The VCW Method for Innovation, Decision Making and Problem Solving

Transform your innovative ideas into tangible market success with the Value Creation Wheel (VCW) methodology. Master a systematic approach that bridges the gap between creative thinking and practical implementation.

Learn to navigate complex business challenges through a proven framework used by global industry leaders. Develop strategic decision-making skills while creating sustainable value for your organization and stakeholders.

This course will follow a PBL approach designed to teach concepts using real-organizational problems and challenges. PBL is commonly used to develop critical thinking skills and produce engaging classroom models. As students engage in deeper learning, this model supports lifelong learning rather than temporary understanding that gets lost with time.

According to the “The Future of Jobs Report (World Economic Forum, 2020), the top 5 skills to be developed for 2025 are 1) analytical thinking and innovation, 2) active learning and learning strategies, 3) complex problem-solving, 4) critical thinking and analysis, and 5) creativity, originality, and initiative. This course will contribute to developing these five skills by applying the VCW–Value Creation Wheel, an innovation, and decision-making method used as a consultancy and teaching method for problem-, experiential-, and practice-based learning. The VCW will be used as a meta-framework integrating different tools to innovate and provide overarching solutions for complex problem-solving.

The VCW defines value creation as the benefits received by Key Decision Makers (KDMs) and their stakeholders, minus the required resources (e.g., 3Ms- Manpower, Minute, Money), resulting from the VCW solutions. Hence, the value created by the VCW implies allocating resources to receive something of higher worth.

A. Knowledge and understanding about:
• the role of a key decision maker, internal and external stakeholders,
• what are the challenges associated with solving REAL PROBLEMS for an organization/start-up/individual,
• the process of innovation and global value creation using the VCW-Value Creation Wheel,
• the importance of considering stakeholders’ needs when solving problems/challenges,
• how to increase value for stakeholders while lowering costs.

B. Subject-specific skills about:
• how to innovate to create a successful solution,
• how to create value for existing customers and new customers,
• how to create value across international markets,
• how to use value innovation and global value creation in modern organizations to cut costs and achieve better performance.

C. General skills about:
• analytical thinking and innovation,
• active learning and learning strategies,
• complex problem-solving,
• critical thinking and analysis,
• creativity, originality, and initiative
• how diverse tools and techniques from different fields might be combined to allow firms to operate in a complex and dynamic world through the use of a meta-framework,
• the value of working with people with mixed backgrounds and nationalities,
• the value of social responsibility when developing new solutions.

Why the VCW-Value Creation Wheel?

Individuals and organizations have a wide range of problems/challenges, which require a holistic perspective to be solved. However, when addressing those problems/challenges, individuals and organizations tend to focus on problem-solving tools, which just provide ideation and lack decision-making action and integration of different perspectives. As such, many stakeholders and key decision-makers, who have a wide range of perspectives, often do not get involved in the decision-making process and do not support the implementation of the final solution(s).

The VCW method as a solution:

The VCW method moves from the diagnostic to the final solution with the support of the Key Decision Makers (e.g., executive board and critical decision-makers) while engaging the surrounding internal and external stakeholders. The VCW can solve various relevant problems/challenges of individuals and organizations across different industries and countries while integrating and/or complementing perspectives and solutions from different fields. The VCW does not impose any pre-established solutions and magic formulas. It is a structured and agile meta-framework, which can integrate and complement the more traditional “in-the-box” formulas/matrices with “outside-the-box” and “no-box” tools, frameworks, and theories across different fields. Consequently, the VCW can combine the different perspectives of key decision-makers and stakeholders and get their support in implementing the final solution(s).

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Luis Filipe Lages (PhD Warwick, Post-Doc MIT & Stanford) is Full Professor (Professor Catedrático) at Nova SBE and Director of the VCW Lab at Nova SBE. He held visiting positions in several schools across the globe, including the City University of Hong Kong, London Business School, MIT Engineering School, MIT-Sloan School of Management, Stanford-GSB, and Vienna University. He has entrepreneurial and consultancy experience in business, governmental and not-for-profit forums. He has spent more than 25 years studying the practices and drawbacks of hundreds of projects in Innovation, Value Creation, Co-Creation, International Business, Marketing, Tech-Transfer, and Sustainability. During this time, he developed the Value Creation Wheel (VCW) and the Lag-User Method, tested across various firms, from award-winning start-ups to Fortune 500 companies. This work was published extensively in scientific journals and featured in the international press (e.g., Harvard Business Publishing, Springer, Time & Wall Street Journal). He received the 2018 Excellence in Research Award from the American Marketing Association, one of the most important global awards in the field of marketing. (Biography / Google Scholar).