Syllabus new product development

EIN 6934/4933 ENT 6606-901: New Product Development
M 6-9:40pm in ENB110
Spring Term 2011
University of South Florida
 
SYLLABUS
 
Instructors
Dr. Michael W. Fountain
fountain@coba.usf.edu
Office: BSN 3520, Center for Entrepreneurship
Office Telephone: 813.974.7900
Office Facsimile: 813.558.1102
Office Hours: By appointment
 
Dr. Kingsley A. Reeves, Jr.
reeves@eng.usf.edu
Office:ENC 2200
Office Telephone: 813.974.3352
Office Facsimile: 813.974.5953
Office Hours: By appointment
 
 
 
Course Description
The objective of this course is to develop an understanding of how to profitably, create, manage and grow a new product with resource constraints.  The course is designed to prepare business, engineering and entrepreneurship students to contribute to the developmentof strategies and tasks relevant to new product development.  The skills developed will enable you to analyze and develop product strategies regardless of your specific functional role.
 
Relevance
There are two primary reasons that 80% of all entrepreneurial start-ups fail: 1) insufficient management competence to bring a new product or service to market in a sustainable and profitablemanner, and 2) insufficient capital to remain solvent in the long-term.  Thus, a keen understanding of the new product development process is a sine qua non for the successful entrepreneur.  However, individuals in larger, more established companies can also benefit from study of the product development process.  In an age of rapid innovation and rapid product obsolescence, a company’s livelihood mayvery well depend on its ability to bring fresh, competitive products to market in a timely manner.  This course seeks to aid students by increasing their product development IQ.  
 

Course Objectives
 
1. Students will develop techniques for improving new product development processes to maximize the likelihood of success.
2. Students will enhance their problem solving skills and ability tothink analytically.
3. Students will strengthen their general management skills including the ability to deal with ambiguity, work collaboratively, and communicate effectively.
4. Students will learn the critical skills of creation, translation, and prototyping of new products based upon functional design principles derived from customer’s needs analysis balanced with cost considerations.
 Course Format and Procedures
The course will consist of formal lectures, interactive class discussions of assigned reading material (business cases in particular), videos, in-class exercises, presentation of new innovative products,  guest speakers (as the opportunities present themselves), and computer-assisted design and product prototyping laboratory exercises.  The intent is to effectively teachthe material in a manner that is purposefully redundant, addresses multiple learning styles, and is engaging.  
 
Coursework Feedback and Grading
The final course grade will be determined as follows:
 
Initiative:
20%
 
Final Group Project:
 
50%
 
 
Weekly Oral Case Presentations
30%
 
 
 
 
 
PARTICIPATION and INITIATIVE: This does not mean simple class attendance.  Further,the emphasis is on the quality of contributions, not the quantity.  Preparation for class should take around 4-5 hours per week. Study groups are strongly encouraged.  Do not come to class unprepared.  Important: No marks are subtracted if you say something “wrong”.  This helps other students clarify their misconceptions.  However, if you don’t say anything at all, it doesn’t help you.  If youhave something to say, no matter how silly, raise your hand.  Class participation is crucial because it helps you build self-confidence.  If you want to be an entrepreneur or manager, you must be able to articulate your case convincingly to customers, investors, and others.
 
The initiative grade is based on contributions to class learning and demonstrated ability to answer questions based upon...