Business enterprise: GENERAL MILLS
You will research an existing organization’s approach to technological innovation. You will select the organization you would like to examine; for most, this will be a business enterprise, although I will entertain other kinds of organizations. You need to gather both general background information as well as specific organizational information from sources such as annual reports, organization websites, industry association reports, and interviews.
What is industrial context for the organization? (e.g. nature of industry, part of supply chain, surrounding related firms, challenges, etc.)
What is the environmental context for the organization vis-à-vis innovation? (e.g. public policy for innovation, economic conditions, etc.)
How does the organization innovate or deal with the pressure to innovate? (e.g. how structured or managed, how does it obtain funding, etc.)
What kinds of recommendations might be made for the internal structure and behavior in order to improve the organization’s capacity to innovate?
What kinds of recommendations might be made for the organization’s outward behaviors (relations with other organizations, government, etc.)?
The submitted project will consist of an individually written report that will be grounded in the theoretical issues discussed in class. That is, you will research and brainstorm together, but write and submit individually written reports. This report should be roughly 3,000 words (8-10 pages). It should concisely lay out the issues described above and other relevant issues. You may format it how you see fit, but it should be a professional piece of writing, free of grammatical and spelling errors.
