|
(MGT-ISyE 6772) Management of Technology: Managing Resources of the Technological Firm
The instructors of this 3-credit course include Professor Cheryl Gaimon, Georgia Tech's Scheller College of Business. The course is offered in the fall and spring semesters.
The focus of this course is the analysis of the challenges associated with managing a firm's resource capabilities for long-term competitive advantage. Particular emphasis is placed on planning under conditions including rapid technological innovation (in products and processes), international competition, and changing markets. We cover methods to develop (innovate), design (plan), measure (assess), and improve (change) technological capabilities for manufacturing and service firms.
Students are exposed to cases in actual manufacturing and service domains, readings from publications such as the Harvard Business Review, and leading research in academic journals such as Administrative Science Quarterly, Management Science, and Production and Operations Management. The course requirements include exams and case analyses. For the cases, students work in interdisciplinary teams to analyze firm problems. Selected topics are below.
I. Improving Performance of Resource Capabilities
|
Improving firm performance in manufacturing and service domains (cost, time, quality, variety) through product-process design integration, project management, supply chain management, and resource flexibility.
|
| II. Technological Innovation, Diffusion, and Transfer |
Sources of innovation; product versus process innovation; revolutionary versus evolutionary innovation; collaborative innovation; product versus industry life cycles; technology-S curves; disruptive versus sustaining technologies; and fostering innovation.
|
III. Strategy, Knowledge and Organizations
|
Core capabilities and rigidities; leader versus follower; exit-entry strategies; knowledge-based resources; knowledge creation and transfer within and between firms; organization design and managerial incentives; control versus empowerment; organizational culture.
|
| IV. Measuring Performance and Change Management |
Justification of new technology; knowledge worker productivity; process change including business process re-engineering; managing uncertainty; technology choice; implementation of new technology and workforce management; dynamics of disruption and learning.
|
|
