Strategic Innovation Building and Sustaining Innovative Organizations

Innovation strategy is about creating unique value for consumers by delivering a great product that satisfies their needs.At the core of a successful innovation strategy is a great product concept. Product is an all-encompassing term that includes physical goods, intangible services, and even ideas. There are three pillars to a successful product strategy: a clear understanding of (a) the target customers (WHO), (b) the specific elements of the product offering (WHAT) that satisfies consumer needs and dovetails with company capabilities, and (c) the tactical plans to reach end consumers (HOW). The value proposition has to be embedded in a coherent business model in order to create and capture value. But well-laid innovation plans can go awry without a consideration of the business ecosystem that includes competitors and collaborators, including suppliers, distributors, and retailers, or the contextual environment in which the company operates. In an interdependent world, fostering an integrated ecosystem is critically important for companies interested in maximizing the odds of innovation success.

You will be able to:

• Understand key ideas about innovation and product strategy
• Strategize for value capture in a business model
• Critically examine the roles of various players in a business ecosystem

This course is part of Gies College of Business’ suite of online programs, including the iMBA and iMSM. Learn more about admission into these programs and explore how your Coursera work can be leveraged if accepted into a degree program at https://degrees.giesbusiness.illinois.edu/idegrees/ .

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Syllabus

Syllabus - What you will learn from this course
Week 1
Course Orientation
Module 1: Finding Your Innovation Sweet Spot: Crafting a Great Value Proposition
You will become familiar with the course, your classmates, and our learning environment. The orientation will also help you obtain the technical skills required for the course.
Week 2
Module 2: There Is More to a Product Than Just Function: Assessing Industry Trends
The first module will essentially lay the foundation for the strategic innovation course. You will gain an understanding of the concept of strategic innovation and the building blocks of innovation. You will also learn about prospect theory and how it relates to developing successful winning innovations. Finally, you will learn about developing customer value propositions that form the basis of delivering unique value to consumers.
Week 3
Module 3: Developing Winning Products: Sometimes Less Is More
The second module will focus on a detailed view of innovation and how it relates to the various stakeholders, including consumers, firms, and the overall industry. More importantly, you will learn to assess industry context as you make important innovation decisions. First, you will gain an understanding of concept of the innovation adoption lifecycle and how innovations diffuse in a population of consumers. Then, you will learn about the concepts of the tipping points in an innovation lifecycle, i.e., sales takeoff and firm takeoff for an innovation in a particular new-to-the-world industry. Next, we will study the “failure framework” to examine issues of “overshooting” consumer demand by firms by mapping product performance and consumer expectations trajectories in an innovation context. Finally, you will learn about the different types of innovations and understand the concept of dominant design.
Week 4
Module 4: Executing Innovative Business Models: The Whole Is Bigger Than the Sum of Its Parts
The third module will touch upon the innovation adoption lifecycle, moving further into managing new product innovations. Beginning with the concept of crossing the chasm, you will learn about the trajectory of a product across the various stages in its life cycle. We will also discuss the process of customer journey mapping and its application in innovative product development. You will learn about developing innovative products from the nascent stages to the mature stages to achieve the perfect product-market fit. Next, we will study the product configuration map to understand its implications in building winning products.
Course Conclusion

FAQ

When will I have access to the lectures and assignments?

Access to lectures and assignments depends on your type of enrollment. If you take a course in audit mode, you will be able to see most course materials for free. To access graded assignments and to earn a Certificate, you will need to purchase the Certificate experience, during or after your audit. If you don't see the audit option:

What will I get if I subscribe to this Specialization?

When you enroll in the course, you get access to all of the courses in the Specialization, and you earn a certificate when you complete the work. Your electronic Certificate will be added to your Accomplishments page - from there, you can print your Certificate or add it to your LinkedIn profile. If you only want to read and view the course content, you can audit the course for free.

Is financial aid available?

Yes. In select learning programs, you can apply for financial aid or a scholarship if you can’t afford the enrollment fee. If fin aid or scholarship is available for your learning program selection, you’ll find a link to apply on the description page.

Reviews

Great course for those with no prior business knowledge. Everything from prospect theory to business models is explained in great detail with plenty of illustrative examples.

What an interesting course. Any one who dreams of starting their own business will be amiss to not do this course. It's vital to success and fun to learn!

This is an excellent course. The material is helpful and Dr. Echambadi does an excellent job at breaking down key concepts and giving ample examples.

informative but can get quite dry/draggy along the way. there was a good and holistic coverage of the subject area though and that gave a good introduction for the rest of this specialisation!