New Product and Venture Development Track

The New Product and Venture Development track emphasizes hands-on leadership for entrepreneurs and new product managers in innovative firms, such as in the high-tech industry. Many organizations today are developing into flatter and more flexible structures, where work is no longer rigidly constrained to functions (design, finance, marketing, operations, and R&D). In this new environment, the skills required of new product and program managers are similar to the skills needed by entrepreneurs in start-up ventures. Both entrepreneurs and product/program managers are responsible for marketing strategy and implementation. Both live or die by their sales and bottom-line results. Both are expected to champion new product and process innovations. Both must have multi-functional skills and be able to understand and manage all aspects of the new product development process.

The track in New Product and Venture Development is an option in the MBA Program to anticipate the growing need for these skills. The track is in a unique position to take advantage of the strengths of the Sloan School's students and faculty, as well as those resources elsewhere in the Institute.

The track prepares students to envision, develop, launch, and manage new products. The track is most appropriate for students interested in innovative mature organizations such as in the high-tech field, for students interested in working for start-ups, and for students who want to be entrepreneurs and start their own ventures.

The track's key emphasis is how to (1) take an idea or an invention and turn this into an innovation, that is, manage it to market, and (2) have hands-on leadership skills required in this multi-functional implementation process. All graduates of the track should:

have a working knowledge of all phases of the new product/business development cycle, including opportunity assessment, market evaluation, and strategy development and implementation.
understand the process of (1) systematically generating new product ideas tailored to specific markets, (2) translating ideas into inventions by incorporating the voice of the customer into the design process, and (3) turning inventions into innovations by developing coherent marketing strategies and persuasive business plans.
develop and polish leadership and interpersonal skills -- communicating, managing multi-functional groups, managing change and conflict, and negotiating -- which they will need to move new product and business development projects forward.
develop the ability to create a robust and persuasive business plan.

A required sequence of courses on new product development provides a comprehensive perspective on the development process and introduces state-of-the-art marketing and design methodologies, many of which were pioneered by MIT faculty at Sloan and the School of Engineering. Elective courses give students substantial flexibility to tailor the track curriculum to their individual interests and needs.

Proseminars and a variety of student initiatives and extracurricular options -- such as the exciting student run 50K Entrepreneurship Competition -- provide important, complementary professional development opportunities. In addition, the Entrepreneurship Center, and research centers within Sloan and jointly with the School of Engineering, such as the Center for Innovative Product Development, may provide research opportunities for theses topics. With this flexible combination of courses and activities, the track positions students for careers as entrepreneurs and others for careers leading from new product and program managers to top management.

I. Required Track subjects (spring term of first year)

15.410 Financial Management or 15.415 Finance Theory
15.760 Introduction to Operations Management
15.810 Introduction to Marketing

II. Required Track subjects

Select at least two of the four subjects

15.828 New Product Development
15.783J Product Design & Development
15.390 New Enterprises
15.399 Entrepreneurship Lab

Select at least one of the two proseminars

15.973 Proseminar in New Product & Venture Development
15.398 Proseminar in Financing New Ventures

III. Elective choices

Select at least two subjects from one of the categories, and one each from two of the other three categories (Pre-approved electives are listed as options).

Marketing-related electives

15.035 Pricing Strategy
15.820 Advanced Marketing Management
15.824 Advertising, Promotion, Marketing Communications
15.825 Marketing Decision Support
15.826 Channels of Distribution
15.827 Consumer Marketing
15.829 International Marketing
15.831 Marketing High-Tech Products
15.834 Marketing Strategy
15.842 Special Seminar in Marketing: Listening to the Customer
15.843 Special Seminar in Marketing: Strategic Marketing Management
15.973 Special Seminar in Management: Electronic Commerce and Marketing

Entrepreneurship and Leadership-related electives

15.067 Competitive Decisionmaking and Negotiation
15.269 Literature, Ethics, and Authority
15.281 Advanced Managerial Communication
15.313 Teams in Organizations
15.315 Planning and Managing Change
15.316 Organizational Leadership and Change
15.318 Leadership and Change in Organizations
15.343 Managing Transformations in Work, Organizations, and Society
15.660 Industrial Relations & Human Resource Management
15.665 Power and Negotiation
15.666 Negotiation and Conflict Management
15.138J Seminar on Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology Industry Management
15.966 Special Seminar in Management: Entrepreneurship without Borders
15.390 New Enterprises or 15.399 Entrepreneurship Lab (if in addition to section II.)

Three subject IAP series:

15.974 Preliminary Venture Analysis and Personal Entrepreneurial Strategy
and 15.976 Nuts and Bolts of Writing a Business Plan
and 15.976 Starting and Running a High Tech Company
15.THG Thesis: Develop a Business Plan

Innovation-related electives

15.136J Principles and Practice of Drug Development
15.351 Introduction to Technological Innovation Management
15.352 Management of Technological Innovation
15.374 Assessment of Emerging Technologies
15.437 Options and Future Markets
15.768 Managing Services: Concepts Design & Delivery
15.932 Technology Strategy
15.965 Special Seminar in Management: Developing Concepts for New Products and Services
6.901/6.931 Inventions and Patents
15.615 Managers Legal Function
15.647 Special Seminar in Law: The Manager's Legal Function for New Ventures
15.648 Special Seminar in Law: Patents, Copyrights, and the Law of Intellectual Property

Operations and Finance-related electives

15.365J Manufacturing Technology Interface
15.369 Corporate Strategies for Managing Research, Development, and Engineering
15.762 Operations Management Models & Applications
15.763 The Practice of Operations Management
15.766 Total Quality Management
15.768 Operations Management in the Service Industry
15.769 Manufacturing Policy
15.771J Case Studies in Logistics and Supply Chain Management
15.874 System Dynamics for Business Policy
15.946 Environmental and Product Process Strategy
15.434 Corporate Finance
15.535 Business Analysis Using Financial Statements
15.545 Mergers and Acquisitions: The Market for Corporate Control

Back to Sloan Master's Program