COURSE NUMBER: EWMBA 290T-11

COURSE TITLE: The Art and Science of Managing Innovation

UNITS OF CREDIT: 3 Units

INSTRUCTOR: Sara Beckman and Amir Hartman

E-MAIL ADDRESS: beckman@haas.berkeley.edu, ahartman@mainstaypartners.net

CLASS WEB PAGE LOCATION (HTTP URL): TBA

MEETING DAY(S)/TIME: Saturdays, 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

PREREQUISITE(S): None

CLASS FORMAT: This class is an experimental course designed for the EWMBA program that brings together two of the school’s popular Management of Technology courses. Students taking the course will cover summary versions of the materials in Amir Hartman’s “Introduction to the Management of Technology and Innovation” and Sara Beckman’s “Design Thinking” course. Hartman and Beckman will each teach seven of the fifteen sessions in the course, generally on alternating weekends.

PLEASE NOTE THAT STUDENTS WHO TOOK “DESIGN THINKING” WITH BECKMAN LAST FALL MAY NOT TAKE THIS COURSE, AS THE MATERIALS COVERED IN BECKMAN’S PORTION OF THE CLASS WILL BE SUBSTANTIALLY THE SAME AS THOSE COVERED IN DESIGN THINKING IN FALL 2006.

Although the faculty will integrate some of the materials from the courses, in essence they will each focus on a different aspect of managing innovation. Hartman will focus on the strategic management of technology and innovation in established firms, while Beckman will focus on the innovation process and the tools and techniques firms might use to become more innovative. They will create a final project for the class that leverages the learning in both portions of the class.

REQUIRED READINGS: Course reader and textbook

BASIS FOR FINAL GRADE:
Hartman's section:

  • Participation: 30%
  • Case write-ups: 2 @ 10% each = 20%
  • Group project: 5% proposal + 30% document + 15% presentation = 50%

    • Beckman's section:
  • Class participation: 30%
  • Assignments associated with in-class design exercises: 40%
  • Group design project: 30% (The final project may well be done jointly between the two sections of the class. We are still developing detailed specifications for the project.)

    • ABSTRACT OF COURSE'S CONTENT AND OBJECTIVES:

    Hartman's section
    How many businesses do you know that don’t have substantial investments in technology, whether as part of their product offering or their operations? One result of the widespread adoption of technology is that much of general management is now “technology management”. Therefore, this course is designed to prepare business leaders for the challenge of making informed management decisions with regard to technology assets. We will examine various approaches to technology management decision-making across a range of industries. Emphasis is placed on the special requirements for creating and executing strategy in a setting of rapid technological change and limited resources. In addition, given that information technology (IT) often makes up more than 50% of a company’s capital investments, this course will also help you to manage your IT portfolio more effectively and align your IT initiatives with your business strategy.

    By the end of class students should be able to:

  • Develop a cost/benefit assessment of a technology solution(s) investments
  • Assess organizational readiness to drive technology and innovation opportunities
  • Assess effectiveness or technology investments

    • Beckman's section
    Design thinking has been making headlines. And they aren’t all good for business schools. Bruce Nussbaum, Senior Editor at BusinessWeek and avid follower of design, says “All the B-school-educated managers you hire won’t automatically get you the outside-the-box thinking you need to build new brands – or create new experiences for old brands. Don’t kid yourself about learning all you need to know about innovation in B-school. You didn’t. When people talked about innovation in the ’90s, they really meant technology. When people talk about innovation in this decade, they really mean design.”

    The data on innovation in the U.S. at present tell a dismal story. On the one hand, U.S. companies derive 28.0% of their revenues and 28.3% of their profits from products introduced in the past five years; service companies lag, deriving only 24.1% of their revenues and 21.7% of their profits from services introduced in the past five years. On the other hand, companies have decreased investment in new-to-the-world products from 20.4% of their portfolios in 1990 to 11.5% in 2004, and instead increased investment in additions, modifications and improvements to existing products lines from 40.8% to 61.4%. In short, while innovation is the lifeblood of most organizations, many are loosing their ability to innovate.

    In this class, we’ll go through the process of “design thinking” – a methodology documented by renowned IIT’s Institute of Design and used by many design firms in some form. The basic steps we will exercise include:
  • Observation: Looking at the world (and oneself) to better understand a customer’s situation. Ethnographic research techniques for finding alternative points of view and understanding what’s really important within a complex environment.
  • Frameworks: Make sense of the observations, making the abstract more concrete. Models, maps, timelines and other approaches to represent data and support its interpretation.
  • Imperatives: Create a definition of what would make things better in the customer’s world. New perspectives, contexts, behaviors and technologies lead to definition of new businesses, products and services.
  • Solutions: Tangible implementations of new product, services and/or systems to get feedback and determine whether or not we have really understood the customers’ needs.

    • BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH:
    Amir Hartman is Founder and Managing Director of Mainstay Partners. He is a leading global authority on corporate and technology transformation. Mainstay Partners is a boutique consultancy where Amir works with senior business leaders of Fortune 100 companies on their transformation and technology strategies. Amir has earned the confidence of both the CEO and key executives at many companies in this select group. Mr. Hartman is a Senior Fellow at Harvard Business School Interactive and a faculty member at Berkeley's Haas School of Business, where he teaches exective seminars on technology strategy. His most recent book, the bestseller, "Net Ready: Strategies for Success in the E-Conomy", looks at the key success factors and strategies for winning in the new economy. Prior to forming Mainstay Partners, Amir was Managing Director of Cisco Systems' Corporate Internet Strategy and the Internet Business Solutions Group. In this role he was responsible for shaping Cisco's Internet business strategy and advising key customers in the same capacity. Amir has also published "Ruthless Execution: What Business Leaders Do When Their Companies Hit The Wall"(2003). He is a frequent speaker at major business forums and groups of senior executives worldwide. Amir also serves on the boards of a number of companies.

    Since joining the Haas School faculty in 1987, Sara Beckman developed, institutionalized and directed the school’s Management of Technology Program, initiated new courses on design, entrepreneurship in biotechnology, new product development, and work and workspace design, won four awards from MBA students for excellence in teaching and received the Berkeley campus Distinguished Teaching Award. Dr. Beckman has also taught for Stanford University’s Department of Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management, and been a visiting faculty member at MIT in both 1994 and 1999 where she taught in the Leaders for Manufacturing (LFM) Program. Prior to and concurrent with her involvement at the Haas School, Dr. Beckman worked for the Hewlett-Packard Company, most recently as Director of the Product Generation Change Management Team. Before joining HP and the Haas School, Dr. Beckman worked in the Operations Management Services practice at Booz, Allen and Hamilton where she had an opportunity to develop manufacturing strategy with a number of diverse companies in industries from pharmaceuticals to aerospace. Dr. Beckman has B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the Department of Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management at Stanford University and an M.S. in Statistics from the same institution. She serves on the boards of the Building Materials Holding Corporation and the Corporate Design Foundation