MSc in Economics and Business Administration - Management of Innovation and Business Development

Content

To remain innovative, companies need to develop new products and processes – and they need to do it quickly. Innovation and the ability to create competitive advantage for firms are at the very core of this concentration. Through an introduction to the theory and practice of innovation, you will learn to manage and solve problems pertaining to the organization of innovation and entrepreneurship.

To manage a company effectively through innovation and business development, you need structured and informed analysis. Each innovation has different aspects, some referring to its value proposition, some to its future users, some to the likely responses from its competition, and so forth. An innovation does not become successful by taking a one-sided focus on these aspects. You will learn about the processes of identifying ideas for innovation, strategies in different types of companies as well as how innovation can become a part of the overall strategy of a company. You will also gain knowledge on how to put innovation on the corporate strategy agenda. In this context, Open Innovation is one of the central concepts with which you will become familiar. Open Innovation implies the tendency that innovation processes increasingly require collaboration with several stakeholders, users, suppliers, experts, etc.

You will be taught about the process of managing innovation and business development projects and about making budgets as well as drafting and assessing business plans. This will be important if you seek to design your own viable project, but also for assessing the quality of projects presented to you by others. You will also learn about the core aspects of management control and financial management in relation to innovation projects. You will gain knowledge of how to forecast the future needs of a company for product innovation in order to secure future revenue earning opportunities.

This concentration will not only teach you innovation in well-established companies, but also innovation as part of the establishment of new companies. The focus is on entrepreneurship in relation to innovation and the start-up of a new company based on recent scientific research in the field of entrepreneurship and cases from the real world. Important issues in this context include opportunity recognition, the fundamentals of new venture creation, the characteristics of a successful founding team, hiring central employees, entrepreneurial financing, and founding conditions.

In order to work in knowledge intensive companies you will acquire skills to identify and structure ideas for innovation and business development and to make plans for their implementation. In order to do so, you are also provided with a thorough understanding of company organization, project management tools, and relevant tools in management and financial control.

Structure

Management of Innovation and Business Development is a two-year master programme divided into four semesters. The autumn semester runs from September through December with exams in October, November and January; and the spring semester from February through April with exams in April, May and June.

The first and second semester consist of mandatory courses, the third semester of elective courses and the fourth semester completes the programme with a master thesis.

In the Management of Innovation and Business Development concentration you will gain project writing skills throughout the first year. You will write small projects during the first semester and engage in a larger group-based integrated project in your second semester, where you also will include theory from different courses within the first year. This will prepare your writing skills for the master thesis in the fourth semester.

Additional options

Exchange
You have the opportunity to apply for a period of study abroad for a semester at one of CBS’ partner universities.

Double degree
CBS and Università Bocconi in Milan, Italy have signed a double degree agreement for the MIB concentration. This means that if you choose the MIB concentration, you will have the possibility of studying at Bocconi for one year after having completed your first year at CBS. For more information see the double degree website for MIB.

CEMS
When studying Management of Innovation and Business Development, you can apply for the CEMS programme, which is a double degree in international management. It provides you with both the MSc degree and the CEMS in International Management degree.

Minor
When studying MIB you can also use part of your third semester to obtain a minor in one of the specialised minor programmes.

Course overview

You can find course descriptions in the programme regulations for Management of Innovation and Business Development.