Managing Technological Innovation And Entrepreneurship Management

This course is designed to do two things. First, to give you a sense of why building a rich understanding of innovation is both exciting and critical to modern managerial practice, and second, to give you a solid grounding in the tools necessary to manage it. I stress particularly that there is no "one best way" to manage innovation or entrepreneurship - that, for example, the tools and techniques appropriate to managing incremental innovation in the large established company are quite different from those appropriate to an entrepreneurial firm founded to exploit a breakthrough idea.

The course moves deliberately between strategic issues (what should you do?) and organizational or managerial issues (how should you do it?), though the focus of the course is more on process and implementation. My belief is that it is particularly dangerous to separate strategy from implementation (the "why" from the "how") when innovation is the issue. I also believe that it is difficult to separate completely "incremental" and "radical" innovation (a strategic axis) as well as the problems of "new" or "small" firms versus "established" or "large" organizations. Six major topics will be covered:

Strategic

The life cycle: incremental vs. radical innovation: can it be predicted?

Connecting to the market: why is it so critical and how can it be done?

Making money from innovation: intellectual property and appropriability

Organizational

The pros and cons of "fixed" vs. "flexible" innovation processes

Managing technical and scientific professionals: why are they different?

Innovating in "small" vs. "large" organizations: how obtain the best of both worlds?

15.351 is designed to be a foundation course for graduate students, providing both a solid grounding in the material for those who will not take another course in innovation and an ideal preparation for those who plan to take further courses in the area. The course combines lectures and case analyses. The readings are drawn from economics and organizational theory as well as decades of research in the management of technological innovation and technology-based entrepreneurship.

Grading

Class and Virtual Participation - 25% (Individual participation on online forum for class - 5 sessions).

Innovation Strategy Development - 45% (Work in teams to develop innovation strategy for firms).*

Two mini individual papers on any topic from class ( 7 pages each; 1.5 line spacing; 12 point Times Roman Font) - 30% (15% each - top team in each Innovation Strategy Development section is exempt from one paper). Recommend that first paper be handed in before SIP and spring break (Thursday March 16, 2006).

* Team composition will be randomly developed to simulate real-life conditions. Teams will consists of ~ 5 people. Firms are under consideration: Microsoft, Google, Glaxo-SmithKline, & Boeing. Innovation strategies will be judged by the entire class - the winning team member will be exempt from writing one of the mini-papers.

Reading Packets & Sloan Space

Assigned readings are available from the Sloan Copy Center in the basement of the Sloan building, with the exception of materials that will be distributed in class. When you pick up your course packet, please check to be sure it is complete. Slides from the lectures, links to points of interest (e.g., company web sites) and critical course information such as due dates will be posted on Sloan Space.

Summary Course Outline for 15.351 A (Spring 2006)Module 1 - Basic Principles & Themes

Lecture: Course Introduction & Core Concepts

Lecture: Core Concepts Continued

Case 1: Ideo Product Development

Lecture: Managing Research to Development

Guest Lecturer: Democratizing Innovation (Eric von Hippel, MIT)

Module 2 - Basics of Innovation Management

Lecture: Breakthrough Innovation in Established Firms

Lecture: Managing Product Development

Lecture: Managing Technical and Scientific Personnel

Lecture: Broader Aspects of an Innovation Strategy

Case 2: GM (Innovation Strategy Development)

Guest Lecturer: Dan Stickel, Director of Search Google - Innovation and Product Development at Google

Guest Lecturer: Om Malik (Business 2.0) - Lessons from Silicon Valley

Module 3 - Innovation Strategy Development Team Readouts

Team Readout 1: IBM

Teams Readout 2: Boeing

Teams Readout 3: GSK

Teams Readout 4: Google

Module 4 - Innovation in Entrepreneurial Firms

Lecture: Success Factors in High Tech Firms

Lecture: The Determinants of Start-up Team Success

Module 5 - New & Emerging Models for Innovation

Guest Lecturer: Collaboration Rules & Innovation Strategy (Philip Evans, Senior Vice-President, BCG)

Lecture: Making Money from Innovation

Guest Lecturers: Business Models that Incorporate Communities (Dr. Frank Piller, Technical University of Munich; Ethan Mollick, MIT)

Guest Lecturer: IBM Goes "Open?" (Irving Wladawsky-Berger, Vice-President, Technical Strategy and Innovation, IBM)

Guest Lecturers: New Rules for Intellectual Property (Ralph Eckardt (Sloan MBA 1999), Manager and Co-Leader IP Practice, BCG; Mark Blaxill, Senior Vice-President & Co-Leader IP Practice, BCG)

Conclusion and Reflections

Readings & Cases for 15.351 A (Spring 2006)Module 1 - Basic Principles & Themes

Tuesday, February 07, 2006

Lecture: Course Introduction & Key Concepts

Afuah, Allan. 1998. Innovation management : strategies, implementation and profits. New York: Oxford University Press. (Chapter 2 pgs 13-45)

Christensen, Clayton and Raynor, Michael. 2003. Why Hard-Nosed Executives Should Care About Management Theory. Harvard Business Review.

Thursday, February 09, 2006

Lecture: Key Concepts Continued

M. Dodgson, D. Gann, and A. Salter, Think, Plan, Do: Innovation, Technology, and Organization (London, Oxford University Press, 2005), pp. 1-5, 26-44.

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Case: Ideo Case

HBS Case: IDEO Product Development - 9-600-143

Thursday, February 16, 2006

Lecture: Managing Research to Development

S. Wheelwright and K. Clark, "Structuring the Development Funnel," in Revolutionizing Product Development, (NY: The Free Press, 1992), Chapter 5, pp. 111-132.

H. Cohen, S. Keller, and D. Streeter, "The Transfer of Technology from Research to Development," Research Management, vol. 22, no. 3 (May 1979), pp. 11-17.

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

No Class - Mondays Classes are Scheduled Today

Thursday, February 23, 2006

Lecture: Democratizing Innovation

Read chapters 1-4 & 9 from Eric von Hippel's new book Democratizing Innovation - Available for free on the web at http://web.mit.edu/evhippel/www

Module 2 - Basics of Innovation Management

Tuesday, February 28, 2006

Lecture: Breakthrough Innovation in Established Firms

E. Morison, "Men, Machines & Modern Times" in Gunfire at Sea (MA: MIT Press, 1966), pp. 17-44.

C. Christensen, "How Can Great Firms Fail?" Chapter 1 in The Innovator's Dilemma (MA: Harvard Business School Press, 1997), pp. 3-28.

R. Henderson and K. Clark "Architectural Innovation: The Reconfiguration of Existing Product Technologies and the Failure of Established Firms." Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 35, 1990, pp. 9-30.

Thursday, March 02, 2006

Lecture: Managing Product Development

K. Clark and S. Wheelright, "Organizing and Leading 'Heavyweight' Development Teams," California Management Review, Spring 1992, pp. 9-28

R. Katz, "How A Band of Technical 'Renegades' Designed the Alpha Chip," Research-Technology Management, November-December, 1993, pp. 13-20.

Michael Cusumano, "How Microsoft makes large teams work like small teams" MIT Sloan Management Review, Fall 1997, vol. 39, no. 1, pp. 9-20).

Liker, Jeffrey K. 2004. The Toyota way : 14 management principles from the world's greatest manufacturer. New York: McGraw-Hill. Chapters 5, 6, pg 42-65

Tuesday, March 07, 2006

Lecture: Managing Technical and Scientific Personnel

E. Roberts and A. Fusfeld, "Staffing the Innovative Technology-Based Organization", Sloan Management Review, Spring 1981, pp. 19-34.

R. Katz and T. Allen, "Investigating the Not Invented Here (NIH) Syndrome: A look at the performance, tenure, and communication patterns of 50 R&D project groups," R&D Management, 1982, 12, pp. 7-19.

Thursday, March 09, 2006

Lecture: Broader Aspects of an Innovation Strategy

E. Roberts and W. Liu, "Ally or Acquire? How Technology Leaders Decide" (MIT Sloan Management Review, Fall 2001, vol. 43, no. 1, pp. 26-34).

M. Tushman and C. O'Reilly, "The Ambidextrous Organization: Managing Evolutionary and Revolutionary Change" (California Management Review, Summer 1996, pp. 1-22).

J. Linder, S. Jarvenpaa and T. Davenport, "Toward an Innovation Sourcing Strategy", Sloan Management Review, Summer 2003, 43-49

M. Cusumano and A. Gawer, "The Elements of Platform Leadership," (SMR Spring 2002, vol. 43, no. 3, pp. 51-58).

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

Case: GM (Innovation Strategy Development)

Thursday, March 16, 2006

Guest Lecturer - Dan Stickel, Director of Search Google

Tuesday, March 21, 2006

No Class - SIP

Thursday, March 23, 2006

No Class - SIP

March 27-31 - Spring Break

No Classes - Spring Break

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Guest Lecturer: Om Malik (Business 2.0) - Lessons from Silicon Valley

Access the following (short) Business 2.0 articles by Om Malik via MIT Network:

The Rise of the Instant Company

http://search.epnet.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=buh&an=11546667

THE NEW ROAD TO RICHES.

http://search.epnet.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=buh&an=15095510

THE NEW LAND OF OPPORTUNITY

http://search.epnet.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=buh&an=14491926

HOW TO RIDE THE FIFTH WAVE.

http://search.epnet.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=buh&an=17691871

Module 3 - Innovation Teams Readout

Thursday, April 06, 2006

Teams 1: IBM

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Teams 2: Boeing

Thursday, April 13, 2006

Teams 3: GSK

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

No Class - Student Holiday

Thursday, April 20, 2006

Teams 4: Google

Module 4 - Innovation in Entrepreneurial Firms

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Lecture: Success Factors in High Tech Firms

E. Roberts, "Technological Entrepreneurship: Birth, Growth, and Success," MIT Management, Winter 1991, pp. 21-25

E. Roberts, "Super Success," Chapter 11 in Entrepreneurs in High Technology: Lessons from MIT and Beyond (New York, Oxford University Press, 1991), pp. 309-338.

M. Cusumano, "Software Entrepreneurship: Essential Elements of a Successful Startup," Chapter 5 in The Business of Software (Free Press/Simon & Schuster, 2004), pp. 195-214.

Thursday, April 27, 2006

Lecture: The Determinants of Start-up Team Success

Readings to be distributed in prior class

Module 5 - New and Emerging Models for Innovation

Tuesday, May 02, 2006

Guest Lecturer: Collaboration Rules & Innovation Strategy (Philip Evans, Senior Vice-President, BCG)

Evans, Philip and Wolf, Bob. "Collaboration Rules." Harvard Business Review. July-August 2005.

Thursday, May 04, 2006

Lecture: Making Money from Innovation

M. Schilling, "Protecting Innovation," Chapter 9 in Strategic Management of Technological Innovation (New York, McGraw-Hill Irwin, 2004), pp. 165-185.

+ One more reading to be distributed before class

Tuesday, May 09, 2006

Guest Lecturers: Business Models that Incorporate Communities (Dr. Frank Piller, Technical University of Munich; Ethan Mollick, MIT)

Piller, Frank & Ogawa, Susumu - Threadless.com Case Example

Mollick, Ethan - When communities fight back

Shah, Sonali - Chapter from open sources

Thursday, May 11, 2006

Guest Lecturer: IBM Goes "Open?" (Dr. Irving Wladawsky-Berger, Vice-President, Technical Strategy and Innovation, IBM)

Tuesday, May 16, 2006

Guest Lecturers: New Rules for Intellectual Property (Ralph Eckardt (Sloan MBA 1999), Manager and Co-Leader IP Practice, BCG; Mark Blaxill, Senior Vice-President & Co-Leader IP Practice, BCG)

Readings from the Economist to be distributed before class

Thursday, May 18, 2006

Conclusions and Reflections

P. Bingham, "Pursuing Innovation in a Big Organization", Research/Technology Management, July-August 2003, 52-58

Article name: Managing Technological Innovation And Entrepreneurship Management essay, research paper, dissertation