BMGT7541 - MANAGEMENT OF TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION
TEXTBOOK
Burgelman/Maidque/Wheelright: Strategic Management of Technology and Innovation, Second Edition, Irwin, 1996.
 
REQUIRED READING MATERIALS
A. Innovation: Breakthrough thinking at 3M, DuPont, GE, Pfizer, and Rubbermaid, edited by Kantor/Kao/Wiersema, Haper Business, 1997.
B. To be distributed in class.
 
COURSE OVERVIEW
The ability to acquire, develop, and implement new technology forms a key basis of competition for diverse industries. While playing a pivotal role in competition among companies in >high tech= industries such as computers, electronics, health care, etc., advances in technology play a critical role in most industries. Technological innovation may be applied to areas such as cost control in manufacturing, improved efficiency in operations and product distribution, competitive surveillance and market research in marketing, and the like. There are also collateral impacts of new technologies - improved information technology and telecommunications, for example, allow companies to become more reactive to their markets, and increase the communication flow among their divisions and employees on a global basis.

The pace and level of investments in new technologies are increasing, made both by companies requiring them, as well as by investors seeking to profit in start-up companies delivering technical innovation as their end product. In addition, the life cycles of new technologies can be excruciatingly short (e.g. new and faster processors for computers appear on average yearly).

Creating the atmosphere within a corporation to foster technical innovation, identify early-stage technologies worthy of further investment, shepherd them through development phases, protect them and launch them as new products or processes is critical to success. Identifying new technologies available from outside the organization on a worldwide basis, as well as judging which technologies will be the key to future developments, is equally vital. Valuing these is another important aspect to a company's strategic planning and business development process.

Overall, technology and innovation must be managed, must be systematically and perpetually built into a company's strategic plan, business process and culture. It is imperative for general managers to know the role of technology in competition, the integration of technology with the firm's strategy, and development of the firm's innovative capabilities.

COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course takes the perspective of the general manager at the product line, business unit, and corporate levels. It will not only examine technology strategy at each of these levels, but addresses the interaction between the different levels of general management. It first discusses how to integrate technology and strategy; it then discusses how to assess the firm's innovative capabilities and the interplay between technology and organizational context. Third, it discusses the key issues in implementing a technology strategy: internal and external technology sourcing, managing new business, product, and process development, and technical support of customers.

More specifically, this course will instruct students in:

  1. Technology as a critical basis of competition, and the rapid proliferation of technical innovation in a variety of industries during the last half century; The evolution of technology strategy;
  2. The development of innovative capability and the methods employed by successful corporations in promoting internal technical innovation (management issues, organizational Context, investment, employee relations etc.);
  3. Internal management techniques used to speed implementation and/or release to market of new technologies (integration of R&D, Marketing and Operations);
  4. Domestic and international intellectual property rights, their importance and protection and external technology souring strategy;
  5. Worldwide technology screening techniques used for competitive analysis, strategic planning and identification of technical trends, as well as sources for new technology from outside the organization;
  6. Technology transfer and the negotiation for and obtaining rights to new technologies through acquisition or license, with emphasis on current practice, case studies, as well as management of the negotiation process in international deals;
  7. Strategy of investment in new technology (venture capital, government investments, university -based research, etc.)

Pedagogically, this course will be team-taught in a mixed format of lecture (including guest lectures), case analysis, and group projects. In addition to reading the textbook and other materials assigned, the students are expected to read current papers in business and technology journals, magazines and newspapers. We will discuss the current issues on technology management in class.

GRADING
The student's performance in will be graded as follow:
  1. Class attendance and participation 20%
  2. Group project presentation and report 35%
  3. Exams (3) 45%