CQUniversity Unit Profile.

Assessment Overview

Students must complete this assessment individually. The assessment is designed for students to develop an understanding of the close links between the business environment, business innovation strategy, business capabilities and business value creation. The assessment involves writing a 1,500 word innovation strategy report in response to a real case.

Assessment Guidance

Assessment guidance will be provided as we progress the unit. The unit coordinator will add advice in response to student questions and discussions. You are encouraged to ask questions and contribute to discussions in class and to create posts on the web site discussion forum.

Feel free to discuss your assessment ideas in the unit discussion forum, before you complete and submit the assessment.

Assessment Context

Innovation initiatives within a parent firm are driven by an innovation strategy. An innovation strategy is a subset of the firm's overall strategy. The innovation strategy describes the future development of a firm's innovation capabilities and the future direction of its innovation activities. A firm's innovation strategy does not exist in a vacuum. Rather it responds to a specific set if circumstances including innovation trends. A firm's innovation strategy provides important context, direction and guidance, monitoring and facilitation of an organisations innovation initiatives. Thus, firm's take care to diagnose the firm's circumstances including innovation trends to inform the design and development of its innovation strategy.

Select one of the following firms (or organisations)

• Amazon ( e-commerce)
• CQ University ( university education provider)
• LinkedIn ( social media provider)
• Fitbit ( social fitness application provider)
• Applied Minds ( toy manufacturer)
• Australian State Health ( select a health care provider in Australia)
• Cole ( retail supermarket chain)
• A firm or organisation you are or have been employed at and therefore know well. It is important that no confidential information is included in the submitted report. 

If you suggest a firm or organisation other than the ones above, you will need approval from your assigned lecturer.

Select one of the following innovation trends:

• Cloud Computing ( Andersson, Kaplan & Smolinski, 2012; Hardy, 2018).
• Internet of Things ( Kranz, 2017; Greengard, 2015).
• Blockchain ( Iansiti & Lakhani, 2017; Carson, Romanelli, Walsh & Zhumaev, 2018).

Ideally, your selected innovation trend is important to the selected is important to the selected firm or organisation as that makes the innovation strategy report important to its senior executives, the report is interesting to the area and the report you are writing is exciting.

You are required to write a 1,500 word innovation strategy report to the board of your selected organisation. Your innovation strategy report must:

• Succinctly introduce the selected organisation and the selected innovation trend.
• Succinctly define the following concepts and their relationships: the organisational environment, innovation trend, innovation strategy, innovation capabilities, innovation value creation and capture.
• Succinctly describe how the creation of an innovation strategy ensure strategic alignment within the organisation and why it is important.
• Analyse the impact of the selected innovation trend on the selected organisation. You should apply at least one strategy tool to analyse the impact, opportunities and threats to the organisation, including the impacts on the business processes and structure.
• Recommend how the organisations strategy best responds to the innovation trend by answering the following questions: 1. How should the organisation organise its innovation activities? 2. What additional innovation capabilities should the organisation develop? 3. What innovation initiatives should it pursue? and, 4. How should the organisation ensure that it creates and captures value from innovation?

• Recommend how the organisation best ensures strategic alignment to address the innovation trend.

Assessment References

Andersson, H Kaplan, J & Smolinski, B (2012) capturing value from IT infrastructure innovation, McKinsey, Digital, October.

Carons, B, Romanelli, G, Walsh, P & Zhumaev, A ( 2012) Blockchain beyond the hype: What is the strategic business value? , McKinsey Global Business Institute.

Greenough, J ( 2014) The Corporate 'Internet of Things' Will encompass more devices than the smartphone and tablet markets combined, Business Insider Australia, December.

Greengard, S ( 2015) The Internet of Things, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, p.90.

Hardy, Q (2018) How Cloud Computing is Changing Management, Harvard Business Review, February.

Iansiti, M & Lakhani, R (2017) The Truth about Blockchain, Harvard Business review, January-February.

Kranz, M ( 2017) Success with the Internet of Things Requires More than Chasing the Cool Factor, Harvard Business review, August.

Your Report will be assessed according to the following criteria:

Your Report must demonstrate:

1. Thorough understanding of relevant innovation management concepts, principles, theories, tools and models in regards to the assessment task- 60%.
2. Appropriate and well-structured concise and clear expression of innovation management arguments-10%.
3. Clear flow of thought throughout the report with a clear and succinct purpose described in the introduction and a clear and succinct conclusion-10%.
4. Critical review skills and integration of relevant academic and professional literature. A minimum of five (5) academic journal articles must be used-10%.
5. Appropriate in text referencing and reference list. Adherence to CQ University APA Reference Style-5%.
6. Clarity of expression, grammar and spelling. Appropriate report format within +/- 10% of the word limit(1,500 words)-5%.

Assessment Overview

This is a group assessment. The assessment is design for students to apply the design thinking processes and tools. It involves the creation of a group poster and a group presentation in class ( on campus students) or group video presentation (distance students). The assessment enables students to propose a new conceptual idea and demonstrate the effectiveness of design thinking processes and tools. The conceptual design must be creative and innovative and tackle a particular problem in our daily life. The selection of the conceptual idea and design must be discussed with the assigned lecturer. The proposed conceptual idea and design may be useful for the business proposal report in assessment 3.

Students are required to self-select into and form groups of 3-4 students ( maximum 5 students). On-campus students confirm groups with the assigned lecturer. Distance students confirm groups via email with the unit coordinator.

Assessment Task

To successfully complete this task you and your groups are required to prepare and present a poster that:

• Contains a minimum of 1 slide and maximum of 5 slides.
• Visually illustrate the proposed conceptual design and idea.
• Logically and persuasively illustrate and describe some of the steps in the development of the conceptual design idea, including the problem statement, customer need and target market.
• Identify the managerial leadership and organisational capabilities needed to take your idea to market and implement.
• Visually illustrate your groups design thinking process and tools used to develop the conceptual design idea, including how you identified the managerial capabilities and competencies needed to take it to market and or implement. You are welcome to introduce hand sketched diagrams to illustrate your design thinking process and your use of design thinking tools. Each group will be given 10 minutes to present the proposed design idea and demonstrate the groups understanding of design thinking and the managerial capabilities needed to take to market or implement your idea.

Assessment Guidance:

Steps to consider when developing your value proposition to the customer or conceptual idea ( these are suggestions only and must not be used as the basis for your poster).

Problem Statement:

Example 1: When outside in freezing cold temperatures, we must put on a pair of gloves. However, given our dependency on mobile phones and their constant shrinkage in  size, the use of a mobile phone with gloves is a challenge.

Example 2: Banks are now facing some challenges for speeding up the transaction processes in real time ( 7 days a week). However, all third party transactions are only able to be approved in business hours.

Need

Example 1: Ability to use a mobile phone with gloves, no matter the size or thickness, that is efficient as if you were operating it with your bare hands and keeping your fingers warm.

Example 2: Fast transaction verification via computerized system and or information sharing among banks to approve the transaction in real time ( 7 days a week). 

Target Market

Example 1: Any customer who owns a mobile phone and lives in a place where winter conditions are sometimes extreme, such as Melbourne, Adelaide and Sydney.

Example 2: Any bank customer, who wants to have the transaction completed as quickly as possible, preferable in real time.

Assessment Criteria

Your poster presentation will be assessed according to the following criteria

Your Poster Presentation must demonstrate:

1. Understanding of Design Thinking by providing correct information, which is distinguished clearly from own opinions-20%.
2. Synthesis and summarising skills by displaying a clear and concise message to the poster- 20%.
3. Ability to effectively use structure, aesthetics and layout, of the poster-20%.
4. Ability to present the poster, within a time limit in  a cohesive manner, without being a verbatim repeat of the poster-25%.
5. Breadth and quality of research using a minimum of 5 academic sources-5%.
6. Correct use of the CQ APA Referencing system-10%.

Assessment Overview

This assessment must be completed by students individually. The assessment is designed for students to develop a business proposal in a real world setting. The business proposal must be for an innovation of your choice within a specific organisation. The assessment involves writing a 1,500 word business proposal report. Feel free to discuss your assessment ideas in the unit discussion forum, before you complete and submit the assessment. Please note that academic misconduct and late submission penalties apply to this assessment as per the University policies.

Assessment Guidance

Assessment guidance will be provided during the unit on the unit site. It is important that you check out the assessment guidance on a regular basis. Advice will also be added to the discussion forum as we progress through the unit in response to student questions and discussions. 

Feel free to create a post today on the discussion forum if there is anything you need clarified.

Assessment Tasks

You are required to write a 1,500 word business proposal report. To successfully complete the assessment, you are required to identify a business and the business stakeholders you are writing the business case for.

Select a business or organisation that:

You are or have been employed at and therefore know well. It is important that no confidential business information is included in the business proposal report.

OR, is in the public eye, meaning there is a lot of publicly available information about this business or organisation.

Select an innovation that:

You believe be reasonably discussed as the subject of the business proposal. The innovation you choose should have the potential to be developed sustainably over a commercially viable period of time. The suggested innovation must not be implemented by the firm yet. It can be an innovation you come up with yourself or something you learned about in the media.

Write a business proposal report containing:

• A convincing executive summary that outlines clearly and succinctly  the purpose of the report.
• A clear and succinct introduction and conclusion.
• A logical and persuasive articulation of the problem to be solved, the problem insight, portfolio or generated solution ideas, solution selection and analysis, value proposition benefits, the business model description, the value proposition development and delivery, financial value capture and the strategic fit of the innovation.
• A logical and persuasive argument in regards to the managerial leadership competencies, capabilities and skills that would need to be developed and harnessed within the organisation to successfully implement your selected innovation.
• A logical and persuasive argument in regards to how the organisations managers can manage and address any uncertainties, including those related to customer desirability, technical feasibility and financial viability of the innovation.

Assessment Criteria

Your report will be assessed according to the following criteria.

Your report must demonstrate:

1. Thorough understanding of relevant innovation management concepts, principles, theories, tools and models in regards to the assessment task-60%.
2. Appropriate and well structured, concise and clear expression of innovation management arguments-10%.
3. Clear flow of thought throughout the report with a clear and succinct purpose described in the introduction and a clear and succinct conclusion-10%.
4. Critical review skills and integration of relevant academic and professional literature. A minimum of 5 academic journals must be used-10%.
5. Appropriate in text referencing and a reference list. Adherence to CQ University APA reference style-5%.
6. Clarity of Expression, grammar and spelling. Appropriate report format within (+/-10%) of the word limit:1,500 words-5%.