Student guide Faculty of Economics A.Y. 2008/09

In an increasingly competitive and rapidly changing global market, innovation takes an added value  and it plays a large part in improving the quality of life. In order to enhance the success of a company we must create  and  deliver  customer-relevant  new  products  and  services.  However,  managing  innovation and  new product  development  processes  is  not  easy;  the  real  challenge  is  to  understand  the  key concepts  for successful innovation and knowing about best practices and how to integrate them into an organisation to ensure customer-relevant innovations. Therefore it is essential that managers understand the strategies, tools and techniques for managing innovation.This course will explore ways by which companies can manage innovation and new product development successfully.

2.    Attributes of an environment that promote innovation

 

3.    The organization and management of R&D organizations

 

4.    Spin-offs in hi-tech companies

 

5.    Need for innovation, what successful companies do

 

6.    Why new products succeed and fail ?

 

7.    The product innovation: mission, vision, strategy and goals of new product development

 

8.    New product development: creativity, concept generation, concept evaluation and selection

 

9.    Identify steps in the research process

 

10.  Project Management for R&D

 

11.  Management techniques to promote innovation

 

12.  The development process –step

 

13.  Reducing time to market and the market launch process

 

14.  The role of consumer/end user input and data in product innovation

 

15.  Market orientation and understanding the voice of the customer/end user

 

16.  Cross-functional relationships: the R&D-marketing relationships

 

17.  Competitive intelligence and benchmarking

 

18.  Marketing new product: the role and management of the sales force

Assessment will be based on group coursework and an exam, which will be taken at the end of the course. In addition  to  active  participation  in  the  weekly  discussions,  students  will  be  expected  to  prove detailed knowledge of the course material.

Additional material will be listed at the beginning of the course