Everyone:
This is the time to start finding a project for the course. Here are some ideas. I would like to widen the set of possibilities;
1) Field study of one company/organization. This is what has typically be done in prior projects, as described in the syllabus. You need to negotiate access to one company/organization, focus on a relevant topic (e.g., online idea generation at Saleforce.com), interview 5-10 people.
2) Investigation of one relevant topic. You need to pick one topic, conduct a literature search (gather all written about it), use the frameworks in the course to analyze what you see and evaluate current practices among companies. This does not focus of one particular company. However, I would like you to interview about 5 people–people who have written about the topic, and managers in companies. Examples of topics you could pick: use of prize money to spur innovation, how companies execute (convert) innovation, how companies use online tools to generate ideas, use of employee free time such as Google 20% to promote innovation, use of facebooks in companies to enable collaboration, use on analytics tools to make collective decisions, etc.
3) Analyze a particular company or industry challenge. For example: what must Nokia do to become successful in smart phones/online services? What are the challenges of developing successful online education in a university (a disruptive model)? How can a company develop a green business that is fundamentally different from existing ones (exploration)? For collaboration: how companies, government, and nonprofits collaborate (or fail to do so) to solve a social problem such as clean water for the developing world. For a topic you need to do a literature search, focus, and interview some experts.
4) Analyze a current online collaboration tool. There are many out there–socialtext, sharepoint etc. You can use the frameworks in class to evaluate one, and then propose solutions for how to improve it (or propose a new way of solving problems–a blueprint for a new tool). Hey, you may just create a new business! You need to interview vendors/users of the tool you are analyzing.
5) Write a business case on a company. You can pick one company where a lot has been written about it. You need to do a literature search and write a case. Example of companies with lots of information: Cisco, P&G (for collaboration), Google (innovation), etc.
Options 1 to 5 are not dependent on you being able to negotiate access to one particular company.
Best regards, Morten
