Tik-76.656 Research seminar: 

“Developing Products on Internet Time -
Managing Innovation in Extremely Turbulent Environments” (2 ov) VL

Background: Software development is often carried out in a very turbulent environment. Therefore, companies must be able to quickly react to changing customer requirements and to new unexpected technological opportunities. Product requirements cannot be decided at the beginning of the product development project and then remain unchanged. Changes might even be needed very late in the process. This seminar explores what kinds of product development processes companies can use that enable the needed degrees of flexibility and rapid learning. 

Visiting professor: The lectures are given by professor Roberto Verganti from Politecnico di Milano. Professor Verganti has studied the software development processes of American software companies together with professors Marco Iansiti and Allan MacCormac from Harvard Business School. Their studies have focused on the Internet software industry, in which environmental changes are rapid and difficult to predict. They have explored how rapid learning and flexibility has been attained by, e.g. Microsoft, Netscape, Yahoo and several other Internet software companies. During this seminar, professor Verganti discusses the results of this interesting study. 

Pre-requisites:
No pre-requisites. The course is meant for both undergraduate and post-graduate students.

How to pass the seminar:
Participating the lecture + exam

Seminar program:

Wednesday 1.11.2000 9-16 – Lecture

• Professor Roberto Verganti: “Developing Products on Internet Time –Managing Innovation in Extremely Turbulent Environments”
• Tellus-cabinet, Spektrin Pilotti, ground floor, Valkjärventie 2, Espoo 

Thursday 2.11.2000 9-12 

• 2.11.2000 9-12 opportunity to discuss with Roberto Verganti
• Reserve time for discussion from Anneli Kaarresalo anneli.kaarresalo@hut.fi

• Room T1, Information technology building

Content of the course

“Developing Products on Internet Time – Managing Innovation in Extremely Turbulent Environments”

In stable environments, companies typically adopt an approach that assumes the required information on market needs and technical options is available at the outset of a product development project; and that this information remains essentially unchanged until the product is launched. Development processes are therefore characterized by several sequential stages separated by gates; concept design, detail design and verification. 
 
While this "stage gate" process has been shown to work very well in stable environments, it is substantially questioned when technologies and markets are rapidly changing. In turbulent environments customer needs evolve substantially during development and new unexpected technological opportunities may emerge very late in the process.
 
The purpose of the seminar is to explore product development practices in uncertain environments. 
 
First Prof. Verganti shows how innovative firms in the Internet software industry have adapted to the rapid pace of market and technological change by building their development process around experimentation and flexibility.
 
Next, the seminar discusses the lessons learned from this industry and present general guidelines to improve the flexibility of the product development process.
 
Finally the applicability of these practices to other industries (such as workstations, automotive, white-goods) characterized by different levels of
uncertainty and complexity is debated.
 

Visiting professor - a short biography
Roberto Verganti is Full Professor of Management of Innovation and Projects at the Dipartimento di Economia e Produzione of Politecnico di Milano. At Politecnico di Milano he is also Director of the School of Doctoral Programs and Co-director of the Master Degree in Strategic Design. 
 
Roberto Verganti's research interests are in the field of management of 
innovation. In particular he his currently investigating:

• Product development flexibility (how to develop new products in highly uncertain environments), with a special focus on multimedia products and services.
• Management of design-driven innovation (i.e., innovation involving both the functions and the "language" of a product), with a special focus on the Italian Industrial Design System.

Cource material

Articles (approx. 100 p.) 
 
Handouts of the articles are available during the lecture.
 
1. Verganti, R., MacCormack, A. and Iansiti, M. "Rapid Learning and Adaptation in Product Development: an Empirical Study of the Internet Software Industry". paper presented at the 5th International Product Development Management Conference, Como, Italy, May 25-26 1998.
 
2. Thomke, S. & Reinertsen D. "Agile Product Development: Managing
Development Flexibility in Uncertain Environments". California Management
Review, vol.41, no 1, fall 1998.
 
3. MacCormac, A. "Towards a Contingent Model of the New Product
Development Process: A Comparative Empirical Study". Working paper,
2000.
 
4. Cooper, R.G., "Stage-Gate Systems:  A New Tool for Managing New
Products." Business Horizons, 33, 3 May-June (1990), 44-54.
 
5. Iansiti, M. and A. MacCormack. "Developing Products on Internet Time."
Harvard Business Review, Sep-Oct (1997), 108-117.
 
Book (approx .330 p.): 
Cusumano, M. & Yoffie, D. (1998)  “Competing on Internet Time: Lessons
From Netscape & Its Battle with Microsoft” The Free Press, New York, ISBN: 0-684-85319-1.

Book order:
We will make a group order for the book before the start of the seminar. The price of the book is approx. 130 mk as paperback and approx. 160 mk as hardcover. When signing for the course, mention if you want to order the book. Books ordered beforehand can be bought at the seminar.

Exam:
Monday 27.11.2000 16-19 – Exam

• Room T1, Information technology building
• 20-30 questions are available beforehand from the lecture, 4-5 of them are chosen to exam. 

Anneli.Kaarresalo@hut.fi, puh. 09-451 3235 

Registration before October 12th! 
A maximum of 30 partisipants. 

Seminar Fee: FIM 1200,-
Including: 
- seminar fee
- materials
- lunch and coffees

Other information:
It is possible to include this seminar in post-graduate degrees. Consult your professor for further information.