Management Engineering - Leadership & Innovation

Full exam

L&I - Third Call August 30 th A.Y. 2020 -2021 - Innovation - 1. What is innovation What we test: The following question is intended to test the student's knowledge of the main innovation strategies and frameworks explained in class (Invention vs Innovation and effect of innovation on the firm competences ). Rens is a Finnish brand that produced the world's first sneaker with coffee grounds and recycled plastic. The Helsinki -based brand won the 2021 “Reddot Award for Outstanding Product Design ” for their innovative coffee sneakers . Rens' coffee sneakers debute d in the summer of 2019 and soon became Finland's most successful Kickstarter campaign to date and the largest fashion crowdfunding campaign in the Nordics: in just under 45 days, Rens had sold over half a million of sneakers to thousands of customers worl dwide. To make such shoes , they use coffee grounds from about 21 cups of coffee per shoe. Materials made from coffee grounds have many advantages - they are odor -resistant, antibacterial, sustainable, offer UV protection and dry twice as fast as convention al polyester, for example. The sales have been outstanding, and the community of buyers commented very positively on their experience with the shoes. According to the information provided, Rens ’ coffee sneakers can be seen as: A. A radical innovation, because the shoes use materials never used in the shoe market to dramatically improve the performances of existing features ( e.g. odor resistance) . B. An invention, because Rens has invented a new kind of shoes with materials never used before C. A competence destroying innovation for the customers because they completely change the way to use sneakers. D. A market -pull innovation, as the proposed innovation meets the strong market request for sustainability. Justify your answer The correct answer is A, as Rens not only made a new product but commercialized it by taking advantage of the strong trend related to sustainability. The new material radically improves the performance of odor resistance, drying time, UV protection, etc. a nd can thus be considered a radical innovation. - B is wrong, because by the time the product is commercialized it can be called an innovation. In addition, we are not sure, or at least it is not made explicit, if it is Rens who invented these shoes, or pe rhaps took advantage of an existing patent. - C is wrong, because competence -destroying innovation refers to innovations which render the competencies of the firm (not the customer) obsolete - D is wrong, because there is no mention in the text that they were created from customer demand, and certainly a market trend is not enough to define that innovation as market -pull . 2. Technology Push What we test: The following question is intended to test the student’s a bility to recognize technology push innovation, distinguishing it from incremental innovation and Innovation of Meaning TiltBrush is a 3D painting application by Google, which uses Virtual Reality Technology to help creative professionals expressing their ideas in a seamless, virtual enviro nment. Users have a virtual palette, from which they can select their drawing instrument, colors , and much more: it is possible to paint with ink, smoke and fire – elements which are not normally available in the physical environment. The intuitive interfa ce helps to quickly gain familiarity with the tool, making it an ideal instrument for both novices and experts. The app leverages the existing technology of Google VR: using a handheld controller, users interact with their pain ting s in a virtual environment thanks to the Google VR headset that lets users immerge in the painting s they are creating. Painting is no more a 2D activity based on perspective to reach a quasi -3D effect. Now it is really a 3D experience both in the creation p hase (artist) and in the experiential phase (visitors). These are some of the user reviews to the app Milagros Rosas Lazo 5 months ago “T he game i s soooooooo good and I have VR ” NOAH JIM 4 months ago “T his app is a fun way to while away your day, and it enables artist like me to project my creations but in 3D! ” CHRISTENA STEPHEN 1930075 3 weeks ago “I would like to know if Tilt Brush still available as I am planning for a 3D workshop using Tilt Brush to my Art students . I would like them to be inside their projects! “ Leveraging the provided information, w hat kind of innovation does TiltBrush represent? A. Technology Push Innovation – TiltBrush users move a handheld controller which is a totally new way to experience digital artistic creations B. Innovation of meaning – TiltBrush revolutionizes the whole artistic experience introducing Virtual 3D painting C. Incremental Innovation – TiltBrush represents only a small change in the previously existing VR technologie s by Google D. Platform Innovation – TiltBrush allows creative people to develop new products (digital art) Justify your answer A. False – the handheld controller is used in many digital devices (e.g. mouse). The technological novelty would be applying the VR technology to the new setting. B. True – TiltBrush changes the reason why users buy a painting application, which is experiencing your artistic creations in a whole new (3D) way C. False – Incremental Innovation means innovating within a technological paradigm, following a certain trajectory (S -shaped curves). VR represents a new technological paradigm for painting apps. D. False – The new products are simply the result of interacting with a tool, no further sign of any type of being a pla tform 3. User Needs What we test: The following question is intended to test the Capability to distinguish User Research techniques (with a focus on Lead User Analysis) In 2004, the multinational investment Bank of America assigned a project to the agency Deio focused on boosting their enrolment numbers. To conduct the research, the Deio innovation team was “ talking to people who were great at saving, and people who strug gled with it, taking inspiration from some of the existing, everyday habits people have around savings .” Soon, they realized an interesting pattern: in many families, mothers were in charge of managing finances. A group with an extreme behaviour in this pattern turned out to be single mothers: they are often on a tight budget and must keep track of their spending meticulously. Many of these women kept check -book registries, in which they listed their bills, expenses and ATM withdrawals. It turned out that a common habit by many of these people was to round up numbers while listing expenses, leading to a little buffer of savings each month. In 2005, t his knowledge favoured the launch of the “Keep the Change” program, a ser vice that automatically rounds up all purchases made with a debit card. These rounded -up cents are transferred to a savings account managed by Bank of America. The “Keep the Change” program was developed by leveraging the following method: A. Lead User: beca use users were directly involved in the project cycles to get their feedbacks as a sort of team component; B. Lead User: because single mothers were exceptional users with respect to important attributes of needs faced by users in the marketplace; C. Lead User: because an extreme group of users was involved through out the project given their capability to innovate; D. None of the others Justify your answer A. Incorrect, the definition provided is the one of beta testing. B. Incorrect, Lead Users have also the capability to innovate, while single mothers were an extreme group of users manifesting more explicitly their needs about money savings. C. Incorrect, single mothers were not involved in the innovation process . Their usual habit served as an important insight for Deio user research. D. Correct, single mothers are not lead users in this project . The observation of an extreme need of the market helped th e Deio innovation team to understand users’ needs and conceive the “Keep the Change” progra m. This is rather a case of etnography 4. Innovation of Meaning What we test: The following question is intended to test the capability of correctly identifying a new meaning given to a product category. The publication of “Risk Legacy” in 2011, a revised version of the popular game "Risk", gave birth to a new kind of boardgames that contributed to change the industry and to its growing overall sales since then. Traditionally, board game players used to buy games that would fit different social situations – such as parties or family dinners – enjoying their favorite gam es by playing them several times over the years. On the contrary, legacy games are games that can be played just once. Usually, the game requires destroying cards or other game elements while playing and presents a narrative flow. Thus, knowing the end of the story makes playing them again unsatisfactory. After the initial skepticism in the market, mainly due to the need of destroying game elements, legacy games marked a huge success, being constantly at the top sales positions. Customers generally prefer playing legacy games to have an immersive and unique experience. Players particularly appreciate the narrative element of the games that brings them closer to movies or books. The introduction of legacy games is: A. An innovation of meaning, since playing a legacy game has a different meaning than playing traditional board games. B. A market -pull innovation, given the market requirements about new games that are more centered on the narrative component. C. A disruptive innovation, given that the market has not immediately accepted it, but they are now higher in sales than traditional games D. An innovation of meaning, because legacy games have a different design than traditional board games. Justify your answer It is a case of innovation of meaning , because the reason for buying the game is different : from playing my favourite games in different occasions to enjoy a unique playing experience. Having a different design is not a sufficient condition for being an in novation of meaning. It's not a market pull innovation since it has not been asked by the market (it was even not well accepted by the market). It's not a disruptive innovation since it doesn't target the low end, and we don't have any information about rapid scalability . 5. Platform What we test: The following question is intended to test the student's knowledge with respect to the section on platforms. Cubbit is an Italian startup that recently received 7 million of investment from some of the main Italian and European investors (Techstars, Primo Ventures, Italian Angels for Growth, etc.). Their solution is a distributed cloud platform that allows companies to store their data in a network of dedicated devices - Cubbi t Cells - in the hands of the users themselves, instead of using inefficient and polluting data centers. A suite of machine learning algorithms optimizes payload distribution across the network, while also taking care of security and metadata. Users, in ex change for the service, contribute a portion of the cloud space provided by their node. With such a platform, companies have the ability to store their data and develop their products by leveraging a private, secure and more sustainable solution. According to this description, Cubbit is an example of: A. Internal platform, because it offers a distributed cloud platform through which companies can develop and produce a stream of derivative products. B. Industry -wide platform, because it offers a distri buted cloud platform through which companies can build further complementary innovations and potentially generate network effects. C. Transactional two -sided platform, because it offers a distributed cloud platform through which companies can internalize ind irect network externalities D. None of the others Justify your answer The correct answer is D, as Cubbit is only a “distributed” cloud platform. - A is wrong, because companies do not develop or produce a stream of products derived from the use of the platform, but only find a place to store their data. - B is wrong, because although there is a network effect resulting from the P2P nature of the p roduct, companies cannot build complementary innovations on the platform. - C is wrong, because as much as there is a network effect resulting from the P2P nature of the product, companies don’t realize cross -side network externalities so prominent that t hey can define it that way. L&I - Third Call August 30 th A.Y. 2020 - 2021 - Leadership - 1. Johari Model What we test: The following question is intended to test how sharing personal information that one may feel reluctant to reveal can be read through the private area of the Johari Model. Luca is a freshly hired intern of a top -tier management consulting firm. He has just started to work on a project with a Senior Consultant and a Partner, and the reason he has been allocated on this project is that he is very result s-driven. At the end of the first month of the internship, the Senior Consultant strongly advised Luca to summarize the previous results at the b eginning of each meeting. In this way, he might improve self -confidence and become more independent during client meetings if he wants to become a successful consultant. Luca perfectly understood why he had been asked to be more independent and self -confid ent. However, at the end of the meeting, he went back to the Senior Consultant, saying: “For the moment, I do not feel comfortable speaking in public, and I need more time to learn how to properly start a meeting more effectively because I’m very shy and r isk to panic . It would be easier for me to prepare all the documents but rehearse the opening with you before the next meeting ” The Senior consultant appreciated Luca's transparency thanking him for his honesty. What is the right statement? A. Luca is receiv ing a sandwich feedback from the Senior Consultant B. Luca is properly managing a conflict with the Senior Consultant by collaborating with him C. Luca is reducing his private area of the JoHari Window in the relationship with the Senior Consultant D. Luca has prev ailingly green behaviours, and this is the reason why he wants to be sure to control the meeting with the client Justify your answer: W e are not in the context of feedback since there is no specific situation to correct or support and the structure of the 4 steps of constructive feedback is not present (nor the 2 steps of supporting) . There’s no conflict in action and the statement regarding the WB is incorrect (we are not in front of a person with prevailing green behaviours , and we do not have a specific behaviour to associate with it). The correct answer is the C) he is sharing his personal flaws and characteristics of his private area to improve the trust and relationship with the sen ior consultant. 2. WHOLE BRAIN What we test: The following question is intended to test the students' ability to analyze the behavior of a leader , applying the Whole Brain model to specific behaviors – not the overall person . Case: Marco is the Operation Manager of a small car company in Germany. In his work, h e is very well organized and target oriented : a manager who is always in control of the production processes under his responsibility and able to organize the work of his employees accordingly . For example, when Marco has to communicate to his team, he communicates tasks effectively, explaining the action plan and by providing roles and responsibilities. He is a fast problem solver and normally roots his decisions on facts and data. In the last period, a major competitor entered one of the primary markets of Marco's company, and it required the comp any to react quickly not to lose market share. Marco was slow in reacting to the new situation. He immediately understood the need for change but wanted to be sure about the new solutions to implement. For this reason, he identified three possible alternat ives and run tests for each of them in parallel to then compare the results. Only when he was reasonably certain that the new solution met the highest possible quality, he finally rolled it out. Inevitably, his behavior in that situation impacted the enti re Operation s area under his control. Using the Whole Brain Model, which color best describes Marco's recent behavior? A. Blue B. Green C. Red D. None of the others Justify your answer: The general description of Marco lead to think that he might act often blue behaviors. Still, in the specific case “Marco was slow in reacting to the new situation” and the reason behind this performance is that “he wanted to be sure about the new solution s to implement”. The driver for his decision was “the new solution … the highest possible quality”. To meet it “he identified three possible alternatives and run tests for each of them in parallel to then compare the results.” All these behavior s clearly i ndicate that in this situation Marco acted a green behavior. It is interesting to note how the general description of M arco would let expect him to adopt more likely blue behaviors . In the case this doesn’t happen , stressing that behaviors can have colors , while people don’t . 3. Transformational Leadership What we test: The following question is intended to test how transformational leaders can be colleagues that provide idealized influence and personalized consideration which encourages and motivates followers. Andreas is a 31 -year -old business analyst who is working in an investment banking firm. Melanie, Andreas’ manager, recognize s that he is stressed and frustrated in the last period. Having recognized Andreas’ current condition, she approaches him to talk, showing him her genuine concern towards him. Andreas explains that he stru ggles at work and has low motivation because of insecurities in his current project about a critical Join t Venture between a fast -food chain and a synthetic m eat company . Melanie carefully listen s and t ells Andreas that when she perceives that she is not progressing in specific work tasks, she goes back to find the real reason why she is doing what she does. “Tasks, deliverables and even projects are temporary , sometimes we make them right, sometime s we screw up” , she sa ys, “but at the end of the day what matters is only the real reason why we work, what we want to achieve, what we want to leave as a legacy…. Can you see beyond the project, are you the right pe rson to transform another ROI based project to gain more money into the first concrete step to change the way masses eat and finally start reducing our carbon footprint for good?” Based on the situation described, which of the following is the right option? A. Melanie ’s behaviour is an example of transformational leadershi p. B. Melanie’s behaviour is an example of transactional leadership. C. Melanie ’s behaviour is an example of middle -of-the -road management style . D. Melanie is following the delegating leadership style. Justify your answer: Melanie engages in transformational leadership because she carries out individualized consideration in that she shows concern for Andreas “ showing him her genuine concern towards him” . She also puts in pl ace an intellectual stimulation ” are you the right person to transform another ROI based project…”. Finally she also put s in place behaviors of inspirational motivation by showing a greater good beyond the JV project for the investment bank “a first concrete step to change the way masses eat and finally start reducing our carbon footprint for good?”. There is no clear reference in the case to the concern for production, necessary to identify the middle -of-the -road management style; we could only say that Melanie has a high concern for people, as she focuses on the wellbeing of Andreas. There is no clue instead of a delegating leadership style in Melanie’s behavior. 4. Conflict management 3 What we test: The following question is intended to test the capability to recognize others’ behavior in conflicts It is 1984, few minutes before the launch of the Macintosh , the revolutionary PC conceived by Steve Jobs. We are very close to the event that, in Jobs' mind, should be perfect and memorable. Jobs is in the backstage with his trusted engineer, Andy Her tzfeld, just a few minutes before the start of the event. The M acintosh was scheduled to say "Hello" to the audience during the presentation. Due to a technical problem, Her tzfeld is forced to tell Jobs that the device would not be able to speak and suggests skipping that part in the presentation. Jobs does not want to even discuss about changing that part because, according to him, it is crucial to communicate the essence of the revolutionary product they are going to launch: the device must appear not as a cold calculator but as a friendly tool that fits everyone ’s homes. Thus, Jobs orders Her tzfeld to make it work at any cost. For Her tzfeld the problem is not easy to solve in such short time , and he tries to discuss with Jobs to find a different win -win solution. However, he gains no results. Jobs arrives at the poin t of threatening Her tzfeld with public humiliation if he fails to find a solution. Time passes, and there are only a few minutes left before the event's start, so the only solution that comes to Her tzfeld's mind is to suggest using the Macintosh 512K, a pr oduct still in the prototype phase able to satisfy Jobs' request. Even if Hertzfeld strongly advises against this solution, Jobs is enthusiastic about it and decides to proceed along that path: the device works, and the presentation goes as planned. Accord ing to the T homas -Kilmann Conflict Model, how would you define the behavior of Jobs and Hertzfeld throughout the process ? A. Jobs is collaborating and Hertzfeld is collaborating B. Jobs is competing and Hertzfeld is collaborating C. Jobs is competing and H ertzfeld is accommodating D. Jobs is avoiding and Hertzfeld is accommodating Justify your answer: Jobs is competing: the position is clear , “it is my way or no way“ . Jobs does not want to even discuss about changing that part” and he manages to get this passed using power : “Jobs arrives at the point of threatening Hertzfeld with public humiliation if he fails to find a solution”. On the other side , Hertzfeld tries to collaborate and “tries to discuss with Jobs to find a different win -win solution” b ut with no results, so he switches to an accommodation mode “Even if Hertzfeld strongly advises against this solution” The position of competition adopted by Jobs le ads the other party to search in any possible way for a solution, which was actually found , thus saving the presentation. Hertzfeld, on the other side is collaborating at the beginning but then become s accommodating: he tries in all the ways possible to satisfy Jobs concerns, there is an element of self -sacrifice. Besides , he understood that the issue was very important to Jobs. 5. Managerial Grid 2 – Call 3 What we test: The following question is intended to test the capability to identify which is the most appropriate style according to the situation in place SmartTech is a company that produces equipment based on very advanced technologies. Sara is the head of a team of 10 people involved in the study and development of nanotechnology and advanced micro -systems. It is a highly selected and very competent team: only the most talented people were selected to be part of it. The team is currently working on a project commissioned by a client . Due to a dramatic market shift, the client recently asked to drastically shorten the delivery time previously agreed . This request has a drastic impact on Sara's team, who will be asked to complete the technology development in half of the time. According to the Managerial Grid Model, which kind of style should Sara adopt towards her team in the given situation? A. Country -Club Management B. Team Management C. Authority -Compliance Management D. Impoverished Management Justify your answer: We are in a situation of a short -term project (the deadline has been shor tened to half of the time) carried out by experienced people (the team is made of highly selected, very competent people with a lot of experience), within this situation, Team Management can be the most appropriate style. A is wrong as it is appropriate wh en people are dealing with personal problems. C is not appropriate as there are not unpopular and drastic changes (major organizational or strategic changes), moreover people in the team are competent and experienced, thus they are expected to be able in m anaging the situation D it is not appropriate as we do not need people to gain autonomy, but we need people able to perform in short term