Customer Intelligence, Research and Project Management (8cr)

Objectives (course unit)

The aims of this course are threefold. It provides the students understanding in customer intelligence: how to collect and analyze customer information in a reliable and useful way. It also gives the students basic knowledge of the necessary research approaches for their final thesis and possible further studies. In addition the course includes a project management module to develop skills in managing a multicultural business project.

After completing the course the student will be able to plan and execute a customer oriented research and development project in a scientifically reliable way.

Content (course unit)

Key questions:
- What are the principles of valid and reliable research for business or
academic world?
- Which tools and methods can be used in increasing the understanding of
customer needs to co-create customer value?
- How to refine research data to customer intelligence?
- How to communicate the results in an interesting way?
- How to manage a research and development project successfully?

Prerequisites (course unit)

-

Assessment scale

0-5

Further information

The course consists of lectures, exercises and the planning and execution of a customer related r&d project for a company or organization.

Contents of the lectures:
- Introduction: What is customer intelligence, What is academic research
- Collecting and analyzing data in a reliable way
- Introduction of qualitative methods
- Introduction of quantitative methods
- R&D process
- Project Management principles

Research and Development Project:
Student teams find themselves a customer organization with an information and development need, execute data collection and analysis and give development suggestions based on their analysis. The outcomes will be presented in a public seminar, which is planned and managed by the students themselves.

There will be two implementations of the course, one in the autumn semester and another in the spring.