Content, progress and pedagogy of the module

Increasingly companies are confronted with the challenge to efficiently exploit their existing business while at the same time constantly explore new business opportunities, respond to continuous shifts in the external business environment and transform their business accordingly. For this reason, strategic innovation and business transformation have become daily requirements. 

In order to bring these requirements down to earth for specific companies, future managers need to master knowledge on, at least, two complementary dimensions of strategic innovation and business transformation. These are the strategic dimension and the organisational dimension.

The strategic dimension contemplates the ability to analyse and understand the nature of external change, particularly in relationship to potential sources of disruption, the ability to conduct business model analysis and think strategically about business model innovation as well as ability to sense, assess, prioritise and seize novel opportunities for transformation.  The organisational dimension is important in that, in the real world, these capabilities need to work within the confines of an organisation. State of the art research has variously confirmed that the challenges come in that one cannot manage for newness and innovation, for which there is a lot of uncertainty, in the same way in which one manages the existing business, for which there is a lot of knowledge available.

Any decision based on strategic- and organisational dimensions should be driven by relevant business data/insight, allowing management to make informed, qualified decisions. Building on these premises, this module aims at offering participants the knowledge necessary for managing strategic innovation and business transformation rigorously and diligently. It also guides participants to learn how to base their decisions on relevant data and information, as business recommendations are often based on hard facts.

In order to achieve these goals, this module is based on a combination of lectures, business case studies, simulation tools and supervised group work focusing on the application of the main theories and tools.

Learning objectives

Knowledge

The objective is that the student after the module possesses the necessary knowledge on:

• the governing ideas, concepts and templates related to the different aspects of organising for innovation, including, but not limiting to, organisational structure, organisational processes, key metrics, performance indicators and reward systems and can reflect upon those on a scientific basis
• key theoretical approaches to business model innovation, strategic business renewal, agility and distruption with focus on different strategic implications of disruptive technologies vs. disruptive business models, including those catalysed by advances in digital technologies.
• key methods and processes for innovation and business design.

Skills

The objective is that the student after the module possesses the necessary skills in:

• identifying, understanding and analysing appropriate data to devise a strategic plan for business transformations.
• arguing both theoretically and practically about for the strategic aspects of change and transformation.
• selecting and applying relevant methods and tools to organise for innovation and transformation.

Competences

The objective is that the student after the module possesses the necessary competences in:

• applying relevant knowledge and skills in strategic innovation and business transformation to generalise and create an understanding of central challenges within this field both theoretically and pragmatically. 
• independently conducting ongoing analyses and setting recommendations for strategic management of innovation and business transformation to deal with real world challenges.
• translating the knowledge and abilities into actionable insight in order to be part of processes related to strategic innovation and business transformation on an academic, interdisciplinary and professional basis.

Type of instruction

For information see § 17.

Exam

Exams