Postgraduate Course: Digital Strategy (MBA) (CMSE11336)
Course Outline
| School | Business School |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
| Course type | Sandwich |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 10 |
ECTS Credits | 5 |
| Summary | We live in an era of digital disruption.
The convergence of mobile connectivity, social media, enterprise social, the Cloud, big data, Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, automation and the blockchain, combined with the rapid emergence of a new generation of constantly connected customers and constantly connected employees (Gen C), is threatening to reshape industry and the public sector faster than at any time in history.
With reports suggesting that four out of ten industry incumbents, across a broad spectrum of sectors, could be displaced by digital disruption over the next five years, many organisations are on the verge of becoming digital dinosaurs due to their inability to adapt. No industry, no organisation is immune from the threat of being disrupted. With 40 per cent of jobs being replaced by digital technology over the next two decades, no individual is immune.
Digital enabled transformation has become the number one challenge facing organisations today. Nothing else comes close.
Leaders for the Digital Age Urgently Required
As we move from the WHY to the HOW of transformation, a new breed of senior executive is urgently required - Leaders for the Digital Age; senior executives who combine high level business knowledge, experience and understanding with the ability to implement transformation strategies fully aligned with and supportive of agreed business goals and objectives. Leaders who possess the confidence and personal skills to drive digital enabled organisational change.
This five-day Executive Masterclass provides participants with highly practical tools and frameworks for leading in an era of turbulent digital change and disruption, leaders for an inter-connected world.
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| Course description |
The course will be structured around key topics critical to successful digital transformation:
Understanding the Digital Landscape - the disruptive technologies and associated societal changes reshaping industry; emerging opportunities and threats.
External Digital - the new rules of sales, marketing, PR and service in an era of customer empowerment.
Internal Digital: the use of digital internally to build a Digital Operating Advantage, rethinking the way organisations work, breaking free from the limits imposed by legacy technology and legacy management thinking.
Strategy Development for the Digital Era : the key steps involved in developing a transformation vision and strategy fit-for-purpose in a digital age; digital performance measurement.
Implementation and Digital Leadership: overcoming barriers to change; implementing successful transformation; the importance of people and culture not just technology; the role and personal traits of an effective digital leader.
Student Learning Experience
A hybrid approach will be used to deliver the programme leveraging five main teaching and learning methods:
Lectures (informal, with active group participation).
Related support material posted on LEARN.
The use of live interactive polling to stimulate open class discussion and debate.
Group work.
Guest speakers from industry.
All course material will be provided well in advance allowing a highly interactive approach to be adopted during the five days. Rather than death by PowerPoint, the sessions will utilise the very practical tools and frameworks contained in the Leading Transformation Toolkit, allowing participants to apply key principles to their own organisation or one of their own choice.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | For Business School PG students only, or by special permission of the School. Please contact the course secretary. |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Develop a digital enabled vision and strategy fully aligned with and supportive of agreed business goals and objectives.
- Agree an Action Plan for ¿getting there¿, identifying and prioritising the digital actions and initiatives required to deliver agreed business outcomes.Critically evaluate the key issues involved in developing effective digital business transformation strategies and key success factors in digital business transformation
- Develop change management competencies - the personal skills and empathy to overcome organisational, people and cultural barriers to change; win organisational support and commitment for transformation.Discuss critically the frameworks and tools available for measuring digital/social media performance and business impact, including web analytics
- Successfully implement transformation programmes ensuring a strong focus on performance measurement and informed decision-making based on data analytics.
- Adopt a future looking perspective considering the rapid pace of digital change and ¿ build your own personal brand as a ¿Leader for the Digital Era¿.
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Reading List
Students may find the following book to be useful in terms of background reading for the class:
George Westerman, Didier Bonnet and Andrew McAfee (2014), Leading Digital: Turning Technology into Business Transformation, Harvard Business Review Press.
http://www.amazon.com/Leading-Digital-Technology-Business-Transformation/dp/162527247
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Cognitive and Subject Specific Skills:
Critically evaluate key digital strategy concepts, theory and practice.
Communicate clearly to others an analysis of digital strategy situations or evaluation of theory.
Apply frameworks to real-world marketing problems.
Reflect on the relevance of digital and social media to managers, business leaders and as a consumer.
Transferable Skills
Develop confidence and skills in business engagement.
Demonstrate skills of critical analysis and evaluation of alternative courses of action.
Identify, locate and evaluate source material (academic and practitioner) to support arguments
Develop communication skills through participation in online communities.
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| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Mr Jim Hamill
Tel:
Email: v1jhami3@exseed.ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Mrs Angela Muir
Tel: (0131 6)51 3854
Email: Angela.Muir@ed.ac.uk |
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