course material

1. Are your competitors expanding in the current market? Explain how
ScenarioYou work as a middle manager for one of the top U.S. producers of luxury and
mass-market automobiles and trucks.The chief technology officer (CTO) of the company
from the course scenario has been monitoring new technology developments that the
company could integrate into its vehicles to enhance the usefulness of and improve access
to the data acquired by the many digital sensors integrated into vehicle subsystems over the
past 20 to 30 years. The technology trend of particular interest is the internet of things
(IoT)—the interconnection of embedded devices, such as sensors and computers, over the
internet. By taking advantage of this trend, the CTO believes the company can seize an
opportunity to provide better service and predictive maintenance to its customers,
improving customer satisfaction and adding additional revenue streams.Based on briefings
by the CTO and your Module One memo, senior management has decided to implement IoT
into its product line. Your CTO has asked you to lead a cross-functional team to take this
initiative forward. Your first task is to create a presentation that will include your
recommendation for how the company should approach this business problem: should you
use incremental or discontinuous innovation?Specifically, should the company:Design a
completely new product line, based on the new technology (discontinuous
innovation)orAdd new technology features first into one model and then incrementally into
the broader product line (incremental innovation)The recommendation you and your team
will make is an important first step in pursuing this new technology. Your presentation and
recommendations will be reviewed by senior management. Until senior management
approves your approach to this innovation, your cross-functional team will not have a
budget and will not be able to start work on the innovation. You should utilize your work
from the Module Two presentation and data analysis when making and justifying your
recommendation in this first milestone. In Milestone Two, you will subsequently develop a
go-to-market strategy. For your project in Module Nine, you will compile your work from
Milestones One and Two, and include a proposed organizational structure to best integrate,
produce, and market the new technology.PromptCreate a PowerPoint presentation to make
a recommendation for how the company should pursue the IoT technology to remain
competitive: either by discontinuous or incremental innovation. To make your
recommendation, you will need to identify how the evolving IoT (sensor) technology fits
into the company’s products and services and determine potential risks and benefits. You
will also need to look at your competitors to see what they are doing. Finally, you need to
analyze the company’s capability (resources) for pursuing the innovation. Use the

2. information and data from the CTO Brief, Comparative Growth Data, Comparative Operating
Statistics, and Comparative Product Plans to complete this milestone.Explain potential risks
and benefits for options A and B.Overview (1 slide): Present the business problem and
options A and B.Option A (1–2 slides): Explain at least two potential risks and benefits for
option A.Option B (1–2 slides): Explain at least two potential risks and benefits for option
B.Compare your competition’s products and services.Competitors (3–4 slides): Evaluate the
competitors’ current products and services.What are your competitors' current products
and services?Are your competitors expanding in the current market? Explain how this
impacts their market strength.Analyze your company’s capability to pursue the
innovation.Complete a partial gap analysis (2 slides):Does your company own the
technology, or does it need to be purchased?How is the technology currently being used in
today’s products and services?What type of technology is available to
purchase?Recommend the innovation approach your company should pursue.Innovation
approach (2 slides): Explain which innovation approach you are recommending and
why.Consider the different stakeholders—research and development (R&D), marketing,
finance—when communicating your recommendations.Include a description of the
incremental or discontinuous product that you are recommending for R&D.Include the sales
forecasts for marketing.Include a financial snapshot for finance.