MGPS 5070 Generating Growth and Innovation
Nothing is more central to a business than the products and/or services it sells. And, for the majority of businesses, whether small entrepreneurial firms or large established companies, this mandates growth and innovation. The business leader must now be an innovator, ever more important given the rapid evolution in products and business models. Yet, the strategies and processes used to determine which products to make, how to make them or where to get them, and how to bring them to market are not well understood by many firms. The result is that promising new products and ideas are discarded, marginal products are developed and many products fail in the marketplace. The core objective of this course is to help students understand the role (and challenges) of innovation strategy in a company's growth, best practices for leveraging innovation, and the capabilities required to drive accelerated growth. The course provides frameworks and methods for generating growth and innovation through organic growth options, new products and services and alternative partnerships such as mergers, acquisitions, and joint ventures. It examines ideation, the end-to-end innovation process, innovation portfolio decision-making and governance, and key organizational enablers of innovation sustainability. At the conclusion of this course, students will possess the insights and skills around the development, launch and management of innovative growth options. They will appreciate the risks and rewards of bringing innovation to the market, hold an understanding of consumer psychology and its impact on adoption of innovation, and will have learned the marketing strategies necessary to develop, introduce and manage new products, services and partnerships.