Syllabus
Registration via LPIS
When it comes to trying out new business models, improving customer experience or developing new products in multinationals, even the most experienced managers get it wrong. They discover that intuition, experience and big data alone do not really work. What does? Running disciplined business experiments.
This course will guide you through best practices in business experimentation and illustrate how these practices work in some of the leading companies, such as Amazon, Booking.com, Microsoft, and others, which run thousands of different controlled experiments annually and engage millions of users.
It will answer some fundamental questions, such as:
- What makes a good experiment?
- How to run experimental tests in online and off-line business models?
- How to build a culture in companies that supports experimentation?
- How the future of experimentation in multinationals will look like and why we need to start preparing for it?
The course won the WU 2024 Innovative Teaching Award and was a finalist for the Teaching Innovation 2023 Award by the Academy of International Business.
Session content:
Session 1:
- Course intro
- Why experimentation works
- How to run a good business experiment
- How to experiment online
- Example 1: 3M Post-it Notes
- Example 2: Experimentation in sport
Session 2:
- Case study 1
- Participating in an experiment
- Which organizational cultures can handle large-scale experimentation?
- The operating model of a true experiment organizations
- Lessons from MNCs using experiments in their every-day business
Session 3:
- Case study 2
- How to become an experimental organization
- Experimenting within MNC organization
- Arguments against experimentation
- The future of experimentation
- Preparation for the final assignments
- Quiz
- Experimental lab visit
Session 4:
- Final assignment’s preparation and Case study discussion
Session 5:
- Final assignment’s presentations
- Wrap up
Upon successful completion of this course, you will:
- Develop skills needed for running your own business experiments;
- Be familiar with different business segments where experiments are suitable approach for testing and solving problems;
- Understand different ways to develop an experimenting organization that puts experimentation in the center of its innovation process.
Regular attendance is required to pass this course. You may miss up to 20% of the lectures. However, please note that missing Class 3 will result in lost quiz points, as no alternative assessment will be offered.
*Please note that this is an intensive course. On March 10 and 11, group homework will take place after class, so please do not plan any other activities during these afternoons. This has been coordinated with both Jana Salot and the CEMS Club, and no official CEMS activities will be scheduled for the afternoons on these days.
This course is comprised of lectures, in-class and homework case analyses, an experimental lab visit for practical experience, participating in an experiment and a team research experimental project. This is a highly interactive course. Thus, students are expected to be fully engaged during Q&A sessions and give their critical assessment in written form.
Assessment will be based on both individual and team performance.
Assignments with percent of total grade:
- Active participation: 10%
- Quiz (during the 3rd class): 20%
- Case study 1 (group assignment): 15%
- Case study 2 (group assignment): 15%
- Group final assignment: 40%
The final grade will be based on the following total points out of 100:
- 90 - 100: A
- 80 - 89: B
- 70 - 79: C
- 50 - 69: D
- Less than 50: F (Failed)
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