MSc Business Analytics: Operational Research and Risk Analysis / Course details

The transformative potential of digital technology for strategy is significant, and we are increasingly recognizing how this potential is turning into a new business reality. The pervasive use of digital technology as reflected in, for instance, self-driving cars, robotic technology, and mobile applications is impressive in itself. It will most certainly promise to challenge what we know about transportation, service work, and intellectual activity. In this regard, digital technology is no longer merely a way of more efficiently supporting business processes, but also something that will strategically shape the core of what firms do. 

It is therefore useful to more closely investigate traditional strategy approaches and how they are shaped for making strategy work in the digital age. Such strategy approaches include the ideas of strategically positioning the firm within a competitive landscape, leveraging existing resources and capabilities, or continuously seeking to seize emerging opportunities.

This unit will offer a broad perspective on the design and implementation of effective digital strategies for contemporary organizations. 

The unit aims to: examine the latest trends in digital technologies and the different digital strategies firms develop to achieve a competitive advantage in their focal markets. Drawing from recent research on digital innovation, platform ecosystems, and strategic management, the unit will provide a set of analytical frameworks to enable students to assess suitable digital strategies under different scenarios. Specifically, the unit aims to:

1) Equip students with the concepts and frameworks they need to understand, analyse and respond to digital trends.

2) Encourage students to critically explore the ways in which digital technology is used for competitive advantage and be aware of the broader business context.

3) Enable students to develop digital strategies by harnessing appropriate concepts and frameworks to analyse the capabilities of contemporary digital technologies 

Knowledge and understanding

               KU1       Acquire knowledge on the ways in which digital technologies are used for competitive advantage

               KU2       Understand the complexities and challenges of digital strategies within organizations

               KU3       Assess the impact of current trends in digital technologies upon existing organizational practices and processes.

Intellectual skills         

               IS1         Develop a critical awareness of the strengths and limitations of past business strategies vis-à-vis digital strategies 

               IS2         Demonstrate skills in analysing the interactions between digital strategies and organizational processes

               IS3         Demonstrate an ability to combine and integrate evaluations of digital technologies capabilities and organizational capabilities to ensure their fit

Practical skills

    PS1        Diagnose, analyse and propose solutions for realistic organisational needs using analytical frameworks learned in the unit

               PS2        Investigate a digital technology trend and produce written case reports

               PS3        Internalise the material on unit topics through a combination of learning methods including self-study and guided reading, on-line discussions and applying the theories to a real-world case study

Transferable skills and personal qualities                    

               TS1         Substantiate analysis with digital strategy theories and evidence.

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Syllabus (indicative curriculum content):

Week 1: 

Introduction to the unit.

Lecture:  Digital Disruption & the New Rules of Strategy (A)

Case Study: Netflix vs Blockbuster

Week 2: 
Lecture:  Digital Disruption & the New Rules of Strategy (B)

Case Study: Streaming Wars (Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Video Prime, Apple TV)

Week 3: 

Lecture:  Building Digital Strategies that are Customer Centric

Case Study: Burberry reinventing itself

Week 4: 

Lecture: Digitally Transforming the (value) supply chain   

Case Study: Shein disrupting big marketplaces

Week 5: 

Lecture:  Building a Platform Ecosystem & Leveraging AI (A)

Case Study: Amazon Marketplace

Week 6: 

Lecture:  Building a Platform Ecosystem & Leveraging AI (B)

Case Study: TikTok’s AI Strategy

Week 7:

Lecture:  Generative AI: Disrupting Industries (A)

Case Study: ChatGPT vs Google and the Future of Search

Week 8:

Lecture:  Generative AI: Disrupting Industries (B)

Case Study: OpenAI and the Large Language Model Market

Week 9:              

Lecture: Digital Strategy Recap

Week 10: 

Group Project Presentations

Lectures combined with group discussions of case studies.

Lectures: 20 hours
Case Study Tutorials: 10 hours
Guided independent study: 120 hours
Total: 150
 

Summative Assessment Tasks

Group Project Presentation - Written feedback provided on CLE

Individual Report - After the end of the unit. Written feedback provided on CLE

Formative Assessment Task

Case Study Analysis - In class, during case study analysis sessions

• Teece, D.J., 2018. Business models and dynamic capabilities. Long range planning, 51(1), pp.40-49.
• Casadesus, R. and Ricart, J.E., 2011. How to design a winning business model. Harvard business review, 89(1/2), pp.100-107. 
• DalleMule, L. and Davenport, T.H., 2017. What’s your data strategy. Harvard Business Review, 95(3), pp.112-121. 
• Gandhi, S., Thota, B., Kuchembuck, R., and Swartz, J. 2018. Demystifying Data Monetization. MIT Sloan Management Review. 
• Hagiu, A. and Wright, J., 2020. When data creates competitive advantage. Harvard Business Review, 98(1), pp.94-101. 
• Van Alstyne, M.W., Parker, G.G. and Choudary, S.P., 2016. Pipelines, platforms, and the new rules of strategy. Harvard business review, 94(4), pp.54-62.
• Mihalcea, A., 2017. Employer branding and talent management in the digital age. Management Dynamics in the Knowledge Economy, 5(2), pp.289-306.
• Nylén, D. and Holmström, J., 2015. Digital innovation strategy: A framework for diagnosing and improving digital product and service innovation. Business horizons, 58(1), pp.57-67.
• Neeley, T. and Leonardi, P., 2022. Developing a Digital Mindset. Harvard Business Review, 100(5-6), pp.50-55.
• Sia, S.K., Soh, C. and Weill, P., 2016. How DBS Bank Pursued a Digital Business Strategy. MIS Quarterly Executive, 15(2).
• Sebastian, I., Ross, J., Beath, C., Mocker, M., Moloney, K. and Fonstad, N., 2017. How big old companies navigate digital transformation. MIS quarterly executive, 16(3), pp.197-213.
• Birkinshaw, J., 2022. How incumbents survive and thrive. Harvard Business Review, 100(1), pp.36-42.
• Christensen, C.M., 1992. Exploring the limits of the technology S‐curve. Part I: component technologies. Production and operations management, 1(4), pp.334-357
• Bharadwaj, El Sawy, O. A., Pavlou, P. A., Venkatraman, N. 2013. Digital Business Strategy: Toward a Next Generation of Insights,  MIS Quarterly 37(2)  pp. 471-482.
• Cennamo, C. (2021). Competing in digital markets: A platform-based perspective. Academy of Management Perspectives, 35(2), 265-291
 

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