From Rhubarb to Rolled Steel: Middleton Productions Ltd.
A Case Study in Engineering Entrepreneurship
The changing fortunes of a family business provide the context for this case study. The story
raises a number of issues central to entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial activity. As events
unfold, the critical role of the manager as an innovator and change agent is highlighted. The
reader can reflect on how successfully or otherwise the management of change has been
executed by the different characters in the story. The story also illustrates that entrepreneurs not
only need the skills and ability to innovate and exercise vision, but that they must also have the
capacity to convince and motivate others to support them in pursuit of their ideas.
A useful follow-up section on ‘Suggestions for Teaching’ is included.
This Case Study was produced by Ted Sarmiento of Olmec Partnerships, for the Higher Education
Academy Engineering Subject Centre, 2005. The Centre is also grateful to Dr Elizabeth Read,
Development Manager for Enterprise and Entrepreneurship (students) at Coventry University, for
providing the teaching materials for these case studies
Contents
From Rhubarb to Rolled Steel: Middleton Productions Ltd. ................................................2
Company History .................................................................................................................9
Company Profiles ..............................................................................................................10
What happened next?........................................................................................................15
Suggestions for use in teaching.........................................................................................16
1
From Rhubarb to Rolled Steel: Middleton Productions Ltd.
A case study in engineering entrepreneurship
Innovation and the family business
As Christmas approached in December 2002, Susan Swift
faced one of the toughest decisions of her life. She knew her
decision to leave her current job would affect both her career
and her family relations all at once. She did not know what she
would do next, but felt that she could not go on as she had.
She wanted to spend some time over Christmas with her twoyear-old son, and she knew that if she didn’t resign from the
business, some crisis or other would steal away that precious
time once again. On the other hand, despite the sacrifices, the
business had been good to her and her family over the years,
had provided her with a fairly privileged upbringing, and she
knew that her family might not understand or sympathise with
her situation, and may even become hostile if she left.
When she had first arrived at Middleton Productions Ltd 3 years earlier, she was a little shocked at
what she saw. The company consisted of an office, and two huge, separate workshops each the
size of half a football pitch. Outside was another acre or so of yard area, where scrap and excess
steel from old jobs was kept. The company specialised in making some of the largest steel
fabrications ever produced in the UK. Typical jobs included constructing giant ladles for pouring
molten steel, rolling and welding large-scale pressure vessels, cutting 10 metre diameter gears and
machining winch/hoist drums for cranes and rolling 3” thick steel plate into cylinders. Many jobs
were one-offs that no one else felt they had the capability to produce, and these jobs often came to
Middleton Productions after a long search for a suitable supplier. The company was able to be
agile and innovative in finding solutions to the problems of making steel articles that could weigh in
excess of 20 tonnes and products that were sometimes too large, even for the company’s massive
workshops. Customers included companies such as British Steel, BP, Kvaerner, British Gas and
numerous oil companies who bought parts for offshore oil drilling platforms.
However, the conditions in which these
huge, precision steel components were
manufactured left a great deal to be
desired. Everywhere was dirty, dark and
cold and that included Susan’s ‘new’
office. Equipment was old and poorly
maintained, although it all worked
reasonably well.
There did not seem to be a particularly good feeling between management and workforce. The
place looked as though it was stuck in a time warp, with one aging solitary computer and
typewriters in regular daily use. Susan knew that she faced an enormous challenge to help bring
2
the family business up to date and take it forward, but she was not sure where to start. Although
she remembered visiting the site when she was younger, she did not realise it had not progressed.
Lawrence Swift
Susan recalled that when she was young she was given a job of cleaning the offices at the
weekends, when her grandfather was still in charge of the company. Lawrence Swift had been the
driving force of the business since its inception in 1942 in a rhubarb shed near his family home
between Middleton and Manchester. He started the company as a small jobbing shop with two
other men and little more than a couple of lathes and a drill, to produce parts on a sub-contract
basis for larger manufacturing companies. When war broke out Lawrence was drafted into the
Navy. However, far from winding things down at this time, he managed to secure new contracts
from the Navy to supply vital ships spares, which he sent back to his colleagues to produce.
Unfortunately, when he returned from duty he scrutinised the books and found his colleagues had
been less than honest in his absence. Because of this, Lawrence did not want to continue as a
partnership and bought out his colleagues to bring the company into his sole ownership. The
company flourished with him in charge on a day-to-day basis.
Although Lawrence could be a tyrant at work, Susan remembers her grandfather as a kind, gentle
and quiet man at home. She recalled a story about a machinist, Ned, who signed himself into the
Army, but regretted it later and asked Lawrence to help him. Lawrence somehow convinced the
recruitment office to throw him out, and was able to hang on to one of his best machine operators.
He always tried to be fair with his employees, many of whom, like Ned, ended up working for the
company their whole working lives.
Malcolm Swift
Susan’s grandfather Lawrence had three sons, the first of whom, Malcolm was born before
Lawrence’s call-up into the armed forces. The other two, Kevin and Simon, were born after the
war. This meant that there was a considerable age gap between the brothers and so it was
Malcolm that started work alongside his father first. Malcolm had been more than keen to get
stuck in and aged 13 he used to break in to the factory at weekends when it was empty and teach
himself to weld and operate the machinery!
However, his father insisted that he should be
well educated and after boarding school, he
went to the local university to study
Mechanical Engineering. He combined this
with his first legitimate work in the factory,
often arriving after lectures, to sweep up or do
whatever jobs were left over from that day’s
work. After completing his engineering
degree, Malcolm continued to work at the
business and went on to do an MBA in his
spare time and was eventually put in charge
of one of the workshops. Later, in his socalled retirement he also studied for a PhD,
always wanting to know more about the
intricacies of engineering production methods.
One day Lawrence went home for lunch but unusually he didn’t return. He had suffered a heart
attack and over a period of 24 hours, Malcolm suddenly went from Workshop Manager to become
Managing Director of the family business when he least expected to. His father survived but
decided not to return to the company and left Malcolm in sole charge, although he was happy to
offer any advice if asked. Until this incident it was usual for Lawrence’s wife to provide lunch for
the whole family at their house nearby, which was often used as an informal, but highly effective,
3
company communication session. With Lawrence’s retirement this practice faded out and was
never replaced.
Kevin Swift
Malcolm was helped as MD by his two brothers who both came to work for the business but had
very different ambitions for themselves. Kevin, some four years younger, had been sent to the
same strict boarding school as Malcolm, and had also studied Engineering. After serving his
apprenticeship, Malcolm put him in charge of the fabrication workshop, where he wished to remain.
He was not looking to run the company himself, as in truth he did not really like working for the
family business as he often felt he was not rewarded sufficiently, but felt it his duty for the sake of
his father. He decided early on that he when he would retire as soon as he could, and eventually
did so at age 50 and went to live aboard his boat on the Mediterranean island of Comino, near
Malta.
Simon Swift
Simon, the youngest of the three was a very different kettle of fish. Unlike his brothers he escaped
the strict regime of boarding school and was sent to a local private school. He did not perform
academically as his brothers had, and chose not to go to university but started work for the
company straight from college. Like his two brothers, he served a kind of apprenticeship, starting at
the bottom sweeping the factory floor and learning to use every machine as well as welding. Simon
had a natural ability to weld and form metal and became highly proficient at turning out any size or
shape of precision parts that the company was asked to produce. He was imaginative and
innovative in finding new ways to construct parts that had never been made before. For example,
when a sculptor asked the company to make a large scale commission that was bigger than the
factory, Simon’s solution was to remove the roof (which was overdue for replacement anyway) in
order to accommodate the piece. However, he also had a negative side to his personality and
could be bad tempered and aggressive, especially when others couldn’t see his solutions as
clearly as he could. He was a control freak, and would often re-design the production schedule ‘his
way’.
Malcolm appointed Simon to oversee the machining and rolling area, and began a highly
productive period for the business, with all three brothers playing to their strengths.
Alan and Peter Flower
During this period Malcolm also recruited a non-family member Alan Flower, as the company’s
quality manager. Malcolm had been impressed with Alan at university for his attention to detail.
Alan was not an overly ambitious man, and was happy when he became Quality Manager as he
was not looking to run the business for himself. In his father’s tradition, Malcolm also found a place
in the company for Alan’s son, Peter, who was studying history at university and wanted some
work experience. He later joined the company full time and eventually became the weld tester and
trained to carry out non-destructive testing (NDT), although he did not have his father’s attention to
detail and was probably not really suited to the job. When he had first started with the company
Peter was put on an hourly-paid rate along with the rest of the employees, but once he felt
competent as the company’s only NDT operator, he became unhappy with this arrangement. He
felt that with his degree, he should be salaried along with the other management team, and this
was eventually agreed. Unfortunately for Peter long hours were sometimes required to finish
urgent jobs and this sometimes resulted in his salaried income being less than it would have been
on the hourly-rate.
Malcolm’s management
Malcolm adopted his father’s approach and liked to show his appreciation for his workforce, and
every year would set up a day out in the summer and also provide meat and wine at Christmas for
each of the 35-40 employees. During these good years, Susan recalls her father driving a Rolls
4
Royce and her mother a Daimler, with her other uncles having similarly well-appointed cars.
However, despite the good intentions, tensions rose between the management and the workforce
and Malcolm ordered all the prestigious company cars to go and issued management with AustinRover Metros instead. He was loyal to his staff, and was almost always able to accommodate the
comings and goings of the workforce, who returned after going to other companies or even after a
spell in prison!
Even so, there were ever-present tensions between management and workers, a strain that Peter
unwittingly exacerbated. Having spent a great deal of time on the shop floor, Peter was friendly
with a number of the operators, and would often tell them if there were concerns about a job being
late. This resulted in work grounding to a halt on these projects and overtime incentives having to
be paid.
Malcolm ‘retires’
As Malcolm was several years older than his brothers, his retirement came around first. Ever
eager, Simon was appointed as the new Managing Director, and Malcolm ‘retired’ from the
business, by reducing his time from 5 to 4 days-per-week. He kept his office and did not see it
necessary to alter the financial arrangements that required all company cheques to be signed off
by himself and now Simon.
Simon in charge
Simon was now the driving force of the company, but he was unable to entirely shake off the everpresent influence of his older brother. Nonetheless Simon was always eager to impress Malcolm
and he worked tirelessly to search out new work and keep the business going well. However, he
also wanted to spend more time pursuing his other passion of flying and would often disappear for
days on end to a flying club located on the South Coast. To make this possible he looked for, and
found, bigger and bigger jobs that would keep the factory busy for long spells, so that he could
spend time at the flying club. When the time came for Kevin’s retirement, Simon was caught
unprepared. He had assumed, despite his continual warnings from his brother to the contrary, that
Kevin would do the same as Malcolm had done and continue with the business, even after his
pension had matured. But Kevin was true to his word, and at the age of 50 he retired and never
once returned to the factory. Simon could not believe what had happened and had no real plan for
what to do next.
Appointment of a non-family manager, Paul Scott
Eventually, to deal with much of the day-to-day running of the business, Simon enlisted the help of
a friend’s son, Paul Scott, an engineer who was looking for a change in career. Simon hoped that
Paul, along with Alan, would emulate the success the business had had while the three brothers
had worked together. The incentive for Paul was tremendous. Simon was the last family member
likely to work in the organisation, and had planned to retire in the next 10 years or so. Paul would
take over the business since in effect he had become a non-shareholding director. However, he
found it very difficult working for Simon, who kept strict control on the finances and expected the
same commitment as himself. This meant being available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week if
necessary, especially as new contracts often included late-delivery penalties that could cost the
company a great deal. Simon decided that the company should run two shifts to help alleviate this
problem, but this meant that Paul was sometimes needed during each shift. He found the regime
increasingly difficult, especially as it meant he was unable to spend time at his holiday home that
he had recently bought in France. Although Simon was often away, Paul could not see any light at
the end of the tunnel, and with the support of wife and family he decided that the potential reward
was not worth it and decided to leave, once again catching Simon unprepared.
Having felt he had been let down by outsiders as he saw them (non-family members), Simon was
keen not to recruit another ‘external’ replacement for Paul. However, when his niece Susan
5
arrived home from Germany for Christmas, he felt this could be the break he was looking for.
Susan was Malcolm’s daughter, and Lawrence’s grand-daughter. What safer pair of hands than
these? Besides, she had studied engineering or something similar at university – the fit seemed
perfect.
Susan Swift
Simon was right. Susan had studied engineering at university, but only by pure chance. Her father
had been very influential, almost dominating in her early life decisions. She recalled him selecting
her ‘A’ levels subjects for her, without consultation - Maths, Physics, and Chemistry – none of
which she particularly liked or was good at. So with two D’s and an E Susan phoned some
universities to see if she could get a place. Birmingham offered her a place on an engineering
degree, and she quickly worked out that engineering courses might be struggling to fill places that
year. She phoned her local university to see if they had any similar courses and found that they
were willing to offer her a place studying mechanical and materials engineering, an offer that she
accepted without hesitation. Although she was due to attend a local university, her mother insisted
that she leave home, which she did and consequently enjoyed the whole academic and social life
to the full, so much so that after just one term she announced that she would do a PhD, much to
the disbelief of her parents.
Six years later she was awarded her doctorate and her supervisor asked her what she would like
to do next. The answer was that she wanted to work for the leading specialist in the country, who
was based in Oxford. Somewhat reluctantly, she sent her CV to Oxford and received a call a few
days later inviting her to come for an interview, which resulted in an immediate offer of post–
doctorate work. She was then offered a Royal Society scholarship to perform research in
Germany and spent two highly enjoyable years there. When she came home for Christmas and
bumped into Simon, she recalls him saying something like, “you do engineering – do you want a
job?” This was a huge decision for Susan, but a chance to help out the family business could not
be turned down easily, and so she agreed to work for the business as soon as she could leave her
work abroad.
Susan’s experiences
When she arrived a month or so later to
take on the role of Estimating and
Contracts Manager (see organisational
chart), she was ‘gob smacked’.
The place was cold, derelict and dirty. It
looked as though it had not changed or
been cleaned much or since she worked
there at weekends as a teenager.
The offices all had heavy steel shutters,
some of which were welded shut, so that
daylight was scarce.
The office team included 72 year old Maggie, who would come in every Friday, as she had for
decades, collect the clocking-in cards, and painstakingly transcribe by hand the hours each
employee had worked that week onto a script. Then she would calculate the wages, before going
to the bank for cash to make them up for collection later that day. There was a single computer
that held a database but it was rarely used, and the two full time office staff preferred typewriters
for invoices and letters. Pauline, the loyal PA/secretary/heartbeat of the office, had worked for the
company since she left school at 16 and knew everyone and everything about the place. She
warned Susan that Simon could be a bully but she also knew that when the chips were down, she
felt she could rely on him to save the day. Angela looked after the invoicing and payments, which
6
she did without any help of the computer, which Susan felt was less than efficient for an
organisation of this size.
Pauline was absolutely right about Simon - he was inspirational and at the same time dreadful. He
was an excellent negotiator, a charmer, and was able to leave meetings he had gone into owing
money for late delivery and come out the other side with a bagful of credit and some new orders
besides. He would calculate the price of a job on a scrap of paper, illegibly, and was happy to sign
a contract based on this guess alone. Unfortunately, he would not or could not share this
knowledge with Susan, which made her role all the more difficult. Simon and Malcolm between
them controlled the finances very shrewdly and it was very difficult for Susan to know which jobs
had been profitable and which had not. She believed that investment in the company was vital for
future success, but found that Simon was not interested and tended to see profit more in terms of
his retirement fund than potential for further investment in the business.
In the factory Simon commanded a great deal of respect from the shop floor as they knew that he
could say to any of them, at any time, if he felt they were not doing a job right, “Move over and I’ll
do it myself”, and on occasions he did just that. Susan felt at a disadvantage as she did not have
this practical background and had to accept that when a welder said he couldn’t do something, he
couldn’t. However, the factory was in poor condition, aside from the cold and filth, some of which
was unavoidable. There was hostility between the 30-40 shop floor employees and management.
Company property was treated with disdain, while personal toolkits were immaculate. Susan felt
that the prevailing attitude could be summed up with the phrase, she’d heard a few times “How can
we get one over on the management?” by means of skiving, excessive overtime or other tricks.
At this time there were no hardhats, no safety procedures, no clear gangways, and machinery was
generally not fixed to the floor as it often needed to be moved to accommodate large jobs. All of
this meant that the company needed to change to keep up with ever stringent safety legislation.
However, Susan recalls that everything was always done on a shoestring, for example the
cheapest possible overalls were issued to the workforce, even though it made no economic sense
as better quality work wear would last longer and need fewer replacements.
Susan felt that Alan’s son, Peter, was not good for the business either, as his antics often disrupted
the workflow. For example if he had had an argument with Simon, as was often the case, he
would often find ‘failed’ welds on that day’s work. However, she sensed that sacking him was not
an option, due to the over riding loyalty that her family business had historically shown its
employees, and in particular the son of her father’s trusted Quality Manager.
Nonetheless, Simon felt that he had found a new lease of life when Susan joined the company,
and he could now plan for his retirement in a few years as he now had someone to entrust with the
business. He continued to be inventive and enterprising, and secured a lucrative contract to build
a new shaft for a dockside crane.
7
He also secured another job for a
precision bearing housing that was
larger in diameter than either workshop,
but had no-idea how the company could
produce it, saying “don’t worry the
answer will come to me soon”. The
answer, when it did arrive, was that he
ordered the clearout of the entire stock
yard, fabricated the piece in several
sections and placed them all together in
the new outdoor workshop to measure
the tolerances before final welding took
place.
One day, Simon noticed that the rollers were producing poor quality rolled sections that were
warped on one side. On investigation he noticed that the foundations for the rollers, which would
accommodate 3” thick steel plate, were collapsing on one side, producing a conical rather than a
cylindrical shape. For Simon this was another opportunity. He re-designed the rollers so that one
side could be lowered and was able to offer customers a unique proposition of rolled steel cones
which had previously been unavailable from any supplier.
Susan was not shy to make her presence felt on the shop floor, but often felt the workforce was
only grudgingly tolerant of her, even though she had immediately tried to clean the place up a bit
by revamping the canteen/break area. Unfortunately her efforts were not rewarded and it was
trashed again within weeks. The operators, all male, almost always referred to her as Malcolm’s
daughter and she felt they became increasingly hostile to her when she was pregnant. Before that
she felt that she was almost accepted as “one of the lads” but walking onto the shop floor with her
pregnancy clearly showing somehow upset the balance, and she felt uneasy in her role.
Simon continued his strategy of securing only larger contracts so that he could spend as much
time as possible away from the factory, and this left Susan with nobody to really show her the
ropes properly. She recalls losing out on a £160K contract because she really didn’t know the true
cost of the job, and felt unable to lower her price. At the time there wasn’t much work going
through the factory and she was sure Simon would not be happy when he found out. However,
when she told him, he just shrugged and said, “we’ve lost it, let’s move on”. Unfortunately she was
none the wiser for the next time, and was at a loss as to what to do next.
Eventually, the long hours, frustrations of a domineering Managing Director who was often absent,
lack of clarity about the company finances and an overall lack of any kind of strategic plan for the
future meant that Susan thought the time had come to make some hard decisions. With Christmas
around the corner she did not want to end up overseeing a night shift for another late job as she
had the year before, instead of spending it with her son. On the other hand, what would her uncle
and father say if she said she wanted to leave? As she drove home on a cold, dark December
evening, she wondered what to do next………….
8
Company History
Middleton Productions Ltd
Year
Event
1938
Lawrence Swift founds Middleton
Productions Ltd
1939
War breaks out – Lawrence joins Navy
1944
1945
1961
1963
1967
1973
1974
1978
1979
Lawrence Swift returns from serving in
the Navy
Lawrence Swift buys out company
from original partners
Malcolm Swift starts work at the
company
Number of
Employees
Turnover
3
N/A
8
£57,000
16
£98,000
Kevin Swift starts work at the company
Simon Swift starts work at the
company
Lawrence Swift has heart attack –
Malcolm becomes MD
Malcolm Swift recruits Alan Flower
Kevin Swift become Fabrication Shop
Director
Simon Swift becomes Machine Shop
Director
25
30
35
1983
Malcolm Swift recruits Peter Flower
35
1993
Malcolm ‘retires’ – Simon becomes MD
40
1996
Kevin retires
45
1997
Simon recruits Paul Scott
40
2001
Paul Scott resigns
35
2002
Simon Swift recruits Susan Swift
35
£732,000
£544,000
£819,000
9
Company Profiles
Name – Susan Swift
Occupation – Sales Director
Age – 28
Qualifications Ph.D. Mathematical Modelling
B.Sc. Mechanical and Materials Engineering
A’ Levels Maths, Physics, Chemistry
Previous work experience
Post Doctorial Research Fellow at Oxford University
Royal Society Fellow in Germany
Returned to join the family firm
Hobbies and Interests
Skiing, motorbikes, girl guide leader, camping,
member of the local church
Name – Peter Flower
Occupation – Non-destructive tester (NDT)
Age – 32
Qualifications
B.A. History
A’ Levels History, English, Drama
Qualified NDT operator
Previous work experience Joined Middleton Productions straight from University
Hobbies and Interests
Real ale brewing, hard core rock, rambling.
Name – Alan Flower
Occupation – Quality Manager
Age – 58
Qualifications
B.Sc. Mechanical Engineering
A’ Levels Physics, Chemistry, Maths
Previous work experience –
Design Engineer for HPL Contracting Ltd
Hobbies and Interests
Rambling, classical concerts, art
10
Name – Simon Swift
Occupation – Managing Director
Age – 50
Qualifications
HND in Engineering
Previous work experience Welder, Vertical bore operator, Gear Cutter
Lathe operator, General Foreman,
Machine Shop Director
(all at Middleton Productions Ltd)
Hobbies and Interests
Skiing, Scuba Diving, vintage racing cars,
parachuting, flying
Name – Kevin Swift
Occupation – Retired Fabrication Director
Age – 60
Qualifications City and Guilds in Motor Vehicle Engineering
Previous work experience –
Welder, Rolls operator, Milling machine operator
General Foreman, Fabrication Shop Director
(all at Middleton Productions Ltd)
Hobbies and Interests
Farming, sailing, gardening
Name – Malcolm Swift
Occupation – ‘Retired’ Managing Director
Age – 62
Qualifications
B.Sc. Mechanical Engineering
A’ Levels Maths, Physics, Chemistry
Previous work experience –
Labourer
Apprentice
Welder
Managing Director
(all at Middleton Productions Ltd)
Hobbies and Interests
MBA Engineering Management
Ph.D. Materials Engineering (welding techniques)
Middleton Productions Ltd
11
Name – Paul Scott
Occupation – Project manager within ESSO
Age – 38
Qualifications
B.Sc. Chemical Engineering
A’ Levels Maths, Chemistry, Biology
Previous work experience –
Shop Floor Manager - Horville Engineering
Sales and Contracts Manager- Middleton Productions
Ltd
Hobbies and Interests
Golf, fine wines, holiday home in Southern France
12
Organisational Chart 1990s
Malcolm Swift
Managing Director
Kevin Swift
Fabrication Director
Simon Swift
Machining Shop Director
Alan Flower
Quality & Production
Fabrication Shop
~19 shop floor employees
Machining Shop
~26 shop floor employees
13
Organisational Chart 2002
Malcolm Swift
‘retired’ MD
Alan Flower
Quality & Production
Peter Flower
NDT Manager
Foreman
Fabrication
(~12 shop floor employees)
Simon Swift
Managing Director
Susan Swift
Contracts &
Estimating
Office staff (3)
Foreman
Machining
(~14 shop floor
employees
14
)
What happened next?
Middleton Productions Ltd.
Simon could not find another potential successor for the company and he and Malcolm decided
that the best thing to do would be to close operations and dissolve the company.
The company was finally wound up a year or so later once all ongoing contracts had been
completed and each employee had either finally retired or found another job.
Malcolm Swift – finally retired properly!
Alan Flower - took early retirement.
Peter Flower – left the company to join another firm.
Susan Swift - became a lecturer in Materials Science followed by lecturer in Entrepreneurship at a
UK University.
Simon Swift - pursued his hobbies full-time and now runs a highly successful skydiving and flying
club. The club is run as a family business with both his son and daughter involved full time.
15
Suggestions for use in teaching
This case was originally prepared for use in an MBA module entitled Entrepreneurship and
Innovation for Engineers.
The learning outcomes that were used were:
evaluate the philosophies and theories behind entrepreneurial behaviour, incorporating the
entrepreneurial personality. Differentiate between different groups of entrepreneurs and
critically review their similarities, differences and the methods of management of these
different groups.
critically assess an organisation’s characteristics that facilitate the innovation process. Plan
and implement activities, which will establish an innovative environment within an
organisation’s structure.
analyse a company’s strategic approach to Innovation Management including company
culture and the role of the individual in the process and as a result recommend strategic
changes to improve a company’s Innovation Management.
underpin work with reference to supporting literature, up to date research and appropriate
case studies.
Topics covered during the module included:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
What is an Entrepreneur?
Entrepreneurial types
Characteristics of Entrepreneurs
What is innovation?
Stages of Innovation
Managing Innovation
Creating an innovative organisation
Innovation Strategy
For this module the students were placed into groups and each group was given one of the
characters in the case study to concentrate on initially. They were then asked to review the case
study and, incorporating the material presented in the sessions, deliver a short presentation around
the type of entrepreneurial (or otherwise) personality that had been assigned to their group. A
framework for this was provided to the groups.
The second task for each group was to prepare a presentation of a suggested future Innovation
Strategy for the family firm.
Both these tasks were assessed as part of the overall module.
An alternative suggestion for group discussion could be:
Had Susan Swift remained with the company, what might she had done differently from her
predecessors?
16