| Harvard Business School |
Managing Innovation and Product Development (2130)Faculty
Lee Fleming, Professor of Technology and Operations Management
Alan MacCormack, Professor of Technology and Operations Management Most recently offeredFall 2003 Course overviewDespite the importance of innovation to commercial success, relatively few companies have mastered the ability to identify, create, and exploit opportunities for innovation on a systematic basis. Why are some organizations routinely more innovative than others? What strategies can be pursued to capture value from innovation? What capabilities must be developed in order to ensure that a firm responds effectively to sudden and dramatic technological and/or market changes? These issues - among the greatest challenges facing general managers across a variety of industries - will be explored in this course. Managing Innovation and Product Development provides a set of integrated frameworks and tools to help a general manager more effectively design and manage the strategies, processes, and organizational structures required for innovation. The material in the course includes both conceptual frameworks that help managers understand the nature and characteristics of different types of innovation, as well as practical insights on how to design processes to ensure their effective execution. The course tackles issues at both a strategic level (e.g., how should GM approach fuel-cell powered automobiles?) as well as decisions of a more tactical nature (e.g., how does 3M generate new product ideas?). This course is aimed at students who are likely to work in industries where innovation provides a major source of competitive advantage, or in positions where they have responsibility for developing new products or services. It should be particularly useful for students considering positions in general management, business development, product marketing, operations management, consulting and venture capital. |