INNOVATION OF

PRODUCTS AND SERVICES:

MIT’S APPROACH TO DESIGN
THINKING

In collaboration with
 Innovation of Products and Services: MIT's Approach to Design Thinking

Overview

“ Design is not just

what it looks like and
feels like. Design is
how it works.
“
Steve Jobs
Former CEO & Co-Founder,
Apple Inc.

Winning companies, such as Apple, Virgin, Toyota,
and others innovate continuously because of their
culture of design thinking—integrating the needs of
people, the possibilities of technology, and the
requirements for business success.
This project, focused on opportunity evaluation and
concept development, is integrated into all course
modules.
At the end of this course, participants will learn to:

In this course, you will learn how to take a similar • Understand the design thinking process
approach in your own business—blending the • Identify and assess customer opportunities
perspectives of marketing, design overview, and
• Generate and evaluate new product and service
engineering into a systematic approach to
concepts
delivering innovation.
• Design services and customer experiences
As a core part of the course, students participate in • Evaluate product development economics
a team-based concept development project
assignment.

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 Innovation of Products and Services: MIT's Approach to Design Thinking

Course Faculty

Steve D. Eppinger
General Motors LGO Professor of Management

Steven D. Eppinger is the General Motors Leaders for

Global Operations Professor, a Professor of Management
Science and Engineering Systems, and the Co-Director of
the System Design and Management Program at the MIT
Sloan School of Management.

Steve served as deputy dean of MIT Sloan from 2004 to

2009; as faculty co-director of the Leaders for Global
Operations (formerly MIT Leaders for Manufacturing) and
the System Design and Management programs from
2001 to 2003; and as co-director of the Center for
Innovation in Product Development from 1999 to 2001.

His research efforts are applied to improving product design and development practices. Conducted within
MIT’s Center for Innovation in Product Development, his work focuses on organizing complex design
processes in order to accelerate industrial practices, and has been applied primarily in the automotive,
electronics, aerospace, and equipment industries. At MIT Sloan, Steve has created an interdisciplinary
product development course in which graduate students from engineering, management, and industrial
design programs collaborate to develop new products. He also teaches MIT’s executive programs in the
area of product development.

In 1993, he received both MIT’s Graduate Student Council Teaching Award and the MIT Sloan Award for
Innovation and Excellence in Management Education. Steve lectures regularly for international
corporations and in executive education programs, and has consulted for or conducted research with more
than 50 firms. He serves on the Research Advisory Council of the Design Management Institute and on the
Advisory Board of Directors of the Society of Concurrent Product Development.

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 Innovation of Products and Services: MIT's Approach to Design Thinking

Course Highlights

As a participant, you’ll be introduced to MIT’s

Approach to Design Thinking and learn the mindset 62
and methods required to solve real-world problems Video Lectures
more effectively.

Along the way, you’ll also discover new tools and

templates for idea generation and product
development, and learn how to overcome barriers to
4
creativity. And you’ll gain valuable insights from Discussions
industry leaders through relevant case studies and
examples that have been woven in to illustrate how
companies like Airbnb, Apple, Southwest Airlines and
The New York Times are successfully applying 4
design thinking principles within their organizations Real World
to create the future. Applications

4
Case Studies

1
Capstone Project

4
Individual
Assignments
(+2 Optional)

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 Innovation of Products and Services: MIT's Approach to Design Thinking

Syllabus

MODULE 1 - DESIGN THINKING SKILLS

Pre-Work
• Read: Design Thinking by Tim Brown (Harvard Business Review)

Framework
• Three innovation challenges
- People desirability
- Business viability
- Technical feasibility
• Example of three innovations challenges:
- NEST
- AIRBNB
- APPLE
• IDEO’s Systematic Innovation Process

Applications
• Applying three innovation challenges model to a business/product/service

MODULE 2 - IDENTIFY CUSTOMER NEEDS

Framework
• Product development process
• Concept development process
• User innovation application
• Customer needs and markets
• Lead user example – utility light study
• Customer needs analysis process steps – NEST
• Five guidelines for writing need statements

Applications
• Real-life application: Identify a product or service that meets a customer need

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 Innovation of Products and Services: MIT's Approach to Design Thinking

• Real-world group project: Select the top-ranked ideas of your team and work on the following:
- Opportunity evaluation and concept development
- Identify needs for your project idea
- Receive reviews by other team members

MODULE 3 - APPLIED CREATIVITY - PRODUCT CONCEPT GENERATION

Framework
• Invention, innovation, and creativity
• Example: YCC concept car
• Great ideas
• Brainstorming common rules
• Research on brainstorming and creativity
• Concept sketches and sketch modeling
• Concept generation process
• External and internal search – brainstorming
• Concept generation – example of combining ideas
• Concept of down selection

Applications
• Decompose project idea into key elements
• Real-world group project: Develop a solution concept

MODULE 4 - DESIGN OF SERVICES AND CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

Framework
• The difference between goods and services
• Services innovation at Bank of America
• Services experience cycles
• Examples of services experience cycle:
- Movie theatre example
- Zipcar

Applications
• Decompose the movie theatre example
• Real-world group project:
- Analysis and concept development
- Map out the customer experience cycle for your project idea
- Think of innovation opportunities that stem from that cycle

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 Innovation of Products and Services: MIT's Approach to Design Thinking

MODULE 5 - FINANCIAL ANALYSIS

Framework
• Introduction to product development economics
• Thought experiment and product d evelopment cash-flow
• PD project financial marketing
• NPV and Nespresso example
• Nespresso example:
- The numbers for machines and capsules
- Model uncertainty
• Spreadsheet modeling – how much more do we need to sell to recover recycling program?
- Put several worst cases and see what happen to NPV
- Put in best cases and see what happens to NPV
• Debrief on the above discussions

Applications
• Analyze the Nespresso case from a financial perspective exercise: Make a decision if Nespresso should
undertake the recycling initiative based on how their marketing costs for recycling might change
• Real-world group project: Complete report factoring in any additional financial analysis you have learnt

MODULE 6 - ENVIRONMENTAL STABILITY

Framework
• Design for environment (DFE) principles
• Making good DFE decisions
• Product Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)
- Environmental impacts
- Product Life Cycle
• Herman Miller story - how they have woven DFE into their product design and development processes,
and still going strong

Applications
• Exercises on DFE and LCA applications for a specific chosen product – optional
• Real-world group project - Final project wrap-up based on a fair assessment of all factors in the
RWW model. The project teams make the decision about 'go/no go' of their project idea with rationale
and recommendations

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 Innovation of Products and Services: MIT's Approach to Design Thinking

The Learning Experience

EMERITUS follows a unique online model. This model has ensured that nearly 90 percent of our
learners complete their course.

Orientation Week
The first week is orientation week. During this week you will be introduced to the other
participants in the class from across the world and you will learn how to use the learning
management system and other learning tools provided.

Weekly Goals
On other weeks, you have learning goals set for the week. The goals would include watching
the video lectures and completing the assignments. All assignments have weekly deadlines.

Recorded Video Lectures

The recorded video lectures are by Steve D. Eppinger, General Motors LGO Professor of
Management.

Live Webinars
Every few weeks, there are live webinars conducted by EMERITUS Course Leaders. Course
Leaders are highly-experienced industry practitioners who contextualize the video lectures
and assist with questions you may have regarding your assignments. Live webinars are
usually conducted between 1 pm and 3 pm UTC on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

Clarifying Doubts
In addition to the live webinars, the course leaders also conduct Office Hours every week or
every alternate week to help participants clarify their doubts pertaining to the content.

Follow-Up
EMERITUS Program support team follow-up over email and phone calls with learners who are
unable to submit their assignments on time.

Continuous Course Access

You will continue to have access to the course videos and learning material for up to 12
months from the course start date.

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 Innovation of Products and Services: MIT's Approach to Design Thinking

Certificate

Upon successful completion of the course, participants will be awarded a verified digital
certificate by EMERITUS Institute of Management, in collaboration with MIT Sloan.

THIS IS TO CERTIFY THAT

ROBERT WARD
HAS ATTENDED AND SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETED
INNOVATION OF PRODUCTS AND SERVICES: MIT'S
APPROACH TO DESIGN THINKING
MAY 2019

Peter Hirst Bob Halperin

Senior Associate Dean: Executive Education Academic Director
MIT Sloan School of Management EMERITUS

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 Innovation of Products and Services: MIT's Approach to Design Thinking

Course Fee and Duration

USD 1,400
2 Months, Online

Singapore residents who wish to enroll for this course will be charged GST.

Prerequisites

This course is designed for working professionals and requires

? proficiency in English. All videos are recorded in English. All
assignments are written in English and are required to be
responded to in English.

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 Innovation of Products and Services: MIT's Approach to Design Thinking

Benefits to the Learner

Deepen Your Intellectual Capital Manage Your Brand Capital

World-class curriculum & teaching by A global business education on your

faculty from MIT Sloan resume

Peer-to-peer interaction Learning Circles,

virtual classroom discussions, and project
reviews

Selective entrance criterion ensures you

learn with the best

Enhance Your Social Capital Enhance Your Career Capital

Make new, life-long connections with Learn while you earn
experienced business people from a wide
variety of cultures, industries and Get noticed. Get ahead.
backgrounds
Understand how to manage your career
Inclusion in the EMERITUS Network and personal brand

Invitations to EMERITUS Network events

globally including career panels, CXO
speaker series, and industry interactions

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 www.emeritus.org

E-mail: info@emeritus.org
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EMERITUS Institute of Management | Council for Private Registration No. 201510637C | Period: 29 March 2018 — 28 March 2022