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

Managing Research and Development
Lesson timetable, Notice board, Additional material
Lecturers
Paolo Barbanti
Aim of the course
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.
Syllabus
1.    Importance of new product development
                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
Examinations
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.
Reading list
Additional material will be listed at the beginning of the course