5141 - THE MANAGEMENT OF COMPETITION AND INNOVATION IN HIGH-TECH SECTORS

Knowledge creation, Intellectual Capital, and Innovation are at the core of value creation for many firms in the new competitive landscape, especially in knowledge-intensive businesses in high-technology sectors. Despite the importance of innovation to value creation, relatively few companies have mastered the ability to identify, create, and exploit opportunities for innovation on a systematic basis. Some organizations are routinely more innovative than others. Different strategies can be pursued to capture value from innovation. Capabilities must be developed in order to ensure that a firm responds effectively to sudden and dramatic technological and/or market changes. These issues are among the greatest challenges facing general managers across a variety of industries and are explored in this course.
Knowledge Management provides a framework and strategic tools to better understand issues surrounding competition on knowledge creation and innovation. The main focus is on the acquisition of a set of powerful analytical tools that are critical for the development of strategies in high-technology sectors. These tools can provide the framework for insightful planning when deciding which technologies to invest in, how to structure those investments and how to anticipate and respond to the behavior of competitors, suppliers, and customers. Guest lectures and a variety of company examples provide evidence on how firms have succeeded in out-innovating their competition and successfully establishing themselves as the dominant firm.

• Understanding Knowledge Creation, Innovation and Competitive Dynamics
• Knowledge Creation, Innovation and Patterns of Change in Technologies and Markets
• Enabling Knowledge Creation within the Firm and Organizational Responses

• D.J. TEECE, Managing Intellectual Capital: Organizational, Strategic, and Policy Dimensions, New York, Oxford University Press, 2000.
• G. VON KROGH, I. ICHIJO, I. NONAKA, Enabling Knowledge Creation: How to Unlock the Mystery of Tacit Knowledge, New York, Oxford University Press, 2000.

Attending students
For those students attending classes on a regular basis the final evaluation consists of attendance, participation, a written assignment and a group project.

Non Attending students
The exam consists of a written examination.