Investing in Innovation and Growth

(BUS 201)

Justifying sufficient levels of investment in innovation is often difficult in tough economic times, especially when the right level of funding is obscure. How do you determine this level and then, when it is set, decide where this money should best be allocated? Once this investment portfolio has been established, how do you manage it effectively? What determines how much new revenue is created by each dollar invested in innovation?

This course focuses on the business system that links investments in innovation to the financial performance of an enterprise. The investment system outlined here will provide participants with answers to these questions and more. New models will be discussed that clarify the links between management decisions made today and a firm’s long-term financial future. Students will learn how to apply these principles to widely varying business models, and will gain an in-depth understanding of how innovation drives financial success.

Please note: There is a new instructor for this course.

Marvin Patterson, President, Dileab Group, LLC

Marvin Patterson is founder and president of Dileab Group in Los Altos, California. His forty-five year career in product innovation includes twenty years with the Hewlett-Packard Company. He was responsible for development of HP’s early large-format plotters, and later led an internal consulting group to improve the effectiveness of HP’s worldwide R&D operations. He left HP in 1993 to found Innovation Resultants International (IRI), a consulting firm focused on helping client companies become more effective at new product innovation. He has served as a trustee of the National Technological University, and as a director for the American National Standards Institute. Patterson has published three highly regarded books and numerous articles on innovation management. He received an M.S.E.E. from The University of Washington in Seattle and is a graduate of the University of Michigan Executive Program.