BMAN31911 Innovation and Markets
ASSESSMENT: CASE STUDY REPORTS
2024-2025
Course Assessment
This course is assessed by individual coursework in the form. of a report of up to 3,000 words (+10% - i.e., an absolute maximum of 3,300 words excluding references, etc.).
This document explains the requirements for the report.
You will also be required to develop the outline which will then be formatively assessed.
The deadline for submission of the reports will be on
Friday, 12 December @ 2.00pm.
The report must be submitted to Blackboard via Turnitin.
Penalties will be applied for late submission (see the end of this document for details). Penalties for later or non-submission of the outline report will be applied to your mark for the final report.
Topic Selection and Matching Theories with Evidence
This course aims to develop your understanding of how innovations, markets and competition are inter-related. Grounded in Schumpeterian, evolutionary, and institutional economics it examines the ways in which technologies and their associated products, markets, and industries evolve through processes involving entrepreneurship, innovation, competition, imitation, and diffusion.
Through your coursework, in the form. of a case study report, you are required to discuss and analyse this interplay.
The potential scope for choosing a case and for applying theoretical concepts or ‘lenses’ is wide. You should not to draw on all of the concepts covered by the course. Instead, you should focus on one or (at most) two areas - as defined by the lecture topics - and discuss and analyse an empirical case in relation to that / those areas.
A strong report requires:
1. careful selection of the case and an assessment of the evidence available to empirically discuss and analyse the case.
2. the careful matching of one or more theories to the case. One theory is normally sufficient.
3. focusing on analysis rather than description. Outlining who did what, and how, is description. Asking ‘why X acted as it did’ brings analytical thinking – which is what you want to bring to the report. You might also argue X should have done Y, but in doing so you need to explain why.
With respect to theories, you are required to draw upon one or more of the theories or conceptual frameworks discussed IN THIS COURSE.
Reports which do not draw on theories or concepts from this course – even if utilising theories related to the development and diffusion of innovations and technologies – will receive a failing mark.
Outline
You are required to prepare an outline of your proposed case study. This will be reviewed but not marked (i.e., formatively assessed), with feedback advising you whether or not you are “on track” and whether and how your report might be improved by a better matching of theory and empirics. We will offer drop-in sessions in the I where you have the opportunity to discuss your outline with a member of the teaching team. It is your responsibility to attend the session and to bring your outline.
Your outline should be no more than one page (i.e. one side) of A4 (minimum font size in Arial = 12 (i.e. this size), with minimum 1.15 line spacing (as in this document).
Your outline should include the following:
1. Topic area (e.g., entrepreneurship, appropriation strategies, diffusion of innovations, incumbent reactions to the introduction of innovations, etc.)
2. Your research question
3. The theory (or conceptual framework) that you intend to apply (including up to 3 key references you intend to rely on)
4. The empirical case you intend to address – including identifying the main sources of empirical evidence that you intend to draw upon.
1. Topic and case selection
The “topics” are those covered in the lectures. Each lecture may cover more than one “topic”. Your task is to match one of these topics to an empirical case to analyse.
You are advised very strongly to select a narrow topic-case combination, rather than a broad combination. For example, studying the diffusion of cloud computing across industries is far too broad. Studying it in a particular sector (e.g., construction) is narrower and should be much more insightful. Alternatively, you might as “Why has [Company X] become dominant in cloud computing?”, or ask “Why did [Company Y which was well placed] fail to become a major player in cloud computing?”
Unusual and surprising cases are very often better than high profile or obvious cases. For example, students often want to study Apple or Tesla, and those that do often provide banal accounts such as that Apple and Tesla make great products that people want to buy. This is not very insightful. It also suffers from retrospective assessment with a “the team won because they played well” kind of logic. If you are interested in electric vehicles, more interesting is why rivals such as VW or Toyota were slow to respond to Tesla.
You must ensure your topic-case combination is original. Do not use those already covered in the lectures and seminars, and of course you must not pass off as your own work studies you find on the internet. The university’s plagiarism software is remarkably good. Don’t take the risk.
2. Research question selection
You must then decide upon a ‘research question’ with reference to the topic and case that you select.
As indicated above, we strongly advise you to ask “Why” questions. Why questions encourage you to think in an analytical way, rather than just describing what happened.
For example, “why were incumbent automakers slow to respond to the opportunity of electric vehicles?” You might want to add the ancillary question “what has been the consequence of this tardiness for competition in the auto-industry?”
One way to reduce the scope of your study – which we encourage – is to give it an explicit geographical focus – i.e., confine the analysis to one country or region. Comparative analyses are possible, e.g. “Why was using mobile phone credits as money successful in Kenya but not in South Africa?“ If you are going to do a comparative analysis, then have reason for including the two countries in the comparison – don’t just pick them at random.
If you are in any doubt, you are encouraged to discuss your topic-case-question with your seminar leader or member of the teaching teams at the drop-in sessions where you will receive feedback on your report outline/proposal.
3. Empirical Evidence Base
A strong or appropriate evidence base is very important, even critical, to a strong report. You might have a really good question that you want to ask, but you might not find sufficient evidence to examine the question. In such a case it is probably better to abandon that question and ask another.
So please take some time before you develop your outline report to look into the sources of evidence that you can or might use to undertake the analysis and write your report.
There are lots of sources of evidence, including from national and international statistical agencies, from company record, from the internet, etc. Take care that your source(s) is/are credible. If the evidence base is not credible this will result in a weak report.
Again, if in doubt please raise your concerns with your seminar leader.
4. The Case Study Report
You are expected to thoroughly research your topic. The perspective you choose should be appropriate to the case, but can focus on a specific company, a (small) set of companies, users, or discuss diffusion more generally.
You must adopt a critical and analytical stance – this does not mean being negative, it means being independent and objective. If you rely entirely on a company’s promotional material as your sources, you are unlikely to develop an unbiased view of their activities and the reasons for their success.
It is vital that you use theories and concepts – FROM THIS COURSE – to interpret the case. This does not mean simply fitting the case to the theory. You should ask yourself whether the theory is appropriate to the case.
Some studies, which can be exceptionally good, question why a theory or concept does not apply. For example, why didn’t a set of incumbents suffer from the incumbents’ curse in a particular case?’ Questions like this probe the limits to an established concept or theory.
The word limit is 3000 words (+/-10 percent). This limit excludes references (or bibliography). It also excludes diagrams, pictures, graphs, and tables. You are encouraged to include these if your report where they add to the content and quality of the analysis. Do not include them to bulk up your report. A good report is focused – it does not include unnecessary material.
Your sources should include academic sources (books and journals). You are required to ensure that your conceptual / theoretical sources are wholly or primarily from within the areas of Schumpeterian, evolutionary, and institutional economics and innovation studies. If in doubt, ask your seminar leader.
For the empirical aspects of the study, you can use authoritative internet sources.
At the end of your report, you must cite all your sources using the Harvard referencing style. in your list of references.
You must also cite your sources in the text of your report (without a citation the reader does not know where the information or idea comes from and can only assume it comes from you. If you make a factual observation without citing the source, then the remark may be considered an unsupported assertion).
A report should explain the economic characteristics of the innovation (and if applicable its diffusion (or non-diffusion), and/or analyse the interaction between the innovation and its (intended) market (including competitor reactions), interpreting this utilising theories or concepts discussed in this course.
If you have knowledge of other theories and concepts in the field of Schumpeterian, evolutionary and institutional economics or innovation studies that have not been discussed in the lecture that you would like to apply, then please first discuss this with a course coordinator to obtain their agreement that the theory is appropriate. Please email a course coordinator if you wish to discuss this.
An explanation of these concepts and their relevance to discussing the topic should be included. You should not over-elaborate on the theory or concepts, however. Assume that your reader (your teachers) knows the theory; we don’t want a lesson in theory, we are interested in how you apply theory to the case.
You are encouraged to focus on one or at most two topics – each of the lectures can be considered to cover a “topic”. You should not attempt to include all the concepts/theories covered in the lectures as you cannot analyse the case using all of the theories in a 3000 word report
If a particular case is used during seminars, you should not choose that case.
The following are examples of topics-cases and research questions that have been effectively analysed by students in recent year (i.e. obtained grades of at least 70%):
• Why did Amazon achieve a dominant position in the cloud computing market?
• Has Instagram profited from an imitation oriented innovation strategy?
• Can E-fuels transition from a niche to a mainstream product in the UK car industry?
• Why did Google Glass fail as an innovation; why might it succeed in the future?
REPORT WRITING
What is a Report?
The report is 3000 words in length excluding references, etc.
Report structure and style.
• A report is always written in the third person (avoiding “I”, “we”, “you”).
• A report is concise and to the point – stay on topic. Don’t provide excessive background material that is not directly relevant (if you feel this is absolutely necessary to include, put it in an appendix).
• A report is divided into headed, numbered sections (these should include: an introduction – telling the reader what the work is about; theory / concepts – briefly introduce the theory or concepts you will be using and why they are applicable; analysis – discuss your case and the interplay between the theory you are using and the empirical evidence you have gathered (don’t include all the empirical evidence if it is not relevant to the focus of your analysis) – highlight unusual or unexpected findings if there are any; and a conclusion – highlighting the conclusions of the study (rather than providing an overall summary of the report). Conclusions are based on the findings of the investigation Other sections can be added if required.
• Complete list of references used, including academic and other sources.