Lecture Bob Foster 14 Nov

NINE WAYS TO DIFFERENTIATE A HIGH TECHNOLOGY PRODUCT
Il tema della differenziazione dalla concorrenza spiegato da un esperto e investitore americano in High Tech
Torino, 14 novembre 2012, 15.15-16.30
Sala Agorà, I3P, Via Castefidardo 30A
Il prof. Bob Foster, investitore americano , esperto di tecnologia e professore presso la prestigiosa
University of California terrà a Torino una lecture , il 14 novembre, sui diversi modi con cui un
prodotto o servizio tecnologico può essere differenziato dalla concorrenza.
Secondo Bob Foster le aziende necessitano di almeno 4 o 5 fattori distintivi rispetto ai concorrenti
per avere successo e più di 7 o 8 per essere leader nel loro settore. Aziende con solo 2 o 3 fattori
distintivi non dovrebbero lanciare il loro prodotto prima di aver aggiunto altre competenze, per
poter essere competitivi. La lecture tratterà diversi esempi di passate e presenti esperienze aziendali.
L’incontro sarà anche l’occasione per conoscere le opportunità del GAP (www.to.camcom.it/gap),
programma della UCLA con esperti di uno dei migliori master americani in business administration
che supportano le imprese nella redazione del business plan per arrivare a potenziali clienti
internazionali. 80 aziende piemontesi vi hanno partecipato negli ultimi 10 anni. Per il 2013 sarà
aperto ad un massimo di 7 aziende della provincia di Torino.
L’evento, gratuito, è a numero chiuso, riservato ad un massimo di 45 partecipanti. I lavori si
svolgeranno in lingua inglese. La partecipazione va confermata tramite l’iscrizione su
www.promopoint.to.camcom.it/lecturefoster
Per informazioni:
Camera di commercio di Torino - Settore Estero
( 011.5716.365/362
8 [email protected]
L’incontro è organizzato dalla Camera di commercio di Torino, nell’ambito del progetto GAP ,
programma di business planning internazionale per le imprese torinesi (www.to.camcom.it/gap), in
collaborazione con Promos Milano, Unione Industriale di Torino, Associazione delle Aziende
Meccaniche Meccatroniche, Associazione Piccole e Medie Imprese Torino, Istituto Superiore Mario
Boella, Fondazione Torino Wireless e Centro Estero per l’Internazionalizzazione.
Prof. Bob Foster – Biography
Adjunct Professor, UCLA Anderson Management School
Professor Foster teaches High Technology Management, Business Plan Development and management consulting Field
Study. He has taught at Anderson for 26 years, half-time for 14 years while a full-time executive, and then 12 years full
time, joining the faculty full time in 1999. He created and teaches the popular High Technology Management course each
year, teaching it to over 1,000 students during the past 18 years.
He has taught Business Plan Development since 1999 as part of the school's Price Center for Entrepreneurship. This
entrepreneurship program is recognized as one of the leading programs in the world, with the Financial Times naming it
the "#1 program in the world" four times in six years. Many past winners of the annual Knapp competition for the best
student business plan of the year have taken this course. He is also the faculty advisor for the school's Venture Capital
Investment Competition team.
Professor Foster has been the Director of the Global Access Program (GAP) for the past eight years, the international field
study and MBA thesis requirement for Anderson's Fully-Employed MBA students. He provides overall academic direction of
the program including the design and development of GAP's six month integrative, capstone course for 260 students, a
faculty of 12 professors working with over 50 high technology companies from 19 foreign countries. He manages
executive seminars for participating international company executives and the formal business plan presentations at the
conclusion of the course. He also manages relationships with GAP's international partners from trade and technology
governmental agencies in Finland, England, Brazil, Australia, Italy, New Zealand, Spain and Chile.
In 2011 the government of Finland awarded him Knight 1st Class, Order of the White Rose for his over ten years’ service to
the 120 high technology companies of Finland who have participated in the UCLA Anderson Global Access Program of
which he has been the director for 11 years.
Bob has taught management Field Study every year since 1983, advising over 150 management consulting field studies,
most of them for high technology firms such as Microsoft, Intel, Qualcomm, Nokia and Hewlett-Packard, as well as many
startup technology firms. His teams have won many school awards for outstanding consulting studies.
During a 17-year period from 1983 to 1999, he was president/CEO of four different high technology firms. Products
include software (enterprise resource management, financial applications, customer relationship management, digital
mapping, GPS), factory automation, industrial machinery, map publishing and composite plastics.
For 13 years, he worked at Xerox, first as VP of Software Development responsible for 300 programmers and analysts.
Later, he was VP of Marketing and Sales with a staff of 500 and 100 direct salesmen. XCS was a startup division that grew
to a profitable $100 million division during his tenure. For seven years, Bob was President of Thomas Bros. Maps, the
second largest map publisher in the U.S. He managed its conversion to digital mapping and introduced digital map
products to the Internet.. He was founder and CEO of an industrial robotics systems integration firm that sold robotic
welding and spray painting systems.
In 2002, the full-time MBA class voted him one of the top five Most Outstanding Professors at UCLA Anderson. The Fully
Employed MBA classes of 2003 and 2005 voted him their most outstanding professor during their three year program. He
was awarded the 2006 Citibank Teaching Award for the most outstanding teacher of the year as voted by the faculty’s
teaching committee. In 2008 the students in the UCLA Anderson-National University of Singapore Executive MBA program
voted him their Teaching Excellence Award.
In 2010, UCLA Anderson celebrated its 75th anniversary by selecting 100 alumni who were the most inspirational and had
the most impact out of its 37,000 graduates. He was honored by being selected as one of those 100. In addition, six of his
former students were also selected.
He is a member of the board of several major high technology firms and a member of the Tech Coast Angels angel
investing organization.
Education
MBA Management, 1965, UCLA Anderson School of Management
B.S. Mechanical Engineering, 1962, Oregon State University
Interests
High Technology, Marketing, Sales, Product Development, Entrepreneurship, Management Consulting, Internet Strategies,
Software Marketing, Robotics, Factory Automation, International Business and Funding of Early Stage Technology
companies.