Global Perspectives — Brand Innovation (Chile)

Medill’s priority is always the health and safety of our students so we may make adjustments to planned travel based on guidance from Northwestern’s Office of Global Safety and Security.

(Elective Course)

International Enterprise IMC Innovation is an immersive global perspectives course taught for five days in Santiago, Chile. 

Innovation has long been a universal characteristic of companies that have earned and sustained their leadership. It has been argued we are in a new era of technology-enhanced innovation at this particular time, explaining disruptive changes in industries and consumer behavior changes at high velocity. These changes have come, in great measure, through what Clayton Christensen characterizes as “disruptive innovation,” due to small companies and start-ups leapfrogging legacy leaders. 

Additionally, much of the media attention, and arguably investment, has been around new entrepreneurial enterprises and new start-ups.

What about large, legacy organizations that have been leaders in their industries? How do they innovate to sustain their leadership? How do they leverage their advantages? Are the strategies to do so similar or different from smaller start-ups?

Learning Goals

By the end of the course, students will be equipped to answer a diverse set of International Enterprise IMC Innovation-related questions, supporting their answers with examples, where appropriate:

1. How does innovation happen in large enterprises, with international footprints? Additionally, what are the unique innovation characteristics for these types of businesses?
2. How do organizations process and manage transformational challenges faced by the enterprise in marketing, media, and communications, in particular?
3. What does sustainable innovation look like as compared to disruptive innovation, and what are examples of each?
4. What are the strategies to be a successful “entrepreneur”?