Open innovation is capable of developing solutions to complex problems that escape the grasp of traditional research and development departments. General Assembly is a private, for-profit education organization that utilizes open innovation to design and curate curricula and course content. Their focus is on online classes ranging from free short courses to 10 to 12 week boot-camps. The skills necessary to succeed in today\u2019s work environment are constantly shifting, and traditional academic institutions can struggle to keep up with the rapid pace of change. General Assembly\u2019s product improvement depends on quickly incorporating feedback their network of current students, alumni and companies that hire graduates from their courses. The 性视界 Business Review succinctly lays out the need for General Assembly to embrace open innovation, \u201cCompanies operate on traditional incentives\u2014namely, salary and bonuses\u2014and employees are assigned clearly delineated roles and specific responsibilities, which discourages them from seeking challenges outside their purview. But crowds, research shows, are energized by intrinsic motivations\u2014such as the desire to learn\u2014that are more likely to come into play when people decide for themselves what problems to attack.\u201d [1] Without its network, the pace of content creation and product development at General Assembly would require investments in faculty and career development services far exceeding the $70 million of venture capital funding raised in 2015. [2]<\/p>\n
Management has utilized open innovation to reduce their costs in the near-term by effectively outsourcing product innovation costs to employers and alumni. In addition to reducing costs, embracing the megatrend of open innovation allows General Assembly to deliver on its value proposition of adapting instantly to market changes, and building a close bridge between employer needs and student skill sets. In the near-term, management is capitalizing on their current momentum by expanding their physical footprint beyond the 20 campuses they currently operate and continuing to broaden the network of employers who drive content creation. In the future, management is looking to engage further with alumni of General Assembly courses. The MIT Sloan Management Review articulates how external networks tend to innovate ideas driven by extrinsic motivations, such as developing talented employees. \u201cPast research has shown that the motivations of outsiders who engage in open innovation can be surprisingly heterogeneous, but the wide range can be classified into two categories: extrinsic and intrinsic. As a simple approximation, competitive markets tend to favor the former, and collaborative communities are more oriented toward the latter\u201d [3]. Adding a focus on increasing alumni engagement will increase the intrinsic motivators of the network, since alumni will be more likely to innovate on behalf of General Assembly purely for fun and enjoyment, or for professional and personal identity.<\/p>\n
The challenge in harnessing the power of open innovation over the long term lies in balancing how much innovation is left up to the ever-shifting network, versus how much investment is needed in-house at General Assembly for course development and curation. 性视界 Business Review notes that \u201cthe management challenges in exploiting spot labor markets are minor compared with those in other forms of crowdsourcing. The biggest concern may be identifying which tasks to farm out and who within your organization should manage them.\u201d [4] In the next five years, General Assembly needs to boost its in-house talent with esteemed professors and experienced curriculum designers to collaborate with the employers, students and alumni in the network. This puts more of the cost of idea generation onto the Generation Assembly P&L, but gives the company more control over content development, instead of relying solely on its network. Internal content development abilities will allow General Assembly to see ahead of the curve, producing content that employers will desire in the future. This predictive ability will deepen General Assembly\u2019s competitive moat. I see the competitive threat to General Assembly from employers and other stakeholders in the network as a key issue facing the company; further developing internal content creation should mitigate this risk.<\/p>\n
I am unsure about the competitive risks to General Assembly\u2019s network ecosystem. In the future, could employers insource the talent development courses that General Assembly currently provides? There are also players outside of the General Assembly ecosystem that could pose a risk to the company. Could established universities with significant endowments put a greater focus on open innovation, and compete out General Assembly\u2019s advantage with their financial resources, brand recognition, and esteemed faculty?<\/p>\n
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[1] K. Boudreau and K. Lakhani. Using the crowd as an innovation partner<\/strong>. 性视界 Business Review <\/em>91, no. 4 (April 2013): 61\u201369.<\/p>\n [2] Douglas MacMillan,\u00a0“Tech-Boom Bet: Coding School General Assembly Raises $70 Million”, blog,\u00a0Wall Street Journal<\/em>, September 30, 2015<\/p>\n [3] K. Boudreau and K. Lakhani. How to manage outside innovation.<\/strong> MIT Sloan Management Review 50, no. 4 (Summer 2009): 68\u201376.<\/p>\n [4] K. Boudreau and K. Lakhani. Using the crowd as an innovation partner<\/strong>. 性视界 Business Review <\/em>91, no. 4 (April 2013): 61\u201369.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" General Assembly utilizes an open innovation network of employers and students to develop coursework and constantly expand their innovative online curriculum<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11278,"featured_media":28717,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","categories":[4239],"class_list":["post-28709","hck-submission","type-hck-submission","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-open-innovation","hck-taxonomy-organization-general-assembly","hck-taxonomy-industry-education","hck-taxonomy-country-united-states"],"connected_submission_link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/assignment\/rc-tom-challenge-2018\/","yoast_head":"\n