UNIVERSITY EXAMINATIONS: 2018/2019
EXAMINATION FOR THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF BUSINES
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
BUSS 303: TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATION MANAGEMENT
DISTANCE LEARNING/ FULL –TIME/ PART-TIME
DATE: AUGUST 2019 TIME: 2 HOURS
INSTRUCTIONS: Answer Question One & ANY OTHER TWO questions.
QUESTION ONE [30 MARKS]
a) Listed below are some of the sources of Innovations; Discuss what you understand by each.
(8 Marks)
i) Process needs
ii) Changes in demographics
iii) Changes in perception
iv) New knowledge
b) Write brief notes on the following key innovation topics. (12 Marks)
i) Disruptive innovation
ii) The innovation dilemma
iii) Diffusion of innovation
iv) Open innovation
c) Innovate or perish’ has become the mantra of the 21st century organizations. Discuss why technological
innovation is critical for survival in a globalized competition (10 Marks)
QUESTION TWO [20 MARKS]
a) Explain FIVE ways in which technology and innovation can assist a company to achieve its major
development plans. (10 Marks)
b) Discuss the relationship between creativity, innovation and Intrapreneurship (6 Marks)
c) Define the following terms (2 Marks)
i) Innovation
ii) Technology
d) Explain TWO stakeholders of Innovation (2 Marks)
QUESTION THREE [20 MARKS]
a) Explain FOUR measures that a company can use to determine the effectiveness and appropriateness of
an innovation. (8 Marks)
b) Explain the organizations reactive and proactive business innovation strategies (6 Marks)
c) Discuss THREE forces that promote research and development in an organization (6 Marks)
QUESTION FOUR [20 MARKS]
a) What do you understand by the term idea diffusion (2 Marks)
b) Discuss FOUR reasons why it is important for innovation to diffuse a move (8 Marks)
c) Brainstorming is one of the idea generation processes; explain FIVE guidelines to brainstorming
process. (10 Marks)
QUESTION FIVE
Uber: Transport sector’s ‘M-Pesa’ moment?
Uber’s technology-driven business model, which seeks to provide timely, low-cost and satisfactory service,
has landed in town with a bang. The American multinational company works by allowing consumers with
smartphones to submit a trip request, which is then routed to Uber drivers, who use their own cars. Since
entering the Kenyan market in 2014, the firm has ruthlessly eaten into the conventional taxi market, which
has already been facing rising competition in recent years. Taxi drivers have been steadily losing market share
to professionally-managed companies that offer a more orderly service. Bigger threat but now, mobile
technology poses a much bigger threat than any other previous changes in the industry. Uber greatly
capitalises on this, and conventional taxi operators have said they are not going down without a fight. While
they agree that it is futile to fight technology, they do not think technology is the reason Uber has upended
them. …Kenyans have been busy on social media platforms asking “old school” drivers to innovate, rather
than resort to violently trying to oust Uber operators. Moses Nderitu on Twitter, for instance, said: “I will
keep using Uber. We cannot continue to be fleeced and given poor service at higher costs. Innovate or perish.”
Harvard Business School professor, Clayton Christensen, coined the term disruptive technology to describe
an innovation that displaces an established technology and shakes up the industry, creating a completely new
industry.
a) Would you consider Uber Taxi services as disruptive innovation? Justify your answer (10 Marks)
b) Would this scenario in the case be considered as a blue ocean strategy? Discuss (4 Marks)
c) One way the Uber taxi services could have done to enter the Kenyan market is to form strategic alliance
with local or conventional taxi services in Kenya. Describe some of the most appropriate forms of strategic
alliance that Uber would have considered to avoid conflict and violence. (6 Marks)
