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2026/2027  MA-MMBFO2602U  Managing Strategic Innovation

English Title
Managing Strategic Innovation

Course information
Language English
Course ECTS 3 ECTS
Type Mandatory
Level Part Time Master
Duration One Quarter
Start time of the course Spring
Timetable Course schedule will be posted at calendar.cbs.dk
Study board
Study Board for Full-Time MBA
Programme Master of Business Administration (Full Time)
Course coordinator
  • Marion Poetz - Department of Strategy and Innovation (SI)
Main academic disciplines
  • Innovation
  • Management
Teaching methods
  • Face-to-face teaching
Last updated on 10-06-2026

Relevant links
Learning objectives
At the end of the course the student should be able to
  • Understand basic innovation management theories and concepts and their relations
  • Demonstrate familiarity with key findings from the empirical innovation management literature
  • Develop skills in carrying out a small empirical project on innovation cases
  • Analyze the competitive position for a firm in a market
  • Show an ability to use insights from the course curriculum to analyze innovation cases
Examination
Managing Strategic Innovation:
Exam ECTS 3
Examination form Home assignment - written product
Individual or group exam Group exam
Please note the rules in the Programme Regulations about identification of individual contributions.
Number of people in the group 2-4
Size of written product Max. 15 pages
Assignment type Written assignment
Release of assignment An assigned subject is released in class
Duration Written product to be submitted on specified date and time.
Grading scale 7-point grading scale
Examiner(s) One internal examiner
Exam period Spring
Make-up exam/re-exam
Same examination form as the ordinary exam
Description of the exam procedure


The exam is based on the analysis of a case innovation. Students form groups of 2–4 students and jointly select a product or service innovation that has been introduced to the market (i.e., the “case innovation”). In Part I of the exam, the group jointly prepares a written analysis of the case innovation based on a pre-defined structure and using core innovation management concepts. In Part II of the exam, each student in the group individually prepares a written answer to one exam question based on the case innovation and the concepts discussed in the course. The individual question can be selected from a set of questions released at the beginning of the exam.

 

 

It is allowed to use GenAI on your exam, but you must declare your use in an open and transparent way so assessors at all times can distinguish between your own intellectual and autonomous contributions and those that originate in interactions with a GenAI platform. If you use GenAI for ideation or generation of content, you must mention this in the methodology or introduction section of your paper. Whenever you draw on GenAI output in the body text of your paper, you need to declare this by leaving in both the prompt and the relevant part of the response as well as a citation. On top of this, you need to leave the full response as an appendix for context.
Course content, structure and pedagogical approach

Innovation is a key driver of competitiveness and economic growth: organizations capable of successfully developing new products, services, processes or business models have considerable benefits over their non-innovating competitors. But innovation is also a complex, cross-disciplinary and risky endeavor, and requires particular skills in management, leadership and organization. This course introduces students to important innovation management basics such as understanding types, processes and sources of innovation, including the incresing role of artificial intelligence. Building on this, students will learn about selected innovation methods, explore how to strategize for innovation and discuss appropriate organizational designs for generating innovation in companies. In this course, a particular focus is given to open and collaborative approaches to innovation (Open Innovation), accommodating increasing complexity and the need for multi-domain spanning activities involved in solving 21st century challenges.

 

The course is structured as follows:

 

Part 1: Understanding innovation: types, models, processes and sources of innovation, network externalities, platforms and appropriability

 

Part 2: Strategizing innovation: innovation roles, goals and areas, timing of R&D and market entry, balancing exploration and exploitation, ecosytem drivers of innovation roles

 

Part 4: Organizing for innovation: organizational design, ambidexterity, absorptive capacity, innovation hubs, leadership for innovation 

 

Part 2: Developing innovation capabilities: innovation project design, innovation search and collaboration, (open) innovation methods 
Research-based teaching
CBS’ programmes and teaching are research-based. The following types of research-based knowledge and research-like activities are included in this course:
Research-based knowledge
  • Classic and basic theory
  • New theory
  • Teacher’s own research
Research-like activities
  • Data collection
  • Analysis
  • Discussion, critical reflection, modelling
  • Students conduct independent research-like activities under supervision
Description of the teaching methods
Face-to-face teaching: the course will balance innovation management theories and their application and applies problem- and case-based teaching approaches in an interactive workshop format. Guest lectures by industry experts will additionally help bridge theory and practice.
Feedback during the teaching period
There is continuous feedback to students based on case analyses and exercises in class. Written feedback will be given to groups on their exam assignment.
Student workload
Teaching 32 hours
Preparation 42 hours
Examination 32 hours
Last updated on 10-06-2026