Operations Strategy and Innovation 7.5 credits

The course covers the topic of operations strategy and the strategic impact of the operations function. It covers different perspectives of strategic management, operations strategy, strategic alignment and strategic consensus. Further, it addresses the strategy formation and aims to give the student an understanding of the complexities associated with this interdisciplinary process. Further, the course aims to connect innovation management in products and services to strategy formation. After reviewing the foundations of and the strategic role of innovation, an operations perspective on managing innovation in product/service development processes is brought into focus. Furthermore, the requirements (inputs) and expectations (outputs) of innovation processes are addressed. Specifically, the value chain and resources required to support innovation processes, as well as their performance objectives (e.g., cost, flexibility, and sustainability) are underlined.