Organizations looking to develop
effective leaders need more than a
concept to guide them. They must
provide well-structured experiential
learning opportunities that enable
leaders to develop and hone the
specific skills required for success.
Simulations are a proven experiential
learning activity. Aligned with an
organization’s business strategy and
goals, simulations have the power to
deliver:
➔➔Greater retention and application
of new skills
➔➔Highly engaged learners invested
in learning and its outcomes
➔➔Stronger links between individual
learning and business goals
➔➔Straightforward assessment of
results
Simulations, when deployed
strategically and with sufficient
organizational support, offer highreturn leadership development
results that can significantly
amplify the impact of learning.
Bridging Theory and Real-World Decisions
This single-player simulation is designed to bridge theories on
innovation and the impact of an emerging disruptive technology
on its real-world context. It simulates the challenges associated
with making investment choices between mature and emerging
technologies under uncertain—and highly constraining—real-world
conditions.
The learner plays the role of the president at Back Bay Battery, Inc.,
a manufacturer of nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) batteries. The
president’s responsibility is to determine the appropriate timing and
level of R&D expenditures. Throughout the simulation, the learner
is forced to respond to constant evolution in end-user markets.
In each round of play, the learner must process several sources of
information—which requires effective identification of the most
critical pieces of data for diagnosis, strategy development, and
decision making—all while meeting both short-term and long-term
performance requirements for the business.
EXPERTS
The Back Bay Battery Strategic Innovation simulation is authored by:
• Clayton M. Christensen,
Professor, Harvard Business School
• Willy C. Shih,
Professor, Harvard Business School
BACK BAY BATTERY
EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING
STRATEGIC INNOVATION SIMULATION
RESPONDING TO DISRUPTIVE
TECHNOLOGY
USE OCCASIONS
The Back Bay Battery simulation
is ideally suited for two leadership
development situations:
➔➔As part of an existing Harvard
Business Publishing leadership
development solution
➔➔As a stand-alone session to
meet a specific organizational
leadership development need
MODERATION OPTIONS
➔➔Leverage vetted and experienced
moderators from Harvard Business
Publishing’s Resource Network
to lead engaging debriefs,
contextualizing the concepts to
your organization.
➔➔Use our moderator training
program to prepare your
moderators to deliver the
simulation’s live debrief.
SUPPORT
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Dealing with Disruptive
Innovation
The Back Bay Battery simulation has five
main learning objectives:
1To understand the relationship among
disruptive innovations, new customers,
and the organization’s existing best
customers
2To explore methods to reconcile
organizational strategy, market
feedback, and the timing of disruptive
innovation launches
3To examine approaches on how to address difficulties in aligning timing and levels of
R&D spending to support innovation
4To explore how the need to meet specific short-term financial targets can constrain
an organization’s ability and willingness to innovate
5To examine links between the current health of the business, the nature of disruptive
innovation investment decisions, and the subsequent pathway to profitability
Simulations deliver the best results
when set in the context of a broader
development program. Our Learning
Services team can help you develop
a design and implementation plan
that meets your needs and objectives.
We also provide engagement
management resources to help
you manage the delivery process
and coordinate scheduling for our
moderators or training for yours.
SIMULATION TIMELINE
LEARNER PREWORK ➔ 30 MINUTES
REAL
ENVIRONMENTS
Immersive settings
model real business
environments.
REAL
RESULTS
Feedback
and tools give
managers a
foundation for
making better
decisions.
LEARN MORE
PHONE 800-795-5200
WORLD-CLASS
CONTENT
SIMULATION ➔ 90–120 MINUTES
LIVE DEBRIEF ➔ 90 MINUTES
REAL
SITUATIONS
Managers
are dropped
into common
leadership
challenges.
REAL
CONSEQUENCES
Managers experience
repercussions of their own
decisions firsthand.
(Outside the U.S. and Canada,
call 617-783-7888)
EMAIL corporate@harvardbusiness.org
MAIL 60 Harvard Way, Boston, MA 02163
ONLINE harvardbusiness.org
© 2013 Harvard Business School Publishing.
Harvard Business Publishing is an affiliate of Harvard Business School.
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