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2024/2025  KAN-CCMVA2408U  New Product Development and Project Management

English Title
New Product Development and Project Management

Course information
Language English
Course ECTS 2.5 ECTS
Type Elective
Level Full Degree Master
Duration Summer
Start time of the course Summer
Timetable Course schedule will be posted at calendar.cbs.dk
Min. participants 30
Max. participants 60
Study board
Study Board for cand.merc. and GMA (CM)
Course coordinator
  • Tom Grad - Department of Strategy and Innovation (SI)
Main academic disciplines
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Innovation
Teaching methods
  • Face-to-face teaching
Last updated on 07/11/2024

Relevant links
Learning objectives
  • Apply leading product development and project management concepts, theories, and approaches
  • Explore the opportunities and challenges of managing complex, new product development projects
  • Use, explain and reflect on new product development and project management theories and tools when executing, planning, and managing your own group project to solve a real-world problem
Examination
New Product Development and Project Management:
Exam ECTS 2.5
Examination form Active participation

The completion of this course is based on active student participation in class. The course will be considered as passed if the students participation - based on an overall assessment - in the class activities fulfill the learning objectives of the course. The individual student’s participation is assessed by the teacher.
The student must participate in Assignment(s), Presentation(s)
Individual or group exam Individual exam
Grading scale Pass / Fail
Examiner(s) Assessed solely by the teacher
Exam period Summer and Summer
Make-up exam/re-exam Oral exam based on written product
In order to participate in the oral exam, the written product must be handed in before the oral exam; by the set deadline. The grade is based on an overall assessment of the written product and the individual oral performance.
Size of written product: Max. 5 pages
Assignment type: Essay
Duration: 20 min. per student, including examiners' discussion of grade, and informing plus explaining the grade
Examiner(s): If it is an internal examination, there will be a second internal examiner at the re-exam. If it is an external examination, there will be an external examiner.
Description of activities
Assignment(s): There will be an online quiz (multiple choice via Canvas) for each lecture (six in total). Students need to answer at least 4 out of 6.

The completion of this course is based on active student participation in class. The individual student’s participation is assessed pass/fail.
Presentation(s): There will be individual or group presentations during the instruction (each student must participate in AT LEAST ONE individual or group presentation).

In addition the student must participate in minimum 80 % of the scheduled teaching.
Course content, structure and pedagogical approach

Developing new products and services is vital to organizations, whether these are startups or established firms. However, success rates of new products and services are notoriously low. Successful new product development requires the use of specific strategies and competencies as well as skillful project management. This course aims to provide students with analytical and practical tools and capabilities that will allow them to understand and manage the challenges and opportunities of developing new products.

This is an intensive and rewarding course for everyone who is interested in innovation, venture creation, or project management. The course is designed to follow a problem-based learning approach, inspired by Design Thinking and Design Sprints. It requires active participation from students, within classroom activities and discussions as well as working in project teams inside and outside the classroom. Through the course, students get to experience the true new product development and project management process. The central element is applied, experiential learning through a course project in which students will develop novel solutions to a real-world challenge. Students will be supported on their own development journey with theories, tools, workshops, and feedback relevant to the particular phase of their project with help from the Copenhagen School of Entrepreneurship (CSE). Over the two weeks of the course, students will be guided through a typical product development process from idea generation, assessment, and selection to development and testing. At each stage, they will receive input on the relevant concepts and theories to guide their learning experience and team project efforts. On the final day of the course, students will have the chance to pitch their solutions to a panel of experts at a Demo Day.  
Description of the teaching methods
The pedagogical approach aims at advancing the students’ knowledge and competence development in the areas of new product development and project management using a mix of activities:
• In-person lectures on the relevant theoretical concepts and theories based on state-of-the-art research in the fields of creativity, innovation, (new) product development, and project management,
• Practical hands-on, tool-based workshops will give the students first-hand experience of what it means to develop products and manage a project,
• Project-based teamwork activities to be completed inside and outside of the classroom.

Over the two weeks of the course, students will be guided through a typical product development process from idea generation, assessment, and selection to development and testing. At each stage, they will receive input on the relevant concepts and theories to guide their learning experience and team project efforts. On the final day of the course, students will have the chance to pitch their solutions to a panel of experts at a Demo Day.
Feedback during the teaching period
The course incorporates various modes of feedback. Students will receive direct feedback on their projects and learning progress through online quizzes, peer feedback, and from the course teacher during workshops and presentations. The aim is to facilitate learning by doing, learning by observing, and learning by explaining and reflecting.

Student workload
Teaching 18 hours
Activities 52 hours
Further Information

2-week course that cannot be combined with any other course.
Expected literature

• Alan MacCormack, William Crandall, Paul Henderson & Peter Toft (2012) Do

You Need a New Product-Development Strategy?, Research-Technology Management,

55:1, 34-43.

• Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez (2021). The project economy has arrived. Harvard

Business Review, 99(6), 38-45.• Brown, T. (2008). Design thinking. Harvard business review, 86(6), 84.

• Christensen, C. M., Hall, T., Dillon, K., & Duncan, D. S. (2016). Know your customers’

jobs to be done. Harvard business review, 94(9), 54-62.

• Bouschery, S. G., Blazevic, V., & Piller, F. T. (2023). Augmenting human innovation

teams with artificial intelligence: Exploring transformer-based language

models. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 40(2), 139-153.

• Kornish, L. J., & Hutchison-Krupat, J. (2017). Research on idea generation and

selection: Implications for management of technology. Production and Operations

Management, 26(4), 633-651.

• Hoever, I. J., Van Knippenberg, D., Van Ginkel, W. P., & Barkema, H. G.

(2012). Fostering team creativity: perspective taking as key to unlocking diversity's

potential. Journal of applied psychology, 97(5), 982.

• Blank, S. (2018). Why the lean start-up changes everything. Harvard Business

Review (May 2013).

• Kelley, T. (2001). Prototyping is the shorthand of innovation. Design Management

Journal (Former Series), 12(3), 35-42.

• Cooper, R. G. (2008). Perspective: The stage-gate® idea-to-launch process—

update, what's new, and nexgen systems. Journal of Product Innovation Management,

25(3), 213-232.

• Cervone, F H (2011). Understanding agile project management methods using

Scrum, OCLC Systems & Services: International digital library perspectives,

27(1), 18-22.

• Kester, L., Hultink, E. J., & Griffin, A. (2014). An empirical investigation of the

antecedents and outcomes of NPD portfolio success. Journal of Product Innovation

Management, 31(6), 1199-1213.

• Falchetti, D., Cattani, G., & Ferriani, S. (2022). Start with “Why,” but only if you

have to: The strategic framing of novel ideas across different audiences. Strategic

Management Journal, 43(1), 130-159.
Last updated on 07/11/2024