Welcome and Introduction from N.
Venkat Venkatraman
Congratulations on enrolling in this Questrom Digital course on Digital
Transformation Strategy. This six-part series of videos and accompanying
readings and questions explores the central role that digital technologies are
playing in shaping industries and companies in the twenty-first century. My
purpose in designing this course is to encourage an understanding of the forces
likely to shape profound business transformations over the next decade.
I do not claim to be a futurist—and I cannot predict what the business
environment will look like in 2025—but I believe that the impacts of digitization
will be stronger and deeper than the changes we have seen so far. I cannot think
of a single setting in which digitization doesn’t hold promise today or in which it
is unlikely to matter in the future. In other words, digitization is a global trend
that will affect every business and every industry, everywhere.
Whether you are a business student, a recent graduate, a middle manager, or an
interested generalist, looking at the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead is
the best way to prepare for them. Together, we will explore what changes are
taking place, what they might mean, and how companies are successfully
weathering the transformation from traditional to digital business.
Course Faculty
Venkat Venkatraman is the David J. McGrath Jr. professor
in Management at Boston University Questrom School of
Business. He holds joint appointment in the Information
Systems and Strategy & Innovation Departments. He has
previously taught at MIT Sloan School of Management and
at London Business School. He has undergraduate in
Mechanical Engineering from Indian Institute of
Technology, Kharagpur, India and MBA from Indian
Institute of Management, Calcutta (India) and PhD in
Strategic Management from the University of Pittsburgh.
His doctoral thesis was awarded the Best Dissertation from the Academy of
Management and he is one of the most highly cited researchers in management
according to Google Scholar
Christopher Sprague is a Questrom Digital Fellow and
Senior Lecturer at Boston University’s Questrom School of
Business in the Information Systems and Strategy. He has
his Masters Degree from the MIT Sloan School of
Management with a concentration in information
technology and strategy. While a student, he was Professor
Venkat Venkatraman’s teaching assistant.
Together they are partnering on the topic of digital strategy
based on Venkat’s book: The Digital Matrix: New Rules for
Business Transformation through Technology. They are
collaborating on Questrom Digital’s QD501x Digital Transformation Strategy
being first offered in June 2017 as a part of the broader MicroMaster’s Program.
This is now the fifth run of this course and we continue to update it based on the
rapidly changing subject matter. All three sessions received net promoter scores
in the mid 90s.
Prior to Questrom, Christopher was a Vice President and Executive Partner at
Gartner. He teamed with 25 CIOs on their top business and IT related initiatives.
Christopher was also an Associate Partner at Accenture where he focused on IT
Strategy, was a faculty member in the firm’s Strategy University and lead the B2B
Netmarkets team that won the firm-wide Ken Ernst Award.
Learning Approach
Each Part begins with an instructional video followed by readings and links to
other resources. The idea is to allow you to learn and understand the basic
concepts on your own, at your own pace. In each Part, discussion questions
encourage you to reflect on what you’ve learned and share your ideas and point of
view with other course participants. I strongly encourage you to use the
discussion forum: ask questions, answer questions raised by others, and
contribute to the collective learning of the group. Actively participating in these
discussions will considerably enhance your learning—and the learning of
everyone in the course.
In addition to the discussion questions, we also have Open Response
Assessments (ORAs) that are structured, open ended questions that ask you to
apply your learnings to specific questions. Please pay attention to the submission
dates as shown in the “Open Response Assessment (ORA) Deadlines” table below
for audit and verified learners. Each ORA provides a rubric by which you can
evaluate responses.
For audit learners, all ORA’s are “self assessed” meaning you evaluate your own
answer. For verified learners, there are self assessed ORAs as well as 3 peer
assessed ORAs- one in each of Parts 3-5. You are asked to apply the rubric to
four peers and score them based on your review of their answer. In exchange,
you will then receive a grade for your completed ORA.
Course Outline
Part Title Release Date
Part 1: Why Every Business is (Becoming) Digital Mar 5, 2019 at 19:00 UTC
Part 2: Digitization of Industries and Companies Mar 12, 2019 at 19:00 UTC
Part 3: The Digital Matrix for Business Mar 19, 2019 at 19:00 UTC
Transformation
Part 4: The Digital Matrix in Action: Cars as Mar 26, 2019 at 19:00 UTC
Computers on Wheels Connected to the Cloud
Part 5: Three Winning Moves for Digital Apr 2, 2019 at 19:00 UTC
Business Transformation
Part 6: Transformation in Action (GE as a Case) Apr 9, 2019 at 19:00 UTC
and Synthesis
Assessments and Grading
There are some ungraded assessments in Parts 1 & 2, which we encourage you to
complete. In Parts 3 through 6 you will find graded assessments that test your
understanding and challenge you to apply what you’ve learned. Please make sure
to complete them, including the peer-graded assessments, by the deadlines
specified in the course. (Below is the grade breakdown for your assignments).
Assessment Weight
Part 3 Assessment 15% For those of you who are taking the course for
a Verified Certificate, you will have to
Part 4 Assessment 15% complete additional assessments and you
Part 5 Assessment 15% must meet a minimum grade of 67% in the
course to be eligible to receive a certificate
Part 6 Assessment 5% from edX.
Final Exam 50%
Open Response Assessment (ORA) Deadlines
Response Due Date/Start Complete peer
ORA
peer grading grading by...
Part 1
Audit learners none N/A N/A
Verified learners none N/A N/A
Part 2
Audit learners 3 3/19/19 at 19:00 UTC Self Assessed
Verified learners 3 3/19/19 at 19:00 UTC Self Assessed
Part 3
Audit learners 2 3/26/19 at 19:00 UTC Self Assessed
Verified learners 1 3/26/19 at 19:00 UTC Self Assessed
Industry Assessment: 3
Peer Assessed
Verified learners 1 Players
4/2/19 at 19:00
3/26/19 at 19:00 UTC
Part 4
Audit learners 3 4/2/19 at 19:00 UTC Self Assessed
Verified learners 2 4/2/19 at 19:00 UTC Self Assessed
Daimler and Uber Peer Assessed
Verified learners 1
4/2/19 at 19:00 UTC 4/9/19 at 19:00 UTC
Part 5
Audit learners 3 4/9/19 at 19:00 UTC Self Assessed
Verified learners 2 4/9/19 at 19:00 UTC Self Assessed
Information Based Products:
Peer Assessed
Verified learners 1 Babolat
4/16/19 at 19:00 UTC
4/9/19 at 19:00 UTC
Part 6
Audit learners 1 4/16/19 at 19:00 UTC Self Assessed
Verified learners 1 4/16/19 at 19:00 UTC Self Assessed
ALL graded assessments must be completed before the end of the course date to
count towards your final grade → April 16, 2019 19:00 UTC
Final Exam Deadlines
Final exam (Audit learners) & Proctored exam (Verified learners)
Track Format Assessment Due date
Audit learners Multiple-choice questions 4/16/19 at 19:00 UTC
Closed-book,
Verified learners multiple-choice questions, 4/16/19 at 19:00 UTC
ungraded open responses
Discussion Forum Guidelines
Frequently throughout the course, you will be asked to reflect on the posts of
other learners. The discussion forums are meant to be an area where learners can
interact with each other, ask questions, and share experiences and resources. We
encourage you to explore various posts and contribute to a lively discussion
forum community!
To aid in this goal, we ask that you do not post comments that are derogatory,
defamatory, or in any way attack other students. Be courteous and show the same
respect you hope to receive. We will have discussion forum moderators who will
delete posts that are rude, inappropriate, or off-topic. We also ask that you do not
post answers to assessment questions on these forums. You may discuss how to
approach a problem or help other learners who may have questions, but please
do not directly provide answers. Commenters who repeatedly abuse this public
forum will be removed from the course.
We do encourage course participants to answer questions posed by other
learners. The course staff may well purposely refrain from answering
immediately, to encourage peer discourse.
Additionally, there is a feature in the discussion forums that allows you to select
from two post types, which are Question and Discussion. When posting to the
discussion board, please bear in mind that the Question type is meant for specific
issues with the platform or with content, while the Discussion type is meant to
share ideas and start conversation.
Please read the edX Learner Guide for more information about Participating in
Course Discussions.
FAQ
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course directly?
A: No. If you feel the need to contact the course staff involved in this course,
please post a question in the discussion forum. You will also have the opportunity
to provide course feedback in the Course Evaluation.
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