Curriculum

This graduate course approaches Information Technology from the perspective of information consumers as opposed to technology implementers. During this course, students will examine various technologies and their application within modern organizations. The course has two primary goals. (1) The course will explain information technologies in non-technical terms so that students can evaluate a technology’s effectiveness relative to any existing alternatives and the overall organizational needs. (2) This course should increase student awareness regarding how they interact with technology in a personal or business setting. Business leaders are constantly bombarded with technology. This course addresses the need to sift through that information in an intelligent manner and make smart business decisions.

This course prepares students for involvement in developing and commercializing ideas for new ventures or else innovating and developing new business models within existing companies. Topics include the discipline of innovation, sustained competitive advantage, the Valley of Death, breaking out of a product’s or service’s life cycle, mining a firm’s intellectual property, and fundraising. Special topics include serving the base of the pyramid, frugal engineering, and debates and dilemmas.