If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at jungpil@nus.edu.sg.

Week 2: What is Innovation and Why is it so Hard?

Readings:

• [A06] Adner, R. (2006) “Match Your Innovation Strategy to Your Innovation Ecosystem,” Harvard Business Review 84(4) 98-107. (access via NUS libraries)
• [AK08] Amabile, T.M. and Khaire, M. (2008) “Creativity and the Role of the Leader,” Harvard Business Review 86(10) 100-109. (access via NUS libraries)
• [BC95] Bower, J.L. and Christensen, C.M. (1995) “Disruptive Technologies Catching the Wave,” Harvard Business Review 73(1) p43-53 (access via NUS libraries)
• [M13] Merton, R.C. (2013) “Innovation Risk: How to Make Smarter Decisions,” Harvard Business Review 91(4) 48-56. (access via NUS libraries)

• [BU08] Bettencourt, L.A. and Ulwick, A.W. (2008) “The Customer-Centered Innovation Map,” Harvard Business Review 86(5) 109-114. (access via NUS libraries)
• [D13] Davis, J.P. (2013) “Capturing the Value of Synchronized Innovation,” Sloan Management Review 54(4) 55-62. (access via NUS libraries)
• [SWA06] Sawhney, M., Wolcott, R.C. and Arroniz, I. (2006) “The 12 Different Ways for Companies to Innovate,” Sloan Management Review 47(3) 75-81. (access via NUS libraries)
• [V06] Verganti, R. (2006) “Innovating Through Design,” Harvard Business Review 84(12) 114-122. (access via NUS libraries)

Week 3: Case: IDEO Product Development

Case: [IDEO] IDEO Product Development, HBS Case 9-600-143

Note: Purchase case directly through Harvard Business School Press Publishing.

Here are some suggested questions for you to think about as you prepare the case.  These questions are merely here to help you analyze the case; the case write-up need not necessarily (and should not) focus solely on answering these questions. 

• How would you characterize IDEO's process, organization, culture and management?
• Decision point: should IDEO accept the Visor project as is (on a dramatically reduced schedule)? Should they try to persuade Handspring's management to change its aggressive launch schedule? Or should they simply decline the project? In your discussions, please consider the IDEO and Handspring perspectives.

Week 4: Innovation as Process

Readings:

• [AJS08] Anthony, S.D., Johnson, M.W. and Sinfield, J.V. (2008) “Institutionalizing Innovation,” Sloan Management Review 49(2) 45-53. (access via NUS libraries)
• [B08] Brown, T. (2008) “Design Thinking,” Harvard Business Review 86(6) 84-92. (access via NUS libraries)
• [N91] Nonaka, I. (1991) “The Knowledge-Creating Company,” Harvard Business Review 69(6) 96-104. (access via NUS libraries)
• [T01] Thomke, S. (2001) “Enlightened Experimentation: The New Imperative for Innovation,” Harvard Business Review 79(2) 67-75. (access via NUS libraries)
• [T06] Thomke, S. (2006) “Capturing the Real Value of Innovation Tools,” Sloan Management Review 47(2) 24-32. (access via NUS libraries)

• [S93] Schrage, M. (1993) "The Culture of Prototyping," Design Management Journal 4(1) 55-65. (access via NUS libraries)
• [E03] Elsbach, K.D. (2003) "How to Pitch a Brilliant Idea," Harvard Business Review 81(9) 117-123. (access via NUS libraries)
• [T03] Thomke, S. (2003) “R&D Comes to Services: Bank of America’s Pathbreaking Experiment,” Harvard Business Review 81(4) 70-79. (access via NUS libraries)

Week 5: Where do Innovations Come From? (eLearning Week)

Readings:

• [F07] Fleming. L. (2007) “Breakthroughs and the ‘Long Tail’ of Innovation,” Sloan Management Review 49(1) 69-74. (access via NUS libraries)
• [JCK08] Johnson, M.W., Christensen, C.M. and Kagermann, H. (2008) “Reinventing Your Business Model,” Harvard Business Review 86(12) 50-59. (access via NUS libraries)
• [K09] Kao, J. (2009) "Tapping the World's Innovation Hot Spots," Harvard Business Review 87(3) 109-114. (access via NUS libraries)
• [TV02] Thomke, S. and von Hippel, E. (2002) “Customers as Innovators: A New Way to Create Value,” Harvard Business Review 80(4) 74-81. (access via NUS libraries)
• [VOD11] von Hippel, E. Ogawa, S. and De Jong, J.P.J. (2011) “The Age of the Consumer-Innovator,” Sloan Management Review 53(1) 27-35. (access via NUS libraries)

• [V11] von Hippel, E. (2011) “The User Innovation Revolution,” Sloan Management Review 53(1) 1. (access via NUS libraries)
• [VTS99] von Hippel, E., Thomke, S. and Sonnack, M. (1999) “Creating Breakthroughs at 3M,” Harvard Business Review 77(5) 47-57. (access via NUS libraries)

Week 6: Organizational Structures for Innovation

Readings:

• [CGCST10] Cross, R., Gray, P., Cunningham, S., Showers, M. and Thomas, R.J. (2010) “The Collaborative Organization: How to Make Employee Networks Really Work,” Sloan Management Review 52(1) 83-90. (access via NUS libraries)
• [CT02] Chesbrough, H.W. and Teece, D.J. (2002) “Organizing for Innovation When Is Virtual Virtuous?” Harvard Business Review 80(8) 127-135. (access via NUS libraries)
• [FS03] Fleming, L. and Sorenson, O. (2003) "Navigating the Technology Landscape of Innovation," Sloan Management Review 44(2) 15-23. (access via NUS libraries)
• [G05] Gladwell, M. (2005) “The Bakeoff,” The New Yorker, Sept 5. (direct access)
• [WPVA11] Whelan, E., Parise, S., de Valk, J. and Aalbers, R. (2011) “Creating Employee Networks That Deliver Open Innovation,” Sloan Management Review 53(1) 37-44. (access via NUS libraries)

• [FM06] Fleming, L. and Marx, M. (2006) "Managing Creativity in Small Worlds," California Management Review 48(4) 6-27. (access via NUS libraries)
• [ID08] Iyer, B. and Davenport, T.H. (2008) “Reverse Engineering Google’s Innovation Machine,” Harvard Business Review 86(4) 58-68. (access via NUS libraries)
• [V03] von Krogh, G. (2003) "Open-Source Software Development," Sloan Management Review 44(3) 14-18. (access via NUS libraries)

Week 7: Case: ThreadLess

Case: [ThreadLess] ThreadLess: The Customer is the Company, Inc. (direct access)

Suggested questions to help you prepare the case. These questions are merely here to help you analyze the case; the case write-up need not necessarily (and should not) focus solely on answering these questions.

• What are the similarities and differences between a community-driven product development process and a traditional product development process within a firm?
• What motivates community members to participate? What is Threadless offering its community members?
• How are winning designs currently selected? How would you go about selecting winning designs?
• What are the barriers to entry for this kind of business?
• In what other areas might this model work? How might you leverage or exploit this model for innovation and product development in your business?

Week 8: Closed vs. Open Innovation

Readings:

• [C03-1] Chesbrough, H.W. (2003) “The Era of Open Innovation,” Sloan Management Review 44(3) 35-41. (access via NUS libraries)
• [C07] Chesbrough, H.W. (2007) “Why Companies Should Have Open Business Models,” Sloan Management Review 48(2) 22-28. (access via NUS libraries)
• [HB05] Hagel III, J. and Brown, J.S. (2005) "Productive Friction: How Difficult Partnerships Can Accelerate Innovation," Harvard Business Review 83(2) 82-91. (access via NUS libraries)
• [LHM11] Lichtenthaler, U., Hoegl, M. and Muethel, M. (2011) "Is Your Company Ready for Open Innovation?" Sloan Management Review 53(1) 45-48. (access via NUS libraries)
• [RG10] Ramaswamy, V. and Gouillart, F. (2010) “Building the Co-Creative Enterprise,” Harvard Business Review 88(10) 100-109. (access via NUS libraries)

• [C03-2] Chesbrough, H.W. (2003) “A Better Way to Innovate,” Harvard Business Review 81(7) 12-13. (access via NUS libraries)
• [CM03] Charitou, C.D. and Markides, C.C. (2003) "Responses to Disruptive Strategic Innovation," Sloan Management Review 44(2) 55-63. (access via NUS libraries)
• [HS06] Huston, L. and Sakkab, N. (2006) “Connect and Develop: Inside Procter & Gamble's New Model for Innovation,” Harvard Business Review 84(3) 58-66. (access via NUS libraries)

Week 9: Hari Raya Haji (No Class)

Week 10: Case: TopCoder + Threadless

Case:[TopCoder] TopCoder(A): Developing Software Through Crowdsourcing, HBS Case 9-610-032
The TopCoder case should be purchased from Harvard Business School Publishing.
Suggested questions to help you prepare the TopCoder case:

• If you were a senior manager at TopCoder, what are the main capabilities you would need to develop to succeed at running the firm? Are these capabilities similar or unique from managing a more traditional firm?
• As a client of TopCoder what would your main areas of concern be with this type of outsourcing? Has TopCoder done enough to overcome them?
• What are the barriers to entry in this type of a business?
• The CEO believes that project demand will automatically create programmer supply. What are the reasons for doubting this core assumption of the business model? What are the reasons for agreeing with him?
• What changes are required in the firm to allow TopCoder’s to achieve 10X current revenues?

Week 11: New Organizational Models of Innovation

Readings:

• [BC97] Baldwin, C.Y. and Clark, K.B. (1997) "Managing in an Age of Modularity," Harvard Business Review 75(5) 84-93. (access via NUS libraries)
• [BL13] Boudreau, K.J. and Lakhani, K.R. (2013) “Using the Crowd as an Innovation Partner,” Harvard Business Review 91(4) 60-69. (access via NUS libraries)
• [GB13] Gouillart, F. and Billings, D. (2013) “Community-Powered Problem Solving,” Harvard Business Review 91(4) 70-77. (access via NUS libraries)
• [MLJ11] Malone, T.W., Laubacher, R. and Jones, T. (2011) “Age of Hyperspecialization,” Harvard Business Review 89(7/8) 56-65. (access via NUS libraries)

• [BL08] Bernoff, J. and Li, C. (2008) “Harnessing the Power of the Oh-So-Social Web,” Sloan Management Review 49(3) 36-42. (access via NUS libraries)
• [BL09] Boudreau, K.J. and Lakhani, K.R. (2009) “How to Manage Outside Innovation,” Sloan Management Review 50(4) 69-76. (access via NUS libraries)
• [BW08] Bjelland, O.M. and Wood, R.C. (2008) “An Inside View of IBM’s ‘Innovation Jam’,” Sloan Management Review 50(1) 32-40. (access via NUS libraries)
• [H06] Howe, J. (2006) "The Rise of Crowdsourcing," Wired Magazine, June. (direct access)
• [MLD10] Malone, T.W., Laubacher, R. and Dellarocas, C. (2010) “The Collective Intelligence Genome,” Sloan Management Review 51(3) 21-31. (access via NUS libraries)