The Management and Shaping of Innovation

Module code: MN3133

Whether it be revolutionary products, more-efficient internal processes, brand-new ideas or business models, businesses must seize opportunities to innovate in order to advance and develop. How are new developments successfully guided and shaped within businesses and organisations? This module will give you a grounding in the theory and practice behind the management of innovation.

By the end of this module, you'll be able to:

• Describe the key ideas and authorities in the field of innovation studies including green, linear, and open conceptions of innovation, social networks and failure.
• Apply concepts such as 'novelty' and 'success', and the distinction between different types of innovation including product, process, service, business model, component, architectural, social, and environmental innovation.
• Explain how national, regional and sectoral dynamics shape patterns of innovation and trajectories of technologies.
• Identify the strategy, structure, culture, and process, and their implications for the management of innovative activity within organisations.
• Critically evaluate the complex and often paradoxical nature of managing innovation and the importance of informality and serendipity with particular reference to the demands of sustainability.