COURSE NUMBER: MBA290N.1

COURSE TITLE: Managing the New Product Development Process

UNITS OF CREDIT: 3.0

INSTRUCTORS: Vince Law

E-MAIL ADDRESSES: vincelaw@haas.berkeley.edu

PREREQUISITE(S): None

ABSTRACT OF COURSE: The primary objective of this course is the active management in the end-to-end development process of a new product or service, culminating into the creation of a first-pass prototype.

The course is introductory in nature, aimed at those who have not experienced a full product development cycle in the past, or those who have had some experience in product development and now want to add context and tools to supplement their on-the-job learning. It is also intended to be a very hands-on experience. Using a project in which students will be granted a limited budget and asked to design and develop a product or service of their choosing, we will teach processes for collecting customer and user needs data, prioritizing that data, deciding strategic approach, developing a product specification, designing and building product prototypes, and interacting with the customer throughout product development.

This course will help facilitate the formation teams for the development of their products or services. Already formed entrepreneurial teams can also apply, though this course will focus primarily on the development of your product (and NOT the development of a venture, such as funding), you must be willing to share your project with the class, and you must be able to complete a first pass prototype within the 15-week semester.