Posted: May 26th, 2015

Innovation strategies

Answer the following questions that address the main themes in this course related to innovation strategies â make sure to carefully read them and fully answer all of the sub parts in each one. No two learners will likely have too similar of responses to the questions but make sure to justify each of yours by referring to concepts from the course, providing examples to illustrate your points, and including citations and references to provide support for your assertions. Innovation Strategies at Different Levels and their Historical Implications We have discussed innovation strategies at the micro­ (individual), meso­ (organizational), and macro­ (national/regional) levels and also explored how innovation has played a role in shaping human history.These questions are your chance to reflect on how much you know about each of these important areas. 1. The Evolution of Human Societies and the Role of Innovation. We explored why some societies came to dominate others and what role innovation played in this process. We also watched video clips of UCLA Professor Jared Diamondâs documentary based on his Pulitzer Prize winning book Guns, Germs and Steel and read an interview with him about it (there is also a great deal of additional information about his ideas on this and his other books on the internet). ï· He uses the terms âproximateâ and âultimateâ causes in his actual book when stating how different factors influenced the development of human history â what is the difference between the two types of causes? ï· What does he believe were the proximate and ultimate causes of why certain civilizations came to dominate others militarily, economically, politically, and/or culturally? ï· What was the role of innovation in this process? ï· Do you agree with his conclusions and why or why not? ï· What other proximate and ultimate factors would you suggest might be part of this and describe how they fit together (i.e., how does one factor affect another)? 2. Innovation and Regional Development. We have discussed the topic of macro­level innovation strategies throughout the course. It is often useful to look at different regions in order to understand how they are similar and different in certain aspects in order to understand what does and doesnât work well and how things may need to be adjusted to fit a different context. ï· One of our premises early in this course was that entrepreneurship and innovation are often linked together (recall that one of the dimensions of our âentrepreneurial orientationâ construct is âinnovativenessâ) but while many people would agree that Singapore had to be very innovative in order to evolve from a small island into the successful nation state that it is, its late founding father, Lee Kuan Yew who served as a role model for Chinese and other leaders, has stated that Singapore is not really very entrepreneurial, particularly when compared to Hong Kong â what do you think that he thought this? ï· Also, compare and contrast the UAE and Singapore and their innovation strategies (the readings I previously provided on the VLE about Lee Kuan Yew should help get you started). ï· What are the most significant impediments to each country improving its innovativeness even further and what steps can be taken to overcome these hurdles? ï· Briefly, what other countries/regions might be better choices to compare the UAE with in terms of innovation and why? 3. Organizational­level innovation. Much of the focus of our readings and other course material has been on making organizations more innovative. You also had the opportunity to analyze innovation in an existing organization in a previous assignment and, although there were space limitations for it, you had the chance to make a few recommendations. Now is your chance to think like a real senior level manager charged with the task of formulating and executing strategies to make the same organization more innovative. ï· Highlight the most important strategies and tactics required to make it more innovative (this could mean expanding a bit on your previous recommendations or coming up with different ones). ï· Then describe who in the organization would be responsible for the changes, what resources would likely be necessary (recall that there are many different types of tangible and intangible ones such as financial, physical, human, and so on), and what the action steps and timeline necessary to implement these would be. So, for this question you are in effect creating somewhat of an even more abbreviated âexecutive summaryâ than normal here that includes mention of what the tasks are, who is responsible for completing them, what resources are required, what the timeline should be (be specific in terms of how many days/weeks/months/ years your projections indicate will be necessary), and so on. (Hint: a really nice project management visualization tool can show these things and can easily be found on the internet and makes a nice exhibit is called a âGannt Chartâ.) 4. Individual­level innovation strategies. It is often the subject of debate in business schools as to whether or not we can really make someone more entrepreneurial, innovative, a better leader, and so on or if certain people are born with certain traits that make them this way. This course, as well as your whole graduate program has been about innovation and change management. ï· To what extent do you think that universities can teach someone to be more innovative (and explain why you think that this is or isnât the case)? ï· This also raises the question: how innovative are you? ï· Describe how innovative you think that you were before you entered your graduate program and how innovative you think that you will be after you complete it and what metrics you are using to determine your level of innovation (i.e., how would you suggest measuring how innovative