This course introduces you to the theoretical concepts and analytical tools required for formulating and implementing appropriate strategies that affect the enduring success of the entire organisation. Topics covered include external and internal environmental analyses, business-level strategies, corporate-level strategies and strategy process and implementation as well as special topics such as competitive dynamics and competition in high-tech industries. The course emphasises the application of theory to a number of real-world strategic issues. You are encouraged to synthesise knowledge from other business courses into a comprehensive understanding of the competitive advantages of firms.

In this day and age, it is no longer sufficient for managers and leaders in organisations to be simply transactional or simply transformational. They also need to be fair, just, ethical, moral and responsible. The same might be said for organisations themselves; it is not enough for organisations to be profitable. They must also behave responsibly and sustainably. This course is divided into two sections that cover (1) what it means be ethical in an organisational setting and (2) the importance of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and its role in business and society.

What it means be ethical in an organisational setting
This part of the course is designed to explore, inform and stimulate thinking on issues related to behavioural ethics and responsibility as encountered in the corporate world. To create this intellectual exchange, it will focus on how individual and organisational behaviour is shaped by context as well as by biases, why these factors make it difficult for managers to be responsible leaders and what can be done about the influence of these factors. It is important to emphasise that the goal of this course is not the ethical or moral transformation of students, but the ability to develop a set of tools and frameworks (where possible) that allow you to manage effectively in a world increasingly characterised by stakeholders with competing needs and responsibilities.

The importance of CSR and its role in business and society
In this portion of the course, we explore the idea that businesses bear a responsibility to society and a broader set of stakeholders beyond their shareholders, an idea that has gained currency since the 1970s. The question remains, however, whether corporations have a responsibility towards and within society that goes beyond being merely well-run companies? Through this course, we will engage in a critical evaluation and discussion of different views on the meaning of CSR and the “proper” role of CSR in business and society. We will also discuss contemporary research and organisational practices that inform the integration of CSR within a firm's core business strategy and operations. We will understand that through strategically managed CSR, including ways to create shared value and apply sustainable business strategies, business corporations can potentially identify business opportunities that help address the world's most pressing challenges and manage relationships with important stakeholders who affect the firm's sustained success.

Finance is about the allocation of capital for productive use in the economy. In this course, we examine how financial assets are priced (asset pricing) and how firms raise capital (corporate finance).

Asset pricing
In this first portion of the course, you will learn about the importance of finance in society. You will get familiar with tools that are necessary in finance, such as the time value of money, and apply these tools to the pricing of bonds and stocks. Finally, you will learn about fundamentals concepts of risk and return, as well as portfolio theory, and how these relate to investing.

Corporate finance
This second part of the course is about financial decision making in a firm with the objective of maximising the firm's value. The key corporate finance decisions can be grouped into three types: investment decisions, financing decisions and dividends decisions. This segment aims to provide you with fundamentally important ideas about what to look for in making good decisions from a corporate manager's perspective.

This course introduces you to ‘the front end of innovation’, where you will explore the theory and will practise Design Thinking. You will also apply the techniques and principles of design thinking through a project that will step through the ideation and opportunity recognition ‘front end’ of innovation. Design Thinking and the tools that support it are a powerful process that can improve product, service and experience concepts. Selected applications to products and services will be covered.

You will also make a deep dive into the ideation and innovation process, in which you will study the needs of the organisation and the skills needed of individuals of organisations for successful innovation. We will use a mix of exercises, simulations, learning-by-doing and other methodologies to help you understand the implementation of successful innovations. In the second half of the course, we will cover the requirements of individuals for ideation and innovation, and the theories and methodologies needed to drive organisational innovation.

The ideation and innovation process
In the first half of the course, you will be introduced to the design thinking process (based on the IDEO / Stanford Design School process). This is a qualitative process consisting of the stages of the observation of users, ideation and prototyping. Iteration can occur between any steps, and multiple cycles are typical. Applications of design thinking to product and service innovation will be discussed, along with varying of the design contexts, including the private sector, government and social sectors. Design thinking will be framed against traditional innovation processes and other types of thinking.

Theories of innovation management
In the second half of the course, we will cover theories of innovation management and how to make organisations more innovative. We will begin with the skills needed and the methodologies developed to make people more creative. Ideation is a mix of nature and nurture, and this section of the course will rely on the nurturing needs of individuals and organisations to develop the ideation and innovation processes. The course will also hone innovation methodologies like the waterfall, stage-gate and agile methods of innovation as well as data analytics for innovation, and will conclude with a site visit to Google.

In this course, you will be introduced to the basic conceptual frameworks and tools for translating ideas into business cases and assess their potential in order to successfully tap into market opportunities with effective go-to-market strategies. Core course components include: 1) Creating, articulating and evaluating new innovation ideas and viable (scalable) new venture opportunities; 2) Estimating demand and market size; 3) Analysing and validating business models; and 4) Assessing the financial potential and risks of new business ideas. To achieve the course objectives, you will engage in group discussions to apply and deepen new knowledge by learning through trial and error, and go through case studies to take into account the processes and experiences of successful firms (and their business cases) in different industries. You will learn to take on the perspectives of entrepreneurs, “intrapreneurs” (agents for innovation in larger organisations) and venture capitalists. The course will be taught in the form of lectures, class exercises and case study discussions.

This course addresses the organisational requirements of effective innovation management. With innovation being a critical part of strategy, businesses are exploring new ways to foster innovation to help lead to breakthrough ideas, products and services. While many organisations understand the need for innovation, few have been able to help drive innovative thinking, creative processes and effective innovation governance. After introducing the various forms and types (e.g. incremental vs. breakthrough) of innovation as well as the stages of the innovation process, you will be introduced to two key levers of making innovation work in order to create a balanced yet ambitious, strategic innovation portfolio comprising core, adjacent and transformational innovations: technology and business model innovation. You will learn what it takes to develop a well-governed innovation management framework to avoid the classical traps of poor innovation management – specifically in areas such as strategy (e.g. no coherent innovation strategy), structure (too many silos), process (e.g. no rapid prototyping approach) and innovation culture (e.g. too little emphasis on people-oriented building blocks of culture such as values, behaviour and climate).

In this course, you will be introduced to issues related to the management of technological innovations. Innovations in technology hold huge potential to improve the daily life of ordinary citizens, but can also be risky and uncertain a priori. Case studies of such innovations will be examined, and tools to manage these risks and uncertainties explained. In addition, we will discuss the role of network effects and lock-in for technological innovations, as well as retaliatory actions from competitors.

The terms “innovation” and “creativity” are often used interchangeably. However, they are actually distinct. Creativity is the production of novel and useful ideas whereas innovation is the successful implementation of these creative ideas. In this course, our focus is on understanding creativity as a precursor to innovation. We will examine the key drivers and challenges of creative thinking in the organisational context. This course will contain a mix of real-world case studies and discussion of classic research on creativity to help you foster a basic understanding of the vast and growing field of creativity.

This course introduces you to the basic conceptual frameworks and tools for crafting and delivering innovative service offerings to both B2B and B2C customers. To achieve these objectives, you will be expected to carefully go through the assigned readings to understand the basics of the management of service-based offerings. The course will be taught in the form of lectures and in-depth case study discussions.

Any successful business progresses through a life cycle – from a start-up all the way to being a successful and mature firm. Growth firms often find financing one of the biggest hindrances to survival and growth. As such, an entrepreneur will often be confronted with the challenges of financing the firm to achieve growth and profitability objectives. Each financing choice has their own pros and cons that may create additional opportunities or risks for the business venture. Understanding the choices available at each stage of the life cycle will be critical for the entrepreneur to chart the firm’s future.

This course is designed to meet the increasing needs of industry and recruiters in applying quantitative and analytical skills for understanding consumer decision-making. Business managers utilise marketing data to assess the return on their investments and better understand their customers. The course provides students with an opportunity to analyse real-world marketing problems. The best way to learn all the material in this course is through “hands-on” experience. As such, we will use developments in statistical science to examine solutions to important issues faced in consumer analytics. You will gain practical experience through the various datasets and tools provided and used in the class. Specifically, we will discuss market and customer segmentation techniques, regression and conjoint analysis, retail and web analytics with the emphasis being on understanding, interpreting and the proper use of these research techniques. The primary aim of this course is for you to learn new skills and tools that will provide you with important quantitative acumen for understanding consumer analytics.

In this course, you will be introduced to core concepts in business acceleration and how these translate to growth in entrepreneurial ventures. We systematically explore how firms grow their business and the challenges they face in doing so. The course includes components from across multiple disciplines of strategy, marketing, finance and human resources to solve daily challenges of growth. This course is designed to help rethink the tenets of core strategy in an entrepreneurial way and will be centred around case discussions, with short assignments to be written on different cases.

This course addresses the issues of intellectual property (IP) in the pursuit of capturing value. We will start with an introduction to Intellectual Property and cover how firms can use IP to extract value. We will look at the legal perspectives including the different types of IP-related contracts, IP due diligence in corporate transactions and IP management and litigation. We will also explore IP from a research and development perspective and look at examples of IP value extraction through technological innovation and commercialisation.

We will examine the different ways in which value may be extracted from the ownership of intellectual property rights (IPRs) and provide an understanding of the threats and opportunities that IPRs provide to all businesses. The goal of this course is to introduce you to the real, practical considerations and opportunities involved in the management, commercialisation and effective exploitation of IPRs so that you are better able to deal with the issues as they arise and better recognise and manage these when they do.

The Capstone project is a key component of your educational path within the Master of Science in Innovation programme. Through such experiential projects, you have the opportunity to apply key MI learning outcomes to a specific innovation challenge, e.g. creating a value creating start-up project team in the fintech space. Identification of the topic is to be made after the international segment. Quality content can be built as the terms progress in close coordination with instructors and mentors. The Capstone project is a graded requirement of the Masters in Innovation programme, and the topic can be one of the following three broad categories with room for hybridisation: a Design Project/Prototype, a Business Plan or a Practical Innovation Study. The final output of the work is to be presented at the end of Term 4, including a written report.