Description:

Digitalisation – understood as the transformation of analogue data into digital data in order to use the latter for artificial intelligence algorithms, big data analyses, and platform exchange – is deeply transforming the economy. Accordingly, digitalisation also substantially shapes how organisations in general, and companies in particular, innovate and reach their corporate aims. The COVID-19 pandemic has amplified and accelerated these digital transformations as it facilitated and forced organisations to engage with digital formats of running their business. While digitalisation offers many opportunities to firms, such as analysing vast amounts of data, for accessing resources digitally, and even for building digital businesses, it also poses threats, including issues of data ownership, unfair competition, the exploitation of digitally accessible resources (e.g. online workers), or loss of intellectual property rights. By providing a systematic understanding of how the digital economy influences organizations, the seminar will empower students to provide responsible leadership in digital innovation and managing organizations in an increasingly digital economy. Thereby, the seminar will focus on the latest developments brought about by digital platforms, so that the seminar participants will learn to develop a responsible business strategy to use digital opportunities for the benefit of their organisation.

Learning Targets:

The seminar provides students with an understanding of how the digital economy offers new opportunities to incumbent and new organizations to acquire resources and (re-)arrange their activities. It is thereby a central aim of the seminar to equip students not only with an empirical basis but also with a sound theoretical understanding of the digital economy. At the end of the seminar, students will be able to

• explain and apply theoretical frameworks relevant to the analysis of the digital (platform) economy.

• analyse the compatibility of digitally based business models with existing business models of organizations, focusing on responsible approaches to cost efficiency, scalability, and market adaptability.

• analyse for both incumbent firms and new ventures how digital resources can enhance operational efficiency and drive innovation in a responsible way.

• identify and resolve tensions arising from the diverse interests of organizational stakeholders regarding engagement with the digital economy.

• evaluate the opportunities and threats related to the use of digital resources, such as gig workers, or crowd funding.

• formulate comprehensive organizational innovation strategies utilizing digital resources provided by platforms and evaluate the associated challenges, including technological, operational, regulatory, and ethical considerations.

Literature:

The relevant literature will be announced during the course.