Digital Business & New Technologies

Learning outcome 1: Critically evaluate the role of present and future technologies in the business environment
Learning outcome 2: Demonstrate an understanding of the significance of digital and new technologies in an ever-changing global business environment and the challenges these present to managers.

Assignment task

Students are required to choose an appropriate technological topic relating to digital and new technologies identified and discussed in the lecture series and write a 2,000-word portfolio review on the themes, trends and arguments emerging about that topic. The topic must be agreed with the lecturer before detailed research on it has begun.

The portfolio includes:

Section 1: The understanding of your chosen technological topic in a form of a poster/an infographic (Maximum 500 words in-text, exclude the reference) which addresses the following:
Why you deem this topic to be of importance?
How this topic has developed?
A detailed description of the technology used in this topic and what it is used for.
What technological platforms and software are used in the topic?
What type of business and organisation uses the technology?
How is it used as a business tool and is this effective? (you may link this to particular industry/sector/profession)

Section 2: Application of theories and knowledge into the chosen industry (Appx 1000 words)
How does this relate to course content and discussion on the nature of the relationship between digital technologies and both old and newly emerging theories on business and management structures and practices in the perspective of the management level?
The above question can be broken down into addressing these two questions with evidence from your chosen industry:
Q1: How the organisations in the chosen industry have understood the implications of this technology and altered what they do and how they do it?
Q2: The emergence of brand new organisations, built around digital technology, entering a sector and challenging old style organisations who have failed to grasp the significance of that technology?
This section should use theories and models (at least 2 models/theories) set out in the course content.
There must be at least 2 organisations within the chosen industry (1 success and 1 failed). It is recommended that you choose the organisations where you have known people who work at management level to support the primary research to complete section 3. The organisations discussed must be the global organisations.

Section 3: Evidence of support the discussion and findings from Section 2 either through primary or secondary data (Appx 500 words)
Primary data: Analyse the interview with the organisations' managers to confirm your findings from section 2
Secondary data: Find the interview with the organisations' managers/CEO/Directors on YouTube/Webinar where they talked about the use of this technology topic, analyse the interview to confirm the findings from Section 2.
Interview transcript or videos of their interview/webinar must be included in the Appendix.

Group presentation

Assignment task

Students will be placed into groups of 3-5 people with similar topics from CW1. Each group will be assigned an appropriate organisationby the tutor, and is required to create a PowerPoint to present in 15 minutes to address the following:

1. A brief Introduction and key findings emerging from group members' collective CW1
2. Using key findings from Point 1, apply them to your assigned organisation and set out the existing and emerging challenges posed by digital disruption within that sector
3. A set of strategic recommendations on how the organisation can deal with the issues arising from point 2.

Along with the PowerPoint presentation, the group is required to submit the supporting document which includes the group contract and peer evaluation form (can be found in the Assignment brief folder).
The presentation will be recorded for moderation purpose.

Apply concepts and theories of technology to specific industries, markets, businesses or operational roles to gain commercial insight and/or inform business operational practice.