MG 795
Global Innovation
Fall 2008
PolytechnicUniversity
Adjunct Professor Rob Marano
Course Objectives
This course focuses on the global dimension of technology-enabled innovation. Topics covered include: motivation for a global business outlook, how to proactively access global sources of innovation, coordination and organization of innovation-oriented activities around the world, new product development on a global basis, the role of revitalized global R&D, the growing of prominence of IT, virtual organizations and e-Business, and the increasing role of alliances and linkages with customers, suppliers, and other third parties.
Course Approach
This course introduces the latest and most relevant thinking, research and best practices, with an emphasis on learning based on the experiences of actual firms around the world. Individual and team-based project work is an important part of this course.
We will be discussing a number of research papers, case studies and relevant reading material during this course. Class interaction is vital to understanding many of the central themes and issues in the area of global innovation.
Course Sessions & Assignments
There will be different types of readings and assignments in this course. First, there is the standard pre-class preparation of all the session readings and cases which is expected of all participants. Second, there will be individual-led discussion of assigned material (due in Sessions 1-5). Please see the Discussant Schedule below for the list of discussants and the assigned readings. Third, there will be two Team assignments in which you will work in groups and prepare presentations on selected topics (due in Session 6-7). More information on team assignments will be provided in class. All these presentations will be in PowerPoint, and you are expected to hand them in.
Note for Team Assignments: The format for your team assignments will be similar to what you did in MG 607 in the Summer, except that no final paper is necessary. You are only required to present the assigned company or cluster in around 20-25 minutes, accompanied by a PowerPoint presentation.
Note for Individual Discussants: In each class session, there will be individual presentations on selected readings and companies. Each discussant is expected to cover the topic in question in 15-20 minutes. You are encouraged to be creative in how you lead the discussion on the topic or company profile in question. You may use a PowerPoint presentation.
If you are assigned to cover a reading or article, you are required to provide an overview of the paper to the audience. You should assume that the audience has read the paper before, but your job is to provide the overview from the perspective of the author. You should look for assumptions, trends, and implications in the paper that might be overlooked by the casual reader. You should also try to relate the paper to other themes and examples we may be covering in the course.
If you are assigned a company profile, you are required to provide a strategic and operational overview of the company in question, with particular reference to its R&D activities, global operations and/or expansion, how it manages its brainpower, and the role of technology in facilitating global co-ordination.
Discussant Schedule (Sessions 1-5)
Session / Date / Article / Discussant1 / September 27th / The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid / TBD
1 / September 27th / Company Profile: Grameen Bank / TBD
1 / September 27th / Company Profile: Haier / TBD
2 / October11th / What makes a company global? / TBD
2 / October11th / Company Profile: Unilever / TBD
2 / October11th / Company Profile: Kao / TBD
3 / October 25th / What Is the Best Global Strategy for the Internet? / TBD
3 / October 25th / How Matsushita Electric and Sony Manage Global R&D / TBD
3 / October 25th / Company Profile: Tesco / TBD
4 / November8th / Building Effective R&D Capabilities Abroad / TBD
4 / November8th / Unleash Innovation in Foreign Subsidiaries / TBD
4 / November8th / Company Profile: Nestle / TBD
4 / November8th / Company Profile: Lenovo / TBD
5 / November 22nd / Pharma 2005: An Industrial Revolution in R&D / TBD
5 / November 22nd / Company Profile: Johnson & Johnson / TBD
5 / November 22nd / Company Profile: Novartis / TBD
Grading Scheme
Class Participation 30% of Final Grade
Performance as Discussant 20% of Final Grade
Group Presentation 125% of Final Grade
Group Presentation 225% of Final Grade
Book Assigned
Yves L. Doz, Jose Santos, and Peter Williamson, From Global to Metanational: How Companies Win in the Knowledge Economy (Boston, Mass.: Harvard Business School Press; 1st edition (November 15, 2001) )
Class Schedule and Session Reading Assignments (Note: All Classes will be on Saturdayafternoons at The Polytechnic Westchester Campus)
Session 1: September 27th
Global Innovation: Expectations, Issues Overview and Some Overall Perspectives
Discussants: See table
Articles:
Donald Lessard, “Frameworks for Global Strategic Analysis”, Journal of Strategic Management Education, Vol.1, Issue 1 (2003)
Prahalad and Hart, The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid, Strategy & Business
A Dose of Success [Novartis] ,WSJ, August 23, 2002.
Interview with Mohammed Yunus, Founder, Grameen Bank
Company Profiles:
Grameen Bank, URL:
Haier: URL:
Session 2: October11th
Managing Global R&D in the Multinational Firm - 1
Discussants: See table
Articles:
Bruce Kogut, “What Makes a Company Global?” HBR, Jan-Feb 1999 #99106
Tallman, et al “Internationalization, Globalization, and Capability-Based Strategy,” CMR HBS # CMR244
Dreaming with BRICs: The Path to 2050, Goldman Sachs
Company Profiles: Kao & Unilever
URLs
Cases
P&G Japan-The SKI Globalization Project HBS # 0-303-003
Slides
Introduction to the Course
BRICs and BOP Review
P&G Japan
Session 3: October 25th
Managing Global R&D in the Multinational Firm - 2
Discussants: See table
Book:
Yves L. Doz, Jose Santos, and Peter Williamson, From Global to Metanational: How Companies Win in the Knowledge Economy (Boston, Mass.: Harvard Business School Press; 1st edition (November 15, 2001) ) Chapters 1-2
Articles:
Guillen (2002) “What Is the Best Global Strategy for the Internet?” Business Horizons, May-June, 2002 HBS #: BH077
Sadanori Arimura, How Matsushita Electric and Sony Manage Global R&D, Industrial Research Institute, 1999
Japan’s Electronics Rebound, Financial Times, August 6th, 2004
Company Profiles: Tesco, URL:
Cases
Regional Strategies for Global Leadership, Dec 1, 2005, Pankaj Ghemawat, Harvard Business Review Article
Session 4: November 8th
Managing Global R&D in the Multinational Firm – 3
Discussants: See table
Book
Articles:
Walter Kuemmerle, “Building Effective R&D Capabilities Abroad,” HBR, March-April 1997, # 97203
Julian Birkinshaw and Neil Hood, “Unleash Innovation in Foreign Subsidiaries,” HBR, 2001 HBS Pub #R01031
How Korea Build the Broadband that America Wanted
“The Samsung Way,” (cover story) Business Week, June 16, 2003
Company Profiles: Nestle
Cases
Aspiring Affiliates, Global Project Networks andLocal Embeddedness – Evidence from Bangalore, India
Session 5: November 22nd
Sector Focus: Global R&D in BioPharma and Biotechnology
Discussants: See table
Articles
Note on New Drug Development in the United States, Thomke and Nimgade, HBS
Pharma 2005: An Industrial Revolution in R&D, PWC
Biotech Revolution Goes Global,San Francisco Chronicle,October 29, 2001
An Experiment in Globalization, Financial Times, August 18, 2004
Company Profiles: Johnson & Johnson, Novartis
Cases
The Pharmaceutical Industry—Challenges in the New Century HBS# 9-97-489
Session 6: December13th
The Rise and Attraction of High-Tech Regions and Clusters
Readings:
Michael E. Porter, “Clusters and the New Economics of Competition,” HBR Article # 98609
Douglas McGray, “The Silicon Archipelago,” Daedalus, Spring 1999
David Keeble, Clive Lawson, Barry Moore & Frank Wilkinson, “Collective Learning Processes, Networking and “Institutional Thickness” in the Cambridge Region,” Regional Studies, Vol 33.4 pp. 319-332.
Cases:
Finland and Nokia HBS # 9-702-427
Group Presentation 1 --Presentations on Non-US High Technology Clusters
Sample Clusters
Bangalore/Hyderabad, India
Beijing, China (and possibly elsewhere in China)
Cambridge, UK
The Tel Aviv-Haifa-Jerusalem Triangle (Israel)
Sophia Antipolis (in the south of France)
Singapore
Taiwan
Session 7 December 13th
Group Presentation 2 - Global Innovation Strategy of Selected Firms
Team Assignment 2 – Presentations on Selected Firms
Sample Firms
Infosys
McKinsey
T-Mobile/Deutsche Telekom
Johnson & Johnson
NTT DoCoMo
Microsoft
Ranbaxy
Links and Resources
Research Centers
World Economic Forum (Davos, Switzerland; publishes the annual Global Competitiveness Report)
Council on Competitiveness
Institute for Strategy & Competitiveness (HarvardBusinessSchool, Boston, MA)
Center for International Development (HarvardUniversity, Cambridge, MA)
International Institute for Management Development (Lausanne, Switzerland; publishes the annual World Competitiveness Handbook)
The Cambridge-MIT Institute
Organization for Economic Co-operation & Development
Oxford Brookes University, UK
National Research Council, Canada
Research Resources
Silicon Valley 2010
Innovation Regions in Europe
Innovation and Knowledge Transfer in Regional Industry Clusters
In the Footsteps of Silicon Valley? Indian and Irish Software in the International Division of Labour (PDF)
The Silicon Valley-Hsinchu Connection: Technical Communities and Industrial Upgrading (PDF)
Information Technology: History, Practice and Implications for The Micro-Foundations of E-commerce: Informational-focused Development in Andhra Pradesh, India
(PDF)
Innovation Policies and Locational Competitiveness: Lessons from Singapore (PDF)
Immigrant Entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley (PDF)
Silicon Valley's New Immigrant Entrepreneurs
Bangalore: The Silicon Valley of Asia?
The Bangalore Boom: From Brain Drain to Brain Circulation?
Bay-to-Bay Strategic Alliances
Human Development Report, 2001, United Nations Development Program
Environment Industry Clusters
Bioindustry: A Description of California's Bioindustry and Summary of the Public Issues Affecting Its Development
Biotechnology Clusters in the UK
Spreading the Wealth: Building a Tech Economy in Small and Medium-Sized Regions, Brookings Institution (PDF)
Innovation-Policy in a Knowledge Economy (European Commission)
Where is the knowledge-economy? Knowledge-intensive industries and distributed knowledge bases (PDF)
The Emergence of E-Innovation: Lessons from Open Source Software Development, Bruce Kogut and Anca Meitu