Overview
Discussion: This final discussion is an opportunity for you to apply everything that has been discussed in the course to the organization you work for. Let's look at innovation, strategy and strategic innovation from a personal perspective.
Almost every organization is being evaluated today based on how innovative it is. Using the measures discussed in the lessons and in the recommended readings, share the following:
- How does your current company/agency or a previous employer stack up?
- Based on this week's content, would you measure performance differently to emphasize innovation?
- What is your organization’s primary strategic aim? How is innovation used to further that aim?
Assignment: The final assignment for the course is to play the Back Bay Battery Simulation (available in your Harvard Coursepack). You are the President of Back Bay Battery and you are challenged to make the business better.
You have to manage R&D investment tradeoffs between the unit's existing battery technology versus investing in a new, potentially disruptive battery technology. Over the course of eight simulated years, you must address a number of challenges including the timing and level of investment across both mature and new businesses, choices regarding market opportunities and inherent product performance characteristics, requirements to meet constraining financial objectives and constant trade-offs between investment options, all in the context of uncertain market information.
Before beginning play you should read the "Foreground Reading" document on the first page of the game to get a better understanding of the battery business and the challenges you face.
When you have run all 9 rounds, write a 2 - 3-page paper detailing what happened. Structure your response with as follows:
- Summarize the problem. What is the key issue at Back Bay?
- What were the alternatives you were given to address the issue?
- What criteria did you use to make your decisions?
- What were the pros and cons as you saw them in the alternatives you were offered?
- What did you decide to do?
- How did it work out?
- If unconstrained by the simulation, what would you have done…and why?