Aims

Entrepreneurship and innovation management, specifically new product/service development, has become a new imperative in strategic marketing and management. Everybody wants to be the next Google, Tesla, or Netflix; nobody wants to be Kodak, Blockbuster, or BlackBerry. Today, “Innovate or die” or “innovation is the source of competitive advantage” are common clichés in any business/technology related conferences, magazines, academic journals, and books. While these clichés are inspiring for many managers, achieving success through entrepreneurial action is not easy and the failure rate is high.

The focus of entrepreneurship and innovation management is to enable a firm to respond to an external or internal opportunity, and uses its creative efforts to introduce new ideas, products, or services. Successful new products/services, in turn, help capture and retain market share, increase profitability, and achieve competitive advantage. What characterizes such a process of innovation leading to success? Holistic integration of marketing, design and technology, combined with strategic thinking is the only way to manage innovation in a sustainable way.

This module examines entrepreneurship and innovation management from a strategic marketing perspective; enabling students explore principles in relation to entrepreneurship and innovation management, specifically new product/service development. This module will be delivered through introducing relevant literature, learning experiences, and industry-linked case studies; so that theory and practice go together.

Outline Of Syllabus

Semester 2 – the focus during this semester is on working on Building a minimum viable product for a client.
-       Building a viable business model
-       Design Thinking for new product and service development
-       Application of Design Thinking methodology to real-life organisational issues
-       Wicked problems

Teaching Rationale And Relationship

This module will be delivered through introducing relevant literature, group learning experiences, and industry-linked case studies; so that theory and practice go together. There will be a mix of lectures, seminars, and group discussions held throughout the year. Students are in control of their learning in this module.

In semester two, the module will use real life clients as students work in groups to respond to a new service or innovation of the service. Issues will come from business, organisational, or societal areas. In tackling real life clients’ students will develop; employability skills, collaboration skills, critical thinking, reflection and self-awareness, whilst improving student engagement. Working with real clients ensures classes are provide hands on support for students to apply the theory and put into action and practise.

Assessment Rationale And Relationship

In semester two, real life clients will present problems of their services, as students work in groups to respond to clients’ challenges. The assessment will be summited with an individual portfolio of 2,000 words which explains the models and techniques required to implement a New Service.