Overview:

Innovating inside established organizations is no easy feat. It is difficult to do something new when it breaks with traditional ways of working, potentially cannibalizes existing sources of revenue or involves risky and uncertain investments. History is littered with established companies (Blockbuster, Kodak, etc) that failed to meet these challenges and innovate.

This course centers on how to innovate within established organizations. The goal is to enhance students’ understanding of when, how and with whom to innovate following a generalizable roadmap. Through the semester, we will couple learning foundational concepts and principles about innovating at scale with frameworks that will helps students build their careers within established organizations.

Classes will mix case discussion, expert panels, and exercises (exercises will focus on developing a vision for innovation and persuading others to support innovative ideas)

Career Focus:

This course is tailored towards students looking to work (1) in established organizations within general management, strategy, corporate venture and innovation groups; (2) as strategy consults who will serve clients in these roles; (3) in private equity portfolio companies, as an operator. This class is also geared towards students who are interested in building skills that will help them persuade others of their innovative ideas.

Educational Objectives:

This course has three overarching learning objectives. Students will learn:

• When to be a first mover and innovate and when to strategically imitate and follow others in the market
• How to build capabilities to innovate inside established organizations across varying types of innovation (product, process and business model)
• How to partner with others through alliances, CVCs, strategic partnerships, to foster innovation

Course Content and Organization:

This course will have three modules that support the key learning objectives of the class:

Module 1: When to innovate

Class 1: The power of strategic imitation

Class 2: Dominant design and 2^nd mover advantages

Class 3: First mover advantage

Class 4: Exercise on crafting your vision for innovation by asking the right questions

Module 2: How to innovate

Class 5: Managing creative and innovative teams

Class 6: Developing innovative capabilities

Class 7: Geographic footprints and the location of innovative capabilities

Class 8: Buy vs. build decisions

Class 9: Exercise on persuasion and how to convince others in your company to support your idea

Module 3: Who to innovate with

Class 10: Assessing the benefits and disadvantages of alliances

Class 11: How to develop and run a corporate venture capital fund

Class 12: When and how to partner with startups

Class 13: When and how to partner with customers

Class 14: Summary and panel on careers

Scope:

Spans multiple industries including the following: beauty, gaming, sports, climate and energy, industrials, finance, military, technology, health and scientific fields, creative industries.

Grading / Course Administration

Grading will be based on participation and a take home final (50/50)

Copyright © 2025 President & Fellows of Harvard College. All Rights Reserved.