FACULTY OF TECHNOLOGY MANAGEMENT AND

TECHNOPRENEURSHIP

MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

Course Outline
Program
Course
Course Code
Status
Level
Credit Hours
Prerequisite
Evaluation

Master of Business Administration

Managing Innovation and Technological Change
MTKT 5323
Elective
Master
3 credits
None
Individual assignments
Article discussions/ Case study
Presentations
Mid-Term Test
Final Exam

Instructors

Dr Norain Ismail
Tel. : 06-283 3204; h/p 017-2199670
E-mail : norain@utem.edu.my

20 %
10 %
10 %
20%
40 %

Dr Mohd Fazli Mohd Sam

Tel: 06-283 3182; h/p 013-3416138
E-mail : mohd.fazli@utem.edu.my
Lecture Time
Semester
Course Objectives

Wednesday 6.30 10.00pm

September 2015

Course Synopsis

This course examines successful product and process

innovation in industry, as well as the effective organisation
and management of the technological changes process in
new venture, multi divisional and multinational enterprise.
Students will examine issues of creativity, knowledge and
skills, working environment and infrastructure required for
innovation, study the tools that are needed to evaluate
innovation, and explore the techniques required to manage
innovations success and adoption.

Understand the needs to conduct analysis about the

technological change and create the necessary innovation in
response to the changes.

Reading materials

Schilling, M.A., (2013). Strategic Management of

Technological Innovation, 4th Edition. McGraw-Hill.
White, M.A. and Bruton, G.D. (2011). The Management of
Technology and Innovation: A Strategic Approach, 2 nd
Edition. Cengage South-Western.
Crawford, M. and Di Benedetto, A. (2011). New Products
Management, 10th Edition. McGraw-Hill International Edition.
Betz, F. (2011). Managing Technological Innovation:
Competitive Advantage from Change. John Wiley and Sons.
Tidd, J., Bessant, J. and Pavitt, K. (2005). Managing
Innovation: Integrating Technological, Market and
Organisational Change. John Wiley and Sons.
Narayanan, V.K., (2001). Managing Technology and
Innovation for Competitive Advantage, Prentice-Hall, New
Jersey.

Weekly reading
supplement

Week 1:
Delivering economic transformation through STI
Presentation by:
Tan Sri Ahmad Tajuddin Ali, President, Academy of Sciences
Malaysia.
Week 2:
Ashford, N. A. and Hall, R. P. Regulation-Induced innovations for
sustainable development Sustainability, No. 3, pp. 270-292.
Week 3:
Critical factors for global competitiveness
Week 4:
Case study
Week 5:
Chapter 6: Innovation The Pathway to Threefold Sustainability
in The Steilmann Report: The Wealth of People: An Intelligent
Economy for the 21st Century Lehner, Franz, Charles, Anthony,
Bieri, Stephan, and Paleocrassas, Yannis (eds.) Brainduct digital edition, 2001, pp 233-274.
Week 6:
Measuring innovation for National Prosperity, Innovation
Framework Report, 2004
Week 8:
Case study

Week 9:
1. Ahmed Hassanien, Crispin Dale, (2012),"Drivers and barriers
of new product development and innovation in event venues:
A multiple case study", Journal of Facilities Management, Vol.
10 Iss: 1 pp. 75 92
2. Yohanes Kristianto, Mian Ajmal, Richard Addo Tenkorang,
Matloub Hussain, (2012),"A study of technology adoption in
manufacturing firms", Journal of Manufacturing Technology
Management, Vol. 23 Iss: 2 pp. 198 - 211
Week 10:
Bashar S. Gammoh, Kevin Voss, (2012),"Alliance competence:
The moderating role of valence of alliance experience", European
Journal of Marketing, Vol. 47 Iss: 5 (Date online 11/6/2012)
Week 11:
Case study
Week 12:
Case study
Week 13:
1. Taekyung Park, Jaehoon Rhee, (2012),"Antecedents of
knowledge competency and performance in Born Globals: the
moderating effects of absorptive capacity", Management
Decision, Vol. 50 Iss: 8 (Date online 31/7/2012)
2. Inkpen, A. C. (2005) Learning through alliances: General

Motors and NUMMI, California Management Review, Vol. 47,

No. 4, pp. 114-136.

WEEKLY LEARNING PLAN

WEE
K

DATE

TOPICS

ASSIGNMENT

Proposed
Readings

Introduction to Course
Introduction to technology
and innovation

Dr
Norain

Importance of technology and

innovation
Key definitions of technology
The importance of managing
technology
Key definitions of innovation
The role of innovation on
national economy, customers
need
and
technological
change

Chapter 1 and
2
Schilling, M.A.

Policy/
RegulationInduced
innovations
for
sustainable
development

The
Process
Technological Change

Dr
Mohd
Fazli

of

The process of managing

technology
Tools for managing innovation
Structuring the examination of
managing
technology
innovation (MTI)
Strategy
and
the
Management
of
Technology and Innovation

Dr
Mohd
Fazli

Dr
Norain

A complex process of planning

To
innovate
or
not
to
innovate?
Types of innovation
Innovation planning process
Application of the planning
process
Factors
for
innovation
planning
Technological
stages
and
planning (start-up, growth,
maturity and decline)
Developing a climate for
innovation
Innovation: Evaluation and
Control

Dr
Mohd
Fazli

Chapter 6,
Schilling, M.A.

Innovation,
strategy and
identity: a
case study
from the
industry

Chapter 8, 9,
10
Schilling, M.A.

Review
innovation
models of
other
countries
Innovation
for
sustainable
wealth

What is strategy?
Centrality of MTI in strategic
management
The strategic process in MTI
The next steps in integrating
MTI and strategy
Innovation Planning

Chapter 3
Narayanan,
2001

Measuring
innovation
for national
prosperity

Chapter 12
Schilling, M.A

Evaluation and control process

Implementing Evaluation and
control
Other concerns in evaluation
and control

New Product, New Process

Dr
Mohd
Fazli

Dr
Norain

Dr
Norain

What is new product

New product development
The seven myths of the new
product process
Predicting new product
success
Using models of NPD for
commercial success
Analytical attribute
approaches: Trade-Off
analysis and qualitative
technique
Intellectual Property and
Innovation
New inventions and creative
works
Different forms of IPRs
IP from policy perspectives
How IPRs affect innovative
activity
IP as strategic asset
Legal Aspects of Managing
Technology
Open innovation
Competition law in managing
innovation
Commercial law
Data protection and privacy
Mid-term test
Acquisition of Technology

10

Dr
Mohd
Fazli

Dr
Mohd
Fazli

Planning Inter- vs. Intraorganisational acquisition

Structuring a culture for new
technology
Blending multi-organisational
cultures
Acquisition of technology:
Evaluation and Control
Occurrence of evaluation and
control
Alliance/Acquisition
capabilities
Gap Analysis
Measuring performance,

Chapter 11
Schilling, M.A.

Managing
Intellectual
Property
Fitzssimons C
and Jones T

Legal Aspects
of
Managing
Technology
Burgunder L

2.5 hour
paper
Chapter 6, 7
White &
Bruton

Technology
adoption and
NPD
Alliance
competence
Case study

Chapter 8
White
Bruton

Case study
&

dealing with escalating

commitment problems,
feedback for future activities

11

12

Dr
Norain

Dr
Mohd
Fazli

Organisational Learning
and Knowledge
Management
Organisational learning
Knowledge management
Using organisational learning
and knowledge management
Technological change
The roles of research in
universities and public labs in
economic catch-up
Process of Technology
Change: Diffusion
Modelling technological
change
- Technology s-curve
- Linear model of innovation
o Actor-network
theory
o Social shaping of
technology
o Open Innovation
o User innovation
Policies
Technological change
The roles of Multi National
Corporations (MNCs) in
economic catch-up

13

Dr
Norain

Chapter 10
White
Bruton

&

A book edited
by Grazia D.
Santangelo

Learning
through
alliance

Articles on
theories

Chapter 4
Narayanan,
2001

A book edited
by Grazia D.
Santangelo

Articles on
theories

Technological change as a
social process
Invention innovation
diffusion
- Diffusion of innovations
theory
- Technology acceptance
model
- Theory of reasoned action
- Unified Theory of
Acceptance and Use of
Technology

14

15

Dr
Norain

Managing
Technologies
Reflections

Future
and

Waves of innovation and

predicting the future
Predicted future technologies
Application to MTI

Submit
individual
assignments &
Individual
presentations

Revision week

Weekly individual assignments

Students are supplied a list of reading materials to be discussed during the lecture of a
particular week. Students are required to engage in an intellectual discourse on the reading
materials supplied. Different individuals will lead the discussion by presenting their findings
and gaining insights from other students at the end of his/her presentation. The printed version
of the presentation needs to be submitted to the instructor. Marks will be given based on the
presentation and other students will gain marks through their participation in the discussion.
Therefore, each week students will need to be prepared and participate actively in the
discussion sessions to obtain their assessment marks. Marks are allocated based on the rubric
as attached.

Written group assignment

Assignment Overview: A key requirement is for student teams to gain access to managers at
a firm (small or large) with significant activities in technological innovation. Their brief is to
interview one to three managers at the firm to understand innovation in practice. The
exercise is intended to be a learning opportunity for students to explore the main lessons of
each course module: to develop questions for the managers based on what they have learned,
to interview managers, and then to document how they could apply, are applied and could be
improved upon in a particular company. This is an opportunity to examine how managing
innovation works in practice building on the experience of managers.
a) Identify a firm of your choice with one or more managers willing to be interviewed
(for 1 1.5 hours) for your class assignment. Where possible try to interview at least two
people in different positions. While you can choose the firm, there are a number of
constraints; most important, the firm must be built around one or more innovative
technologies as a source of its competitive advantage (i.e. not strictly service firms or
consulting firms). Similarly, there are few constraints on who you interview, only that the
manager(s) must have responsibility for innovation i.e. Chief Technology Officer, Head of
R&D, Chief Operating Officer, VP or Director R&D, VP or Director Applications, Head of
Engineering etc.
b) Develop a list of questions to ask the manager(s), designed to that capture the lessons and
key practices from the course (i.e. the innovation processes for exploring an innovation, the
innovation structures and incentives for executing innovations etc.). These questions should
be structured so that you can address whether the various innovation practices covered in the
course are used, how they are organized, what are their strengths, what are their limitations in
the real world.
c) Write up an analysis of your interview(s) including background information about the
firm (age, size, technology, market application, stage in the innovation cycle), your questions,
your assessment of the firms strengths and weaknesses in implementing best practices for
the aspect of innovation covered in the course. Also include recommendations on how they
might improve and your insights into the challenges associated with implementing the
processes, structures and strategies covered in class in real world situations. Finally document
8

any related practices processes, structures or strategies that the manager emphasized but we
overlooked in class.
Specific instructions:
1. Exploring innovation
The focus here is to understand the methods that companies use when selecting and refining a
particular business concept/project: How did market and technology dynamics provide
opportunities for the company? How was the opportunity concept developed? Was it a
technology looking for a home or a need looking to be met? What sources of ideas were
consulted? What methods were used brainstorming, lead user analysis etc.? How were the
risks assessed and prioritized? How did the company plan the order in which technical
experiments were done according to a standard stage-gate, by risk, by investor demands?
2. Executing innovation
The focus here should be on the structures and incentives the organization utilizes to
effectively allow talented individuals (from different functions) to execute innovation
processes: How was the entire innovation process structured? Is it a stage-gate process? Are
many activities undertaken in parallel? How are R&D teams designed? What is the incentive
structure within a team and across teams? What types of incentives are given to technical and
business people engaged in the process? Are outside individuals part of the innovation process
for example out-sourced R&D, community-based users such as open source, academics? If
so, what are the incentives for them? How is IP managed in these external relationships?
3. Exploiting innovation
Lastly, it is important to understand the strategies that a firm must consider to most effectively
exploit the value of their innovation, including innovation platforms that incorporate multiple
product options, portfolios and standards. What are the drivers of commercialization? Does
the firm have strong IP? How much do they rely on other assets such as market channels,
brand etc.? Does the firm engage in strategic partnerships? If so, what are the basic factors
that make this partnership-based approach effective? Which markets and customers will be
the initial focus; which portfolio of projects will provide early success and a platform for the
future? Does the firm have a platform strategy? What are the challenges of managing
platforms and portfolios for the firm?
Additional Guidelines
Please limit your reports to 10-15 pages, double-spaced.
This assignment will account for 20% of your final grade.
Deadline: Written assignment Week 13, presentation Week 14