MGMT5604: How Does Innovation Contribute to Competitive Advantage: Asia Pacific Business and Management Essay, UNSW, Singapore

Answer one of the following questions

1. How does innovation contribute to competitive advantage? Support your answer with illustrations from both manufacturing and services.

• Definitions of key terms.
• How does innovation connect to competitive advantage? – creation of value?
• Are there different types of innovation that you could discuss?

2. What are the challenges which managers might face in trying to organize for a long-term steady stream of incremental innovation?

• Definitions of key terms.
• How is incrementally different from radical?
• What is an appropriate culture for continuous improvement?

3. How are innovative capabilities built and deployed over time? Explain, providing examples of the ways in which competitive advantage can be constructed through building capabilities.

• Definitions of key terms.
• How do core capabilities, path dependencies, and relationship to resources impact innovation capabilities??
• What does the interplay between tangible and intangible resources and knowledge and skills bring?
• Is there a role played by dynamic capabilities?

4. Is innovation manageable or just a random gambling activity where you sometimes get lucky? If it is manageable, how can firms organize and manage it – what general principles might they use?

• How far is innovation a complex process?
• What key stages are involved?
• Has there been a general shift in the character of innovation, internally and externally?
• What is the role of strategic leadership and organizational learning?

5. How might an organization assess a portfolio of possible innovation projects? What are the relative strengths and weaknesses of different approaches?

• What range of selection techniques can be used?
• What are their advantages and disadvantages in use?
• Is there a tradeoff between speed and detail in the choice of methodology/technique?