Certificate in Strategic Innovation and Change (Graduate Level)
Because change is the only constant
Innovation is required to succeed in a constantly changing world. Modern businesses value innovation as one of their strategic priorities, a growth driver, and an essential business tool. It is a powerful force for transforming business outcomes and practices in almost every type of business and industry.
A career-enhancing, outcomes-driven graduate-level certificate program
This program is designed for professionals, students, and teams who need to prepare for ever-evolving industry demands as well as more advanced career opportunities. By completing the program, students will learn to:
- Develop the skills to become an effective change agent
- Transform a vision into a viable business concept
- Assess future needs and solve problems in a strategic manner
- Implement the ideation process to create successful market strategies
- Prepare a team for the innovation process
- Apply creativity and innovation concepts to their individual leadership skills
Who should pursue a Certificate in Strategic Change and Innovation?
This certificate course is an excellent choice if you are:
- starting a new career and want to turn constraints into opportunities, and gain confidence to inspire others with your innovative ideas.
- aspiring or have recently gained management responsibilities that need strategic foresight and change management skills.
- a leader or a senior executive who wants to use innovation to gain competitive advantage, increase revenue and market share, and build a culture that promotes creativity and innovation.
- an entrepreneur who strives to create successful products or services that are differentiated with exclusive value propositions.
- a team that seeks to solve problems by building creative, collective intelligence, and make decisions effectively.
- pursuing a position in a multinational organization that requires you to formulate and implement innovative strategies for global expansion.
Courses that prepare and inspire
ORL 549 - Organizational Change and Transformation
This course enables students to develop and implement a holistic model of organizational change. Students will examine various frameworks for organizational change and transformation with the help of case studies, readings, discussions, and experiential learning activities. They will learn to use critical thinking skills to solve problems in the face of uncertainty and change. The emphasis will be given on formulating a vision for change, assessing situations, and how to manage the transition from the current situation to the desired change. They will examine the model for change leadership and will develop skills to become effective change agents of the future.
ORL 559 - Strategic Foresight
In this course, students will be provided with a structured approach to develop an effective strategic forecast in a highly dynamic market environment. Students will learn to develop multiple scenarios to assess future needs and solve problems in a strategic manner. The course also emphasizes on how global level changes in systems are shaping the new world of industry. Through real-world case studies, readings, and research, they will explore foresight methodologies that are used from day-to-day decision making to high-level policymaking in the organizations. They will learn to develop highly effective strategic plans for different types of organizations operating in various industries on different scales.
ORL 569 - Innovation and Creative Thinking
Creativity and innovativeness are probably the most sought-after skills by the employers today. Creative employees solve problems more effectively and are considered as an important asset to the organizations. This course provides students with a toolkit for developing creativity and innovation skills crucial for success. Students will learn and understand the basic concepts and theories of creativity and innovation. They will explore various techniques to generate ideas, how to transform ideas into viable business concepts, execute creative processes, manage the process of innovation, evaluate innovation effectiveness, and building the culture of innovation.
ORL 579 - Globalization and Business
In globalization and business course, students will explore worldwide trends to understand globalization dynamics. They will expand their knowledge by learning about the history of globalization and its impact on our local economy, organizations, societies, and individuals. Through a variety of hands-on and reading assignments, students will develop a world-view of the global marketplace. They will learn to formulate and implement effective strategies suitable for the time when globalization is only increasing. Issues related to ethics, global social responsibility, the role of government, and international business will be covered in this course.
Why strategic innovation matters
- More companies are shifting from traditional R&D to inclusive operating models such as open innovation, design thinking, and collaboration with customers, partners & suppliers. Source: https://www.pwc.com/us/en/services/consulting/library/evolving-operating-models.html
- “Innovation has become a core driver of growth, performance, and valuation…more than 70 percent of the senior executives in a survey we recently conducted say that innovation will be at least one of the top three drivers of growth for their companies in the next three to five years.” Source: https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/strategy-and-corporate-finance/our-insights/leadership-and-innovation
- Creative leaders outperform their peers on key financial metrics that includes - 70% who posted above-average total return to shareholders, 67 percent who posted above-average organic revenue growth. Source: https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/mckinsey-digital/our-insights/creativitys-bottom-line-how-winning-companies-turn-creativity-into-business-value-and-growth#
Admissions Information
Contact the Office of Admissions for information on requirements and the application and enrollment process at onlineadmissions@williamwoods.edu or 800.995.3199.
Tuition for the four-course certificate program is $5,300. You may apply your Callaway Chamber of Commerce discount if eligible.
Ready to apply? Select Graduate Online on our application. When asked to indicate a program, please select "Certificate in Innov and Change (Online)".