WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY AT SPOKANE

COURSE OUTLINE

EM 591

Strategic Management of

Technology in Engineering

Spring 1998

Faculty: Dr. Hal Rumsey

West 601 First Avenue

Spokane, WA 99204-0399

(509) 358-7936 FAX 7899 E-Mail: rumsey@lilac.sirti.org

Home Phone: (509) 448-3971

Office Hours: Tuesday through Thursday: 10 a.m. - 3 p.m.

You may contact me at the office, or at home during any reasonable hour.

REQUIRED TEXT: Strategic Management of Technology and Innovation, Second Edition; Robert A. Burgelman, Modesto A. Maldique, and Steven C. Wheelwright; Irwin, 1995.

SUGGESTED SUPPLEMENTAL TEXTS:

COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course features current coverage of the timely topic of managing technological innovation and rich exposure to the management of innovation. It integrates technological strategy, new product development, and corporate entrepreneurship and innovation.

This course features action-oriented cases to involve students and increase relevance. It also integrates technological strategy, product development, and corporate entrepreneurship and innovation.

Since this course is a graduate seminar in strategic management of technology, we hope to integrate as many strategic thinkers in the course as possible. If you know outstanding individuals with expertise in this area, we would love to invite them to participate with us. Class Schedule and Content

Week
Date
Readings
Case
1

RB

1/13P. 1-12, I-1 The Art of High Technology Management III-2
2

HR

1/20II-4 Technological Forecasting for Decision Making I-1,II-1
3

RB

1/27II-3 Taking Technology to Market II-3
4

HR

2/3II-9 Telephone Companies II-2,11
5

RB

2/10II-16 Strategic Intent

III-5 Collaborate with Your Competitors--and Win

II-14
6

HR

2/17II-12 Fading Memories III-8
7

RB

2/24II-5 Patterns of Industrial Innovation

II-8 Profiting from Technological Innovation

II-16
8

HR

3/3II-11 Competing Technologies: An Overview

II-14 Technological Discontinuities and Organizational Environments

II-15. III-3
9

RB

3/10II-6 Management Criteria for Effective Innovation

III-4 Absorptive Capacity

IV-7
103/17 Spring Break
11

HR

3/24II-13 Corporate Entrepreneurship and Strategic Management

III-6 Managing the Internal Corporate Venturing Process

IV-2,3
12

RB

3/31II-1 How to Put Technology into Corporate Planning

II-2 The Core Competence of the Corporation

IV-1,6
13

HR

4/7II-15 Architectural Innovation III-7, IV-4
14

RB

4/14II-7 Organizational Determinants of Technological Change

III-1 The Lab that Ran Away from Xerox

III-1, V-1
15

HR

4/21III-2 Financial Engineering at Merck

IV-1 Communication Between Engineering and Production: A Critical Factor

IV-8
16

RB

4/28II-10 Competition, Compatibility, and Standards

III-3 The Transfer of Technology from Research to Development

III-6

Deliverables:

1. 3 Concept Papers: Each student will prepare three short concept papers during the course of the semester. Topics may be developed from course readings, relevant journal articles, books, or current articles from the Wall Street Journal or other business publications. Each paper will consist of a review of the basic concept (including a summary of the published background) and a critical analysis of how the concept or approach might be applied in your real-world context. You may schedule your submission of the papers at your discretion, but I will accept no more than one paper per week for each student. I will accept no papers after June 26.

2. 2 Oral Presentations of Case Analysis: Each student will be part of a team which will develop an analysis of the cases listed in the syllabus. I anticipate that each student will be responsible for contribution to the analysis of two cases. Hard copy plus Powerpoint or other graphical presentation software files will be provided to the instructor within two weeks after the presentation. Teams will be evaluated as a whole; I will make no effort to distinguish the contributions of individual team members. Presentations should be limited to a maximum of 30 minutes each.

3. Written Summary of Case Analysis: Each team will prepare a written summary of their case analysis. The written summary will be due within two weeks after the oral presentation. In general, the paper should summarize the salient points of the case, summarize the basis of analysis for the pertinent issues, and present final recommendations. I would anticipate that five pages should be adequate to treat most of the cases.

4. Weekly Decisions Forms for the Aerospace Business Environment Simulator: We will be using a business simulation game to explore what it is like to strategically manage a business "by the numbers." We will form some six to ten teams which will be responsible to manage their own "companies" in this simulated competitive environment. We will begin the game at the end of Session #3 of the semester when the first round of decisions will be due. Subsequent decisions will be due at the beginning of class each week.

5. "Company Report" for the ABES. Each "company" will prepare a final report on the outcome of the ABES exercise. The report will address financial performance, success of strategic policies, and comparative performance of your company in the industry. The report will be due on July 1. Your final grade on this portion of the course will depend on your company's ranking within the industry, as well as the quality of your final report.

6. Participation/Quizzes: The success of a graduate seminar such as this depends on the full participation of all class members. If the level of discussion makes it clear that some students are not doing the required background reading, I reserve the right to administer unscheduled quizzes to determine your level of readiness. The best method I have found for preparation in a course such as this is to outline the readings to insure I have captured their essence.

GRADING: Each student's grade will consist of the following elements:

3 Concept Papers 3 @ 10% 30%

2 Oral Presentations of Case Analysis 2 @ 10% 20%

Written Summary of Case Analysis 2 @ 10% 20%

"Company Report" for the ABES 20%

Participation/Contribution/Quizzes 10%

Class Communications: We will rely primarily on electronic communications in this course. Hard copies of handouts will be used as a last resort. I have established an account on a WSU server here in Spokane, and all students in this course may access the account to post files (papers or ideas for sharing) and to download files for their own use. Computer gurus at each site should be available to assist you with the details of this process. The parameters (address) of the account are (is): IPN: 192.94.22.13 Logon ID is emgt. Password is emgt. (Note that logon and password are case sensitive.) I have found that FTP is the most straightforward method for uploading and downloading files.

If you are posting a file to the account, please notify me by E-Mail (Preferred) or Fax at the numbers noted in the beginning of this syllabus.

We will also try to establish strong networking patterns in the course to encourage the sharing of information. Please submit the information on the following page to me as soon as possible. (If you have privacy act concerns, I will have my lawyer contact your lawyer.) You may submit this sheet to your friendly WHETS operator, or you can be bold and impetuous and e-mail the information to me.


EM 591

STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT OF TECHNOLOGY

Name: ______________________________________________________________________

Organization: _______________________________________________________________

Telephone: __________________________________________________________________

E-Mail: _____________________________________________________________________

Principle Function: _________________________________________________________

Significant experience in technology management:





Particular areas of expertise which I believe I can contribute to this course:













Individuals who would make outstanding guest speakers for the course:

(Please include name, organization, and how we should go about contacting them.)