School of Management, Unit Catalogue 2008/09 |
MN50418 Management of innovation |
| Credits: 6 |
| Level: Masters |
| Semester: 1 |
| Assessment: CW 40%, EX 60% |
| Requisites: |
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Aims: This unit aims to introduce key innovation management concepts and principles, and to explore the skills required to manage product and process innovation at operational and strategic levels. The unit explores how firms can create market advantage, increase revenues and reduce costs, and enhance competitiveness through innovation.
Learning Outcomes: At the end of the course students will be able to: * Identify and describe different types of innovations; * Identify the effects of institutions and national systems of innovation on the innovation management process; * Assess the skills and capabilities required to manage innovation in the design and introduction of process and product/service offerings; * Evaluate a set of enabling mechanisms and structures to encourage innovative behaviour; * Identify best practice in managing innovation across multiple sectors, such as benchmarking; * Identify the components of innovation strategy and its link with corporate strategy; * Assess the extent of innovativeness of any organisation. Skills: Intellectual skills: * the facility to apply subject-specific knowledge into a range of complex situations, taking into account the overall implications for the other areas of the business (T/F/A) * a critical awareness of current issues and frameworks in innovation management (T/F/A) * the ability to acquire and analyse data, information and situations; to evaluate relevance and validity, and to synthesise it in the context of topical business problems (A) Professional Practical skills: * evaluate the current standing of an organization and practically contribute to the attainment of their company's strategies and objectives (T, F) * operate effectively both independently as well as within teams and assume leadership roles where appropriate (F) Transferable/Key skills: * an openness and capacity to continue learning with the ability to reflect on earlier knowledge and practice and integrate the new with past experience and effectively apply it to the present situations (T/F) Personal/Interpersonal: * an ability to manage and work in international teams with an awareness of issues such as culture and gender, to identify learning/working styles and to use these to the benefit of the individual and the team (F) * the facility to communicate, especially through written and oral presentations, preparation and production of effective business reports (T/F/A). Content: This unit will provide the foundation for the entire programme and will therefore commence by explore definitions of innovation, including distinctions between different types of innovation. Innovation failure and success factors will be examined through empirical evidence to provide an overview of current best practice. The unit will examine both product, process and service innovation, explore changes in the product-service boundary, and discussing trends towards 'servitisation'. Innovation strategy and its link with corporate strategy, will be identified, and a multi-stakeholder perspective will be introduced through identification of national systems of innovation and institutions. The role of skills and capabilities, including distinctions between core and non-core, will be assessed, which will further emphasise the multi-stakeholder perspective. Enabling mechanisms and structures for innovation management will be evaluated, and innovation audit frameworks will be introduced, allowing students to measure the level of innovativeness of any organisation, and areas of improvement. Finally, best practice methods in managing innovation across multiple sectors will be explored. |