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2013/2014  KAN-MIB_MI20  Innovation and Knowledge

English Title
Innovation and Knowledge

Course information
Language English
Exam ECTS 15 ECTS
Type Mandatory
Level Full Degree Master
Duration One Semester
Course period Autumn
Time Table Please see course schedule at e-Campus
Study board
Study Board for MSc in Economics and Business Administration
Course coordinator
  • Marion Poetz - Department of Innovation and Organizational Economics (INO)
Main academic disciplines
  • Economics, macro economics and managerial economics
Last updated on 06-08-2013
Learning objectives
To manage a company effectively through an innovation, you need structured and informed analysis. Each innovation has different aspects, some referring to its value proposition, some to its future users, some to probable responses from its competition, and so forth. An innovation becomes successful not by taking a one-sided focus on one of these aspects. Rather, they are a suite of conditions and opportunities to which the innovation must offer a coherent response.
The aim of this course is to enable students to unpack these different aspects of innovations, to analyse them as constituent parts and to combine them into a coherent innovation.

Learning objectives
An understanding of the theories and concepts of the course curriculum.
Ability to apply analytical tools and to assess their usefulness
Familiarity with key findings of the empirical literature
Skilfulness in carrying out a small empirical project on a specific innovation
Aptitude in drawing on course reading for the preparation and execution of this project
Ability to use general insights from the curriculum to build an analytical understanding of the case, and to reflect on possible discrepancies between theory and case findings.
Examination
Innovation and Knowledge:
Examination form Home assignment - written product
Individual or group exam Individual
Size of written product Max. 20 pages
Assignment type Written assignment
Duration 48 hours to prepare
Grading scale 7-step scale
Examiner(s) One internal examiner
Exam period December/January
Make-up exam/re-exam
Same examination form as the ordinary exam
Course content and structure

This aim is addressed through multiple approaches: Recent theories of innovation, knowledge and firms are introduced. Tools to analyse related problems and performance in firms and industries are emphasised. Direct experience with applying theories and tools in the analysis of specific firms is part of the course.

The main components of the course are:
Theories on innovation and knowledge. We cover theories directed not only at single firms and their competitiveness but also at industries and clusters of firms and their institutional framework (e.g., the Medicon Valley phenomenon).
Approaches to identify key sources of innovation, such as opportunities from science, from users or from other industries.
Methods and tools for analysing and mapping knowledge and innovation.
Project work specifically designed to gives students experience in applying theories and tools in analysing the management of innovation and knowledge in specific case companies.
Teaching methods
The course combines lectures with case-method teaching and with student presentations. As a part of the course students complete a short project which is carried out in groups. It involves fieldwork in a company, focusing on its actual problems in innovation and knowledge management. In order to equip students with methodological skills required for conducting the project, they will have to attend 2 workshops on empirical methods. The project is the basis for the course exam.
Expected literature

Schilling, Melissa (2006). Strategic Management of Technological Innovation. McGraw-Hill Higher Education.
Chesbrough, Henry (2001), 'Assembling the elephant: A review of empirical studies on the impact of technical change upon incumbent firms', Comparative Studies of Technological Evolution, Amsterdam: JAI. Elsevier Science Ltd.
Last updated on 06-08-2013