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The course follows a double target: on the one hand students get a ground-laying understanding on several key topics on strategic technology management and innovation both, at a high academic standard and with an exposure to business practices.
Learning outcomes
After completing this course, students will:
- Understand classic and recent theories in the field of strategic technology management and innovation (BA ILO 1.2)
- Be able to critically reflect on conceptual and empirical contributions to theory in this field (BA ILO’s 1.2, 1.3, 1.4)
- Be able to critically analyze and align the design of organizations, products and strategies for innovation (BA ILO 2.4)
- Be able to analyze the coherence (fit) between product/service designs and organizational architectures in project case and / or develop a research question and write an academic paper on this topic (BA ILO’s 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4)
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Interactive lectures on particular aspects of STM&I enable students to understand and discuss advanced topics presented by their professors. Then, students form project teams to work on a practical assignment which they subsequently present to their peers and a business coach. Topics extend the knowledge developed in the introductory lectures, which establish a common understanding in the class. Project assignments are drawn from multiple industries such as the financial services industry, construction industry, health care industry, gaming and computer and software industries.
Key words (4-5):
Strategy, innovation management, scenario based business roadmapping, modularity, platform thinking, strategic flexibility, product/service family planning, platform ecosystems / (digital) business platform desgin.
Format and content
The strategic planning process in the ongoing generation of innovative knowledge is vital to the survival and growth of a firm. This course focusses on the strategic interrelationships of product/service family design, organization design and, processes for managing innovation and knowledge within and between firms. During this course you will learn how these components interact in determining a firm’s success.
Focal topics include:
- Roadmapping for strategy and innovation. Scanning the competitive landscape and define a firm’s competitive positioning is key to a firm’s success. Roadmapping is a powerful technique for planning an organization’s technological capabilities to ensure they meet its commercial or strategic goals. We will discuss conventional and novel tools and techniques for roadmapping. Next we will discuss structured methods that help firms design and maintain a high quality innovation project portfolio.
- Managing in an age of modularity: We study the concept of modularity in product and organization designs based on standardized component and organization interfaces. By facilitating loose coupling, modularity can reduce the cost and difficulty of adaptive coordination, thereby increasing the strategic flexibility of firms to respond to environmental change in multiple ways (e.g. modularity in use, design and production). As you will find out, modularity and the use of modular design rules has significant implications for the management of innovation and knowledge within and across firm boundaries.
- Platform strategies and related business models. The use of the term platform has proliferated in strategic management research and is used to describe management phenomena at the level of individual products, product systems, industry supply chains, markets, industries, and even constellations of industries (Gawer, 2009). At these levels we will study three themes that are strategically interconnected:
- organizational platforms: how do firms benefit from recombining capabilities both internally within the organization, co-aligning the organization’s routines and transactions, and through the wider network, where the re-architecting of capabilities and associated organizational structures is carried out (Ciborra, 1996).
- product family platforms and platform driven innovation: in dynamic markets a platform-based product/service family design is recognized as an effective method for constructing a product or service line that satisfies a diverse customer demand while keeping design and production cost- and time-effective. We will discuss several tools that help managers design a product or service platform that allows their firm to gain an above normal return.
- and platform ecosystems: how to position a firm in the wider platform ecosystems? Competitive positioning in the wider ecosystem is inevitable for many firms but is a central, yet understudied, topic in strategy that we will pay attention to.
Assessment
- Group project assignment (50%)
- Individual exam (50%)
This course is a course that is highly suitable for students in business administration and industrial engineering and management but also master students that are interested in strategy and innovation. As such, it provides the foundation for further specialization in the selected topics.
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| Master Business Administration |
| Master Industrial Engineering and Management |
| Master Interaction Technology |
| Master Chemical Engineering |
| | Required materials-Recommended materialsArticles| Course material includes scientific papers from journals such as: Management Science, Strategic Management Journal, Journal of product innovation management, MIS Quarterly. |
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Instructional modesLecture
| Project supervised| Presence duty | | Yes |
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TestsTest and group assignment
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