This module discusses how entrepreneurs in start-ups and family businesses can shape their organisations so that they can continuously build and commercialise valuable innovations, as well as how managers/executives in established organisations can become more entrepreneurial in their approach to innovation.

Organisations that want to successfully ride the wave of the knowledge economy must consider ideas as the most precious commodity and employees who produce them as sought-after resources. There is increased recognition that the competitive advantage of organisations depends heavily on their ability to capitalise on their employees’ ideas. The value of creativity as a means of enhancing communication, promoting organisational learning, as well as helping develop new ideas, solutions and alternatives, is, hence, of high importance, since organisations nowadays have to deal with a growing number of challenges.

This module will develop the skills needed to be creative and to manage the innovation process that turns those creative ideas into new products, processes, and strategies. Creativity, as a way of coming up with novel and useful ideas within a context, is a critical aspect in every manager’s job; and very topical for entrepreneurs who need to think outside the box in situations where other models have failed or where the exploitation of new opportunities demands new approaches. Think Linked In, Dropbox, Skype, Apple, Google, Facebook and Twitter. This module, therefore, explains how to source bold ideas, turn them into a strategy and implement them.

A. Knowledge and Understanding

• Innovation.
• Some of the key drivers that stimulate innovation.
• How innovation can be managed.
• Types of innovation and how entrepreneurs can manage the process.
• Incremental and radical and innovation.
• Capitalising on the link between individual creativity and entrepreneurial innovation.
• Benefits of and learning from innovation.

B. Intellectual Skills

• Analyse relevant theories, frameworks and models as well as empirical evidence relating to the management of innovation and the development of new products/services and their contribution to sustainable competitive advantage.
• Develop problem-solving skills, using a range of methodologies important to new product/service development.
• Develop logical and concise recommendations to specific problems arising when innovating.

C. Discipline Specific Skills

• Realise the importance and challenges of generating bold ideas.
• Scan and search the external environments for potential innovations.
• Create customer-focused ideas - understanding customers’ hidden needs.
• Understand how to evaluate new ideas and select those that fit with the organisational resources.
• Recognise all the stages involved in implementing innovations both in start-ups and established firms contexts (from R&D to the final launch).
• Understand how to build an innovation culture, use team working and overcome the barriers to innovation.

D. Transferable Skills

• Work individually, setting goals and generating new ideas.
• Develop the ability and confidence to communicate orally and in writing.
• Collect, organise, analyse and synthesise data on defined topics.
• Analyse case studies as a means of delving deeper into the situation at hand and learning.
• Work productively and cooperatively in a small group to complete group exercises/assignments.
• Manage in culturally diverse environments.

The module will be delivered through a mix of large & small group face-to-face sessions, including, where relevant, supporting digital learning activities and/or recordings

In line with the aims of the degree scheme, this module aims to develop a range of employability skills, deemed essential by employers and the UK government. The module has been designed to help start-up entrepreneurs, family business owners and executives/managers running large departments develop their skills, competencies and capabilities in relation to generating innovations. The course concentrates on the areas of effective communication, researching secondary resources, problem-solving, team working, self-management, and learning how to cope in an uncertain environment.

The individual assignment focuses on innovation development of the chosen organization. You must describe the product or service, evaluation of its market potential and customer needs that will be satisfied as well as explain the potential target segment(s).

The potential for reassessment in this module

Reassessment will involve completing a new assignment.

The module consists of a number of related themes that enable students to explain the different factors that need to be managed in order to enhance the generation of new ideas, products, services, processes, etc. in the working environment within small, family and established organisational contexts. This is the mandatory content of the module, which includes: Introduction and importance of innovation, types of innovation, process for managing innovation, creating an innovative organisation and innovation strategy, open innovation and networks, diffusion of innovations, new product and service development, entrepreneurship and new ventures, capturing learning and benefits of innovation.