Dr Antonio Cordella MAR 4.35

This course is compulsory on the MSc in Management of Information Systems and Digital Innovation. This course is available on the Global MSc in Management, Global MSc in Management (CEMS MIM) and Global MSc in Management (MBA Exchange). This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit.

This course has a strong focus on the management and economics of digital innovation and assumes a general understanding of the key information and communication technologies. Students are expected to have a basic understanding of the implementation and management of information systems in organisations.

The objective of this core course on the MSc MISDI programme is to address the managerial challenges associated with the most innovative digital innovations. This course does not focus on one specific technology but rather on the managerial, economic and organisational factors that shape the value generated by different clusters of digital innovations. Examples will be drawn from the implementation of digital innovations, such as platforms and ecosystems; artificial intelligence and learning algorithms; blockchain technologies; social computing; information services; and open innovation.

The focus of this course is on the factors and processes that determine how different digital innovations create value for the organisations adopting them.

Discussing technological and organisational factors that determine business value creation led by different digital innovations the course provides unique managerial skills to successfully manage and exploit digital innovations to enhance organisational performance and business value creation. Whether organizations operate globally, regionally or nationally they are highly dependent on digital innovations produced by information and communication technologies for fulfilling their missions.

This course reviews the managerial and economic foundations of information systems and digital innovation and examines key insights about the emerging roles of ICTs and digital innovation in supporting organizations’ performance. In this course we examine how the digital innovation-created value for organisations is dependent on specific economic dynamics and management strategies. Having reviewed distinctive digital innovations widely adopted by contemporary organisations, we identify issues of critical importance for information systems management including: the analysis of the economic dynamics that determine how different information systems generate value; the analysis of the technical functionalities of information systems; the assessment of the impact that these technical functionalities have on the business performance; the evaluation of business and organisational challenges associated with digital innovation adoptions; and how to best negotiate the organisation’s business needs with technological requirements and functionalities.

The course provides a strategic overview of the management of information systems and innovation. We review theoretical approaches and frameworks used in practice and consider them alongside the academic literature on transaction costs, network economics, information systems strategy, and organization studies. Students studying this course will gain an understanding of how trends in strategy and operations are entangled with current processes of digitization and what these conditions of possibility mean going forward.

At the end of the course participants will be able to:

1. Understand what digital innovation is and how it shapes the contemporary economy.
2. Learn the fundamental theories, frameworks and strategies of management, economics and technology that underpin digital innovation business evolution.
3. Understand how leading cases of digital innovation generate value and how to successfully manage the associated challenges.
4. Recognise the complexity of factors that shape digital innovation business models
5. Use analytical frameworks for understanding the impact of digital innovation on organisational performance
6. Recognise and make recommendations on the strategic potential and impact of information systems and digital innovation in different organizational contexts.
7. Decide how organisations can best evolve in new markets.

20 hours of lectures and 10 hours of seminars in the AT. 1 hour and 30 minutes of lectures in the ST.

A reading week will take place in Week 6. There will be no teaching on MG472 during this week.

Classes are based around reading and discussing selected journal articles from the course reading list. Formative feedback is provided on a mock examination, with questions from MG472, MG481 and MG487 will be held.

• Alaimo, C., Kallinikos, J., and Valderrama, E. 2019. "Platforms as Service Ecosystems: Lessons from Social Media:," Journal of Information technology).
• Androulaki, E., Barger, A., Bortnikov, V., Cachin, C., Christidis, K., De Caro, A., Enyeart, D., Ferris,
• Buterin, V., 2014. A next-generation smart contract and decentralized application platform. white paper.
• Cordella A., 2006. Transaction costs and information systems: does IT add up? Journal of Information Technology, 21(3), pp.195–202.
• Cusumano, M. A., A. Gawer, & D. B. Yoffie (2019): The Business of Platforms: Strategy in the Age of Digital Competition, Innovation, and Power. Harper Business
• Faraj, S., Pachidi, S., & Sayegh, K. (2018). Working and organizing in the age of the learning algorithm | Elsevier Enhanced Reader. Information and Organization, 28, 62-70. doi:10.1016/j.infoandorg.2018.02.005
• Krogh, G. v. (2018). Artificial Intelligence in Organizations: New Opportunities for Phenomenon-Based Theorizing. Academy of Management Discoveries, 4(4), 404-409. doi:10.5465/amd.2018.0084
• Lemieux, V.L., 2016. Trusting records: is Blockchain technology the answer?. Records Management Journal, 26(2), pp.110-139.
• Nakamoto, S., 2008. Bitcoin: A peer-to-peer electronic cash system.
• Rochet, J.-C. & J. Tirole (2003): Platform Competition in Two-Sided Markets. Journal of the European Economic Association, vol. 1, no. 4, pp. 990-1029.
• Shapiro, C., Carl, S. and Varian, H.R., 1998. Information rules: a strategic guide to the network economy. Harvard Business Press.
• Sharma, R., Mithas, S., & Kankanhalli, A. (2017). Transforming decision-making processes: a research agenda for understanding the impact of business analytics on organisations. European Journal of Information Systems, 23(4), 433-441. doi:10.1057/ejis.2014.17
• Shrestha, Y. R., Ben-Menahem, S. M., and Krogh, G. v. 2019. "Organizational Decision-Making Structures in the Age of Artificial Intelligence:," California Management Review).
• von Krogh, G. 2018. "Artificial Intelligence in Organizations: New Opportunities for Phenomenon-Based Theorizing," Academy of Management Discoveries (4:4), pp. 404-409.

Essential Readings to be done on a weekly basis to build up general knowledge:

• The Economist – weekly news and regular relevant special studies.
• The Financial Times – daily world commentary, regular regional/ theme special issues and archive.
• The Wall Street Journal – detailed daily world commentary.

The main journals that students may wish to search for additional articles on globalisation, business strategy, management and digital business are:

• Academy of Management Executive
• Academy of Management Review
• Strategic Management Journal
• Long Range Planning
• Journal of Management Studies
• Journal of International Business Studies
• Journal of Management
• Management Information Systems Quarterly
• Executive
• Journal of Strategic Information Systems
• Organization Science
• Management International Review
• Harvard Business Review
• Sloan Management Review
• California Management Review

Exam (100%, duration: 3 hours) in the spring exam period.