Conference Description & Agenda
To
innovate is to take risks. The rewards are gained by seeing and seizing
potential opportunities ahead of rivals, while protecting against
undesirable outcomes. This takes strategic, organizational and
financial acumen and a willingness to embrace uncertainty. The purpose
of this conference is to examine the latest thinking on these
challenges, including how best practice firms balance risk and reward in
their portfolio of growth initiatives.
This issue will be examined from three interconnected perspectives:
Strategic Perspectives
-
The challenge of
estimating risks
-
Seeing better
opportunities sooner: the value of peripheral vision
-
Finding uncontested
market spaces
-
Methods for hedging and
containing risks
-
How can firms improve
their success rate without becoming unduly risk averse?
Organizational
Perspectives
-
Achieving organizational
alignment
-
The value of systematic
and replicable processes
-
Flexible and
customer-centric development processes
-
How do organizations
learn from failures and experiments?
Venture
Capital Perspectives
-
How do financial markets
see risk? What does this mean for how VC’s manage and assess risk?
-
How to get upstream in
the deal flow
-
Is it better to invest in
people or projects?
AGENDA
Location: 8th Floor – Huntsman Hall -
38th and Walnut, The
Wharton School, Philadelphia
8:00- 8:30
Continental Breakfast
8:30-
10:15 STRATEGIC
PERSPECTIVES
“Overview of the
Issues: Balancing Big I and little i Innovation”
George Day – Co-Director, Mack Center & Boisi
Prof. of Marketing,
The Wharton School
“Disruptive
Innovation Strategies in Perspective”
Roche Parayre, Senior Fellow, Mack Center
(Wharton) and
Managing Director, Exec. Education, DSI
Paul Schoemaker – Research Director, Mack Center
(Wharton) and
Chairman, DSI
10:15-10:45
Break
10:45-12:15
ORGANIZATIONAL
PERSPECTIVES
“Systematic
Processes for Sustainable Growth”
Gerry Mooney – Vice President of Emerging Business
Opportunities, IBM
“New Category
Products and the Contingent Action Approach to Risk”
Karl Ulrich, CIBC Professor of Operations and
Information Management
(OPIM) and Chairperson, OPIM Dept, The Wharton School
12:15-1:00
LUNCH
1:00- 2:30
VENTURE
CAPITAL PERSPECTIVES
“Financial
Markets Perspectives on Managing Risks”
Andrew Metrick, Assoc. Professor of Finance, The
Wharton School
PANEL DISCUSSION
2:30 – 2:45
Break
2:45 – 4:15
IMPLEMENTATION
CHALLENGES - DISCUSSION
Chaired by Pradip Banerjee, President, University
City Science Center
Jeff Kuhn – Executive Learning Associates
Michael Pakanowski – W.L Gore & Associates
DIRECTIONS:
From Philadelphia International Airport, the Wharton campus
is a 30 minute taxi ride, and from
30th Street Station (train) it's about 10 minutes by taxi.
Have the driver go to the corner of Walnut and 38th Street -- Huntsman
Hall is the large orange brick building on the corner. The room
location will be announced closer to the event.
IF DRIVING: Park in the large enclosed structure at 38th
and Walnut and walk across the street to Huntsman Hall.
HOTEL ACCOMMODATIONS:
For this conference, we recommend the
The Inn at Penn about a block from
Huntsman Hall (For reservations Phone 215-222-0200)
or the
Sheraton Hotel located at the corner of 36th and Chestnut (3
blocks from Huntsman Hall - for Sheraton reservations Phone
215-387-8000.
This event is by invitation for our industry partners and invited
guests. There is no conference fee.
If you have questions about hotels or need advice, contact Nicole Ratke
our Events Coordinator at 215-898-2104 (email:
hnr@wharton.upenn.edu)
or Rachel Schwartz, Exec. Asst. in the Mack Center at 215-746-4831