Course Content and Outcomes Guides (CCOG)

CCOG for MSD 123A Winter 2025


Course Number:
MSD 123A
Course Title:
Innovation and New Products
Credit Hours:
1
Lecture Hours:
10
Lecture/Lab Hours:
0
Lab Hours:
0

Course Description

Examines the impact of change, innovation, and technology on an organization's ability to thrive and be competitive. Explores innovation which involves the actions and activities of people directed at changing their organizations and their business environments. Introduces how to create a comprehensive business proposal for innovation, which addresses either strategic or tactical objectives of the organization. Audit available.

Intended Outcomes for the course

Upon successful completion students will be able to:

Apply a process to either new product development or service choices based on current or unmet customer needs.
Develop and present a comprehensive business proposal for a new product or service.

Outcome Assessment Strategies

Various individual and/or group skill building activities such as role-plays, case studies, or other exercises geared toward critical analysis of course concepts.
Written assignments or oral reports designed to integrate course material into personal experience or experiences of others.
Exams comprised of essay and/or objective questions, or an individual and/or team project or paper which requires integration, application, and critical examination of course concepts, issues, and themes.

Course Content (Themes, Concepts, Issues and Skills)

Themes:
New products and services succeed when they provide unique solutions to consumer needs.
The innovation process must be integrated, filtered, adopted by key stakeholders, and solve consumer issues.
Concepts:
Relevant, unique solutions to unmet customer needs Identifying key value drivers for the organization
Attracting stakeholder attention
Types of Innovation; Incremental and breakthrough innovation
Innovation versus standardization and systems oriented thinking
Document processes
Employee focus on innovation and improvement
Tools for innovation
Industry Best practices
Internal and external sources for innovation
Process improvement
Benchmarking
Balanced scorecard
Brainstorming
Filtering ideas
Applying Project Management tools for implementation
Current leading inventors and companies leading in innovation
How to create a climate for innovation
Challenge, freedom, idea time, idea support, playfulness, humor, risk taking
Innovation communities
Importance of measurable results
Impact of innovation on career advancement
Developing innovation through functional areas of company
Legal protection for innovation
Financing sources for innovation
Process for presenting new products
Key current areas of innovation
Issues:
Anticipating market issues
Measuring current market conditions
Using gap analysis to identify customer needs
Creatively communicating new product ideas
Skills:
Anticipating market issues
Measuring current market conditions
Using gap analysis to identify customer needs
Developing comprehensive proposals
Creatively communicating new product ideas