Deutsche Telekom, British Telecom, Brambles, Lloyd TSB and The Times of India Group, as well as many startups. He has also advised governments, including the office of governor of an American state. Vivék earned his Master of Business Administration from Emory University's Goizueta Business School as a Woodruff Fellow on a full scholarship. Previously, he had earned a Master's degree in Economics from the University of Delhi. Vivék teaches topics of management, strategy and innovation across Europe, most recently at Copenhagen Business School in Denmark.