Students can identify the principal factors underlying the successful management of innovation with particular focus on volatile, complex, uncertain und ambidextrous environments, recognise the various global challenges faced by managers and leaders today, and give examples of organisations dealing with the various challenges of businesses globally. Upon completion of this module students will:

• Demonstrate a critical understanding of the complex nature of innovation management
• Develop a sound understanding of the major theories of innovation management and leadership.
• Be aware of the role of markets, resources and institutions and their interaction with innovation.
• Evaluate and apply learned concepts and theories.

• To understand the use of innovation models and concepts in crafting international strategies.
• To integrate the different dimensions of innovation.
• To analyze the various conflicting stakeholder interests in the context of searching, synthesizing and selecting innovations.
• To become aware of how different cultures and resources directly and indirectly influence innovation capability and the evaluation of innovation styles in various countries.
• To recognize the benefits and difficulties of adapting and adopting innovation (eco-)systems from another culture.

Competence Profile (Cross-functional) 

Teamwork: Students will be assigned to teams, with case assignment, for analysis and class presentation. Students not responsible for case presentation on that specific day will be expected to have analyzed the case and be prepared to ask questions.

Case studies: The context of international management issues will be covered and discussed though lectures, cases, note sets, and readings.

Action Learning: Assigned cases and readings will be the responsibility of the student and may not be part of the classroom lectures. Students are expected to have read the class text assignments and be prepared to answer questions. 

Contents:

The module is designed to develop an in-depth knowledge and understanding of the major innovation and leadership issues businesses are confronted with when developing and operating in global markets. It is devoted to the theoretical and applied aspects of corporate innovation management and leadership. A special focus is placed on innovation procedures, models and processes. It introduces key theories, including the determinants and the impact of innovation management models. Business environmental issues such as business ethics in the global technology innovation context are also discussed. The theoretical understanding is illustrated and examined by reference to the examples of countries, international institutions, industries and companies and includes the following parts:

• PART 1: MANAGING INNOVATION.

1. Innovation - what it is and why it matters.

2. Innovation as a core business process.

PART 2: CONTEXT.

3. Building the innovative organization.

4. Developing an innovation strategy.

PART 3: SEARCH.

5. Sources of innovation.

6. Innovation networks.

PART 4: SELECT.

7. Decision making under uncertainty.

8. Building the innovation case.

PART 5: IMPLEMENT.

9. Creating new products and services.

10. Exploiting new ventures.

PART 6: CAPTURE.

11. Capturing the benefits of innovation.

12. Capturing learning from innovation.

Deployed methods of business administration:

• Models and Methods of analytics (research- and analytic models):

• Content discussion and delivery follows a case-based research philosophy. Cases will be used to support student learning.

• Quantitative-empirical methods (comparative – statistic, mathematic methods, data analyses):

• In selected cases qualitative, inductive theory will be used to display the critical deficits in using (historical) data only.

• Qualitative-interpretative methods (expert interview, surveys, standardized inquiry):

• Current research findings will be continuously used in class to provide frameworks and content focus.

Methods of Teaching and Learning:

Prerequisites include: In order to successfully pass this module you need to have a sound understanding of business and strategy as well as appropriate English language skills. The seminar is open to qualified Erasmus students.