Strategic Management of Innovation

Do you have a science background and now stepping into a role that touches strategic management?
This course gives a dynamic view on strategic management of innovation, showing how and why innovation occurs in an industry and why some innovations rise to dominate others, and ends by providing a strategy perspective on how firms can formulate and implement their innovation strategies.

Innovation is a very powerful driver of increased effectiveness and efficiency in producing goods and bringing them to market; firms that do not constantly innovate to make their development, production, and distribution processes more effective and efficient are likely to fall behind their competitors. Throughout this course, we will critically examine, debate and discuss why and how a firm’s innovation projects should align with its resources and objectives, leverage its core competencies and should help the firm achieve its strategic intent. This entails an in-depth understanding of the dynamics of innovation, a well-crafted innovation strategy and a well-designed process for implementing the innovation strategy.

As such, this course advances participants’ comprehension of how a company could potentially outperform its rivals, and focuses on the key theoretical ideas and concepts of strategic management and how to apply them in practice. At the same time, participants develop their analytical, teamwork, presentation, and reflection skills.

This course is part of the master Science & Business Management and specifically designed for participants without a background in the subject matter and with a focus on organizations that operate in (life) science sectors. Participant will be in a mixed classroom with master students.

On completion of the course, you will be able to:

• Appraise how and why innovation occurs in an industry, and why some innovations rise to dominate others.
• Understand the principal theoretical frameworks and concepts linked to strategy analysis, formulation, and implementation.
• Diagnose reasons for strong or poor performance, formulate strategies that stimulate value creation, and recommend organizational designs to facilitate the execution of strategy.

This course is aimed at professionals working in healthcare science, with a bachelor’s/master’s degree (or even PhD) in the science field and with an interest in the business side of organizations.

6 weeks, 2 contact moments of 2 hours + 14 hours of work in between per week

Exam / final assessment in week 7

This face-to-face course is offered via lectures and tutorials on-campus, which require your physical attendance (mandatory). Only 1 seminar needs to be attended, either choose Seminar 1 or Seminar 2 from the schedule.

Alongside these, participants are expected to dedicate approximately 14 hours per week to self-study, individual assignments and groupwork on projects. Questions on theory and exercises can be posted on the appropriate forum on the university digital learning environment (Brightspace) or asked during the lectures or tutorials. The exam will be on location (i.e. not online).

To enroll in this course, you need to have:

• Dutch residency
• Master Degree in Life Sciences or Natural Sciences, with graduation date <10 years
• No previous formal education or work experience in the course topic

For this course, you will need:

• Schilling, Melissa: Strategic management of technological innovation (7th Edition, ISBN 9781265073350)
• Strategic Innovation Simulation: Back Bay Battery – students pay a fee

Please note that this course is part of an existing program within the Utrecht University School of Economics (U.S.E.) in collaboration with the Graduate School of Life Sciences. Tuitition fees may alter during the year.

General questions

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Content questions

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