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2022/2023  KAN-CDSCO2001U  Innovation and Strategy in the Digital Economy

English Title
Innovation and Strategy in the Digital Economy

Course information
Language English
Course ECTS 7.5 ECTS
Type Mandatory (also offered as elective)
Level Full Degree Master
Duration One Quarter
Start time of the course Second Quarter
Timetable Course schedule will be posted at calendar.cbs.dk
Study board
Master of Science (MSc) in Business Administration and Data Science
Course coordinator
  • Lars Bo Jeppesen - Department of Strategy and Innovation (SI)
Main academic disciplines
  • Innovation
  • Organisation
  • Strategy
Teaching methods
  • Blended learning
Last updated on 01-02-2022

Relevant links
Learning objectives
After successfully completing the course, the student should be able to:
  • Understand the current debates around innovation in the digital economy, strategy, as it relates to digital economy and data.
  • Explain how digital changes and the availability of data transform the business landscape.
  • Discuss relevant theories and explain their assumptions, causal dynamics and processes.
  • Assess the role of data in business innovation and specify success and failure factors
  • Understand central concepts around management in the context of digital businesses.
  • Discuss ethical issues of the digital economy and organizations’ use of data.
Examination
Innovation and Strategy in the Digital Economy:
Exam ECTS 7,5
Examination form Written sit-in exam on CBS' computers
Individual or group exam Individual exam
Assignment type Written assignment
Duration 4 hours
Grading scale 7-point grading scale
Examiner(s) One internal examiner
Exam period Winter
Aids Open book: all written and electronic aids, including internet access
Read more here about which exam aids the students are allowed to bring and will be given access to : Exam aids and IT application package
Make-up exam/re-exam
Same examination form as the ordinary exam
If the number of registered candidates for the make-up examination/re-take examination warrants that it may most appropriately be held as an oral examination, the programme office will inform the students that the make-up examination/re-take examination will be held as an oral examination instead.
Course content, structure and pedagogical approach

This course will give students an introduction to central issues of innovation and strategy in the digital economy. It forms the background for the study of data in the business context. The growth of the digital economy is predicting a data rich future and a transformation of the business landscape with implications for existing firm, entrepreneurial ventures, and individual workers. In some of the most dynamic sectors of the modern economy, such as, apps for smartphones, video games, scientific and technical problems solving, Internet of Things, blockchain and crypto technologies, companies’ overall performance already rely on data, setting requiring a whole new set of skills and organizational capabilities. The course will develop the conceptual foundations, frameworks and methods for analyzing the relationships between firms, crowds, and data. It introduces student to the process of digital transformation. The course gives students a systematic basis for assessing the economic potential of different sorts of data and organizational imperatives to unlocking this potential. The first part of the course introduces business models of the digital economy. The latter part will focus on organizing for innovation in a data rich business context. From this point of departure, the course will develop the conceptual foundations, frameworks, and methods for analyzing the relationships between innovation, strategy, and data in a digital context. The focus will be on how to manage and strategize, how existing organizations adapt to increasing digitization of business and development models. Topics will include:

 

  • Digital economy and innovation
  • Digital business models and strategy
  • Internet of Things
  • The role of crowds in generating innovation and predictions.
  • Crowdsourcing, collaborative innovation
  • Digital platforms, platform markets and platform disruption 
  • Managing organizations in a data rich future
  • Data networks and markets

 
Description of the teaching methods
The course will employ a variety of teaching forms, including lectures, interactive case based sessions, hands-on exercises, and guest lectures by practitioners. Some sessions will be face-to-face and some will be online.
Feedback during the teaching period
During the course, the students have access to 4 multiple choice quizzes at CBS Canvas, which provides feedback to each answer option. This allows the student to get an understanding of the precision of his/her answer and a clue about what to read up on. During case sessions and presentations there will be an opportunity for feedback from professors and peers.
Student workload
Teaching 33 hours
Preparation 93 hours
Exam and preparation for exam 80 hours
Total 206 hours
Expected literature

The literature can be changed before the semester starts. Students are advised to find the final literature on canvas before they buy any material.

 

Boudreau, K. J., & Lakhani, K. R. (2013). Using the crowd as an innovation partner. Harvard business review, 91(4), 60-9.

 

Boudreau, K. J., & Hagiu, A. (2009). Platform rules: Multi-sided platforms as regulators. Platforms, markets and innovation, 1, 163-191.

 

Boudreau, K. J., & Jeppesen, L. B. (2015). Unpaid crowd complementors: The platform network effect mirage. Strategic Management Journal, 36(12), 1761-1777.

 

Cennamo, C. (2019). Competing in digital markets: A platform-based perspective. Academy of Management Perspectives, (ja).

 

Cennamo, C., & Santaló, J. (2015). How to avoid platform traps. MIT Sloan Management Review, 57(1), 12.

 

Goldfarb, A., & Tucker, C. (2019). Digital economics. Journal of Economic Literature, 57(1), 3-43.

 

Greenstein, S., Lerner, J., & Stern, S. (2013). Digitization, innovation, and copyright: What is the agenda?. Strategic Organization, 11(1), 110-121.

 

McAfee, A., Brynjolfsson, E., Davenport, T. H., Patil, D. J., & Barton, D. (2012). Big data: the management revolution. Harvard business review, 90(10), 60-68.

 

Varian, H. R. (2010). Computer mediated transactions. American Economic Review, 100(2), 1-10.

 

Varian, H. R. (2014). Beyond big data. Business Economics, 49(1), 27-31.

 

Von Hippel, E. (2006). Democratizing innovation (p. 216). the MIT Press.

 

Cases:

Lakhani, Karim R., and Zahra Kanji. Threadless: The Business of Community: Harvard Business School Video Case 608-707, June 2008

Lakhani, Karim R., From Community to platform, Harvard Business School Electronic Case, Spring 2014

Lakhani, Karim, D.A. Garvin, E Lonstein, TopCoder (A): Developing Software through Crowdsourcing, Harvard Business School Case 2010.

Hagiu, Andrei, “Microsoft Xbox: Changing the game”, Harvard Business School Case 9-707-501
Last updated on 01-02-2022