THE UNIVERSITY of EDINBURGH

DEGREE REGULATIONS & PROGRAMMES OF STUDY 2022/2023

Timetable information in the Course Catalogue may be subject to change.

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DRPS : Course Catalogue : Business School : Common Courses (Management School)

Postgraduate Course: Responsible Management of Digital Innovation (CMSE11562)

Course Outline
SchoolBusiness School CollegeCollege of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) AvailabilityNot available to visiting students
SCQF Credits10 ECTS Credits5
SummaryThis course will equip you with the conceptual and practical knowledge for understanding digital innovation. It will engage you through an evidence-based approach of digital business transformation, drawing on the latest research and case studies. It will help you analyse the managerial complexities and ethical challenges of digital innovations by linking digital technology, business expansion and social responsibility. You will reflect on current technological, strategic and organisational changes that affect enterprises, mature or start-ups alike. During the course, you will debate on the societal impact of a digital world, and work on multiple case studies to design real-world solutions to problems.
Course description Digital technologies greatly impact on competition and the way business is done. The route towards digitisation is fraught with great risks and presents the scope for major mistakes, which firms make time after time. On this course, you will learn and understand those risks and discover how they are best overcome. The first part of the course will be devoted to acquire the conceptual and methodological background for understanding digital innovation. The second part of the course will focus on business opportunities arising from digital technologies, and the social responsibility questions along the way. By mobilizing the latest research in managerial economics, organization studies and business ethics, the course will provide you with solid frameworks of analysis. The course will engage you through an evidence-based approach, building on research published in Business Ethics Quarterly, Harvard Business Review, Administrative Science Quarterly and other leading management journals. Furthermore, you will work on numerous up-to-date examples, case studies and exercises that cover different topics. The course will encourage you to build bridges between conceptual frameworks and the contemporary world of digitization. During the course, you will design solutions to some of the greatest challenges associated with responsible management of digital innovation, based on case studies and hands-on exercises.

By the end of the course, you will be aware of important concepts and theoretical frameworks that are relevant for managers and firms seeking to embrace digital innovation successfully and responsibly.

Section 1 - Re-imagining business in the digital age
- Understanding the ideology of the "digital": Internet philosophy and the libertarian roots of digital innovations
- Studying the underlying economics of digital business: the network effect, the chicken and egg problem, traffic monetization.
- Discovering the latest technologies: AI, blockchain, AR/VR/MR, 3D printing.

Section 2 - Sustaining digital innovation
- Platform business: designing, funding and scaling up a platform
- Harnessing the crowd: the power of the algorithm
- Digital business for mature companies: identifying the challenges and opportunities of digitization

Section 3 - Responsible Digital Innovation
- The webpage corporation: ethical challenges of the gig economy
- Legal and ethical challenges when internationalizing digital models
- Managed by machines: when algorithms take control of human work
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements None
Course Delivery Information
Academic year 2022/23, Not available to visiting students (SS1) Quota:  None
Course Start Block 2 (Sem 1)
Timetable Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) Total Hours: 100 ( Lecture Hours 5, Seminar/Tutorial Hours 7, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 2, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 86 )
Assessment (Further Info) Written Exam 0 %, Coursework 100 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Additional Information (Assessment) 30% coursework (individual) - assesses course Learning Outcome 1
70% coursework (group) - assesses course Learning Outcomes 2, 3, 4, 5
Feedback Formative: Formative feedback will be given in class during the discussion sessions, and the case study discussions. In-class participation is to be considered as formative assessment, although non-graded.

Summative: Summative feedback is to be given on assessment. Both the individual and group assignments are two parts of the same assessment.

No Exam Information
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
  1. Work with knowledge that covers most areas of the course, including their boundaries, terminologies and conventions.
  2. Demonstrate a critical awareness of current issues related to digital business transformation.
  3. Use a range of specialised skills, techniques, practices and/or materials that are at the forefront of, or informed by forefront developments.
  4. Develop original and creative responses to problems and issues.
  5. Deal with complex issues and make informed judgements in situations in the absence of complete or consistent data/information.
Reading List
Alcácer, J., J. Cantwell, L. Piscitello. 2016. Internationalization In The Information Age: A New Era For Places, Firms, And International Business Networks? Journal Of International Business Studies 47(5) 499-512.

Beane, M., W.J. Orlikowski. 2015. What Difference Does A Robot Make? The Material Enactment Of Distributed Coordination. Organization Science 26(6) 1553-1573.

Boyd, D., K. Crawford. 2012. Critical Questions For Big Data. Information, Communication & Society 15(5) 662-679.

Brynjolfsson, E., A. Collis. 2019. How Should We Measure The Digital Economy? Harvard Business Review 97(6) 140-148.

Curchod, C., G. Patriotta, L. Cohen, N. Neysen. Working For An Algorithm: Power Asymmetries And Agency In Online Work Settings. Administrative Science Quarterly 0(0) 0001839219867024.

Curchod, C., G. Patriotta, M. Wright. 2020. Self-Categorization As A Nonmarket Strategy For MNE Subsidiaries: Tracking The International Expansion Of An Online Platform. Journal Of World Business 55(3) 101070.

Edelman, B. 2015. How To Launch Your Digital Platform. Harvard Business Review 93(4) 90-97.

Faraj, S., S. Pachidi, K. Sayegh. 2018. Working And Organizing In The Age Of The Learning Algorithm. Information & Organization 28(1) 62-70.

Furr, N., A. Shipilov. 2019. Digital Doesn¿t Have To Be Disruptive. Harvard Business Review 97(4) 94-103.

Orlikowski, W.J., S.V. Scott. 2014. What Happens When Evaluation Goes Online? Exploring Apparatuses Of Valuation In The Travel Sector. Organization Science 25(3) 868-891.

Satell, G. 2018. The Industrial Era Ended, And So Will The Digital Era: Interaction. Harvard Business Review 96(5) 21-21.

Sewell, G., L. Taskin. 2015. Out Of Sight, Out Of Mind In A New World Of Work? Autonomy, Control, And Spatiotemporal Scaling In Telework. Organization Studies 36(11) 1507-1529.

Steiber, A., S. Alänge. 2016. The Silicon Valley Model The Silicon Valley Model: Management For Entrepreneurship. Springer International Publishing, Cham, 143-155.

Sutcliff, M., R. Narsalay, A. Sen. 2019. The Two Big Reasons That Digital Transformations Fail. Harvard Business Review Digital Articles 2-5.

Zhu, F., M. Lansiti. 2019. Why Some Platforms Thrive And Others Don¿t. Harvard Business Review 97(1) 118-125.
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills Knowledge and Understanding

After completing this course, students should be able to:

Demonstrate a thorough knowledge and understanding of contemporary organisational disciplines; comprehend the role of business within the contemporary world; and critically evaluate and synthesise primary and secondary research and sources of evidence in order to make, and present, well informed and transparent organisation-related decisions, which have a positive global impact.

Identify, define and analyse theoretical and applied business and management problems, and develop approaches, informed by an understanding of appropriate quantitative and/or qualitative techniques, to explore and solve them responsibly.

Cognitive Skills

After completing this course, students should be able to:

Be self-motivated; curious; show initiative; set, achieve and surpass goals; as well as demonstrating adaptability, capable of handling complexity and ambiguity, with a willingness to learn; as well as being able to demonstrate the use digital and other tools to carry out tasks effectively, productively, and with attention to quality.

Communication, ICT, and Numeracy Skills

After completing this course, students should be able to:

Convey meaning and message through a wide range of communication tools, including digital technology and social media; to understand how to use these tools to communicate in ways that sustain positive and responsible relationships.

Critically evaluate and present digital and other sources, research methods, data and information; discern their limitations, accuracy, validity, reliability and suitability; and apply responsibly in a wide variety of organisational contexts.
KeywordsNot entered
Contacts
Course organiserDr Corentin Curchod
Tel:
Email:
Course secretaryMrs Fionna Grant
Tel: (0131 6)51 3028
Email:
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