COURSE NUMBER: MBA290E.1
COURSE TITLE: Innovation Strategies for Emerging Technologies
Formerly “Marketing for High Tech Entrepreneurs”
UNITS OF CREDIT: 3
INSTRUCTOR: Andrew M. Isaacs
E-MAIL ADDRESS: isaacs@haas.berkeley.edu
CLASS WEB PAGE: https://bspace.berkeley.edu/
MEETING DAY(S)/TIME: Tuesday/Thursday, 11:00AM – 12:30PM
PREREQUISITE(S): none
CLASS FORMAT: Lectures,
cases and discussion in a seminar format.
REQUIRED READINGS: Texts
plus cases.
BASIS FOR FINAL GRADE: No exams will be given. Grades are based on
one group project (25%), case study questions (65%) and class participation
(10%).
ABSTRACT OF COURSE'S CONTENT AND OBJECTIVES:
This course is intended to provide the core marketing skills
needed for the management of entrepreneurial high technology ventures,
regardless of the student's "home" skill set, whether technical or
managerial. We examine in depth the marketing approaches most likely to succeed
for entrepreneurial companies as a function of their markets and technologies.
Emphasis is placed on the special requirements for creating and
executing marketing programs in a setting of rapid technological change and
limited resources. The course is particularly suited for those who anticipate
founding or operating technology companies.
Primary Objectives: The primary goal of this course is to develop
the marketing skills needed to compete aggressively as an entrepreneur in
technology fields. Upon completion of this course, the student should have
developed the following skills:
- The ability to assess and predict customer needs in markets that
may not yet exist;
- The ability to create and execute marketing plans that
necessarily integrate sophisticated technological development with rapidly
evolving customer requirements;
- The ability to create and grow a focused marketing organization
rapidly and efficiently;
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH:
Andrew M. Isaacs is Adjunct Professor at UC Berkeley and Executive
Director of UC Berkeley’s Management of Technology Program, the joint graduate
program of Berkeley's Haas School of Business, College of Engineering and
School of Information Management and Systems.
Management of Technology is a graduate and executive level program
offering 50 courses in management and high technology plus a wide range of
programs that integrate high tech companies in Silicon Valley and elsewhere
with UC Berkeley. Since joining MOT in 1999, the program has grown to be the
largest interdisciplinary program on the Berkeley campus, with approximately
1,400 graduate student enrollments in the program annually. Berkeley's
Management of Technology Program is one of the largest programs of its type in
the world.
Isaacs also directs the joint UC Berkeley UNIDO program on
Technology in the Developing World, begun in 2003, including the annual
Bridging the Divide Conference held each April on the Berkeley campus. UNIDO,
the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, has established a close
working relationship with UC Berkeley's MOT Program.
Isaacs' graduate courses at Berkeley include:
-Introduction to Management of Technology -Marketing for High Tech
Entrepreneurs -Opportunity Recognition: Technology and Entrepreneurship in
Silicon Valley -Technology in the Developing World -The Business of
Nanotechnology He is also a frequent visiting lecturer at universities,
corporations and government agencies in the US, Japan, China and Korea.
Isaacs' experience includes a successful and on-going consulting
career as well as executive and technology leadership:
- President, California Technology International, Inc., a
consulting firm he founded in 1990, ranked among the Top 10 fastest growing
companies in Silicon Valley in 1994 and 1995. CTI's operations in Silicon
Valley and Asia specialize in strategy and marketing for US, Japanese, Chinese
and Korean technology companies.
- Corporate officer and marketing executive at public and private
high tech companies in Silicon Valley, 1983 1990.
- Senior Scientist, NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX, 1981 -
1983 As part of the Management of Technology Program, Isaacs directs several
graduate fellowship programs, including the IBM Venture Fellows Program, the
Hitachi Fellows Program, the Mayfield Fellows Program, the MOT China Fellows
Program, the Sandia Fellows Program and the Berkeley MOT-UNIDO Fellows Program.
His current areas of interest include international marketing,
technology company strategy, technology start-ups, technology in the developing
world, and US-Asia business strategies.
Isaacs serves on the advisory board for the University of Michigan
as well as numerous corporate technical advisory boards. He is also a
government advisor on Nanotechnology policy and IBM Faculty Award Recipient for
2005. He holds BS and MS degrees from the University of Michigan.