Digital Business Strategy: Harnessing Our Digital Future (self-paced online)
Dates:
Explore how new and existing business strategies can be improved through the rebalancing of three key relationships: Minds and Machines, Products and Platforms, and the Core and the Crowd.
This program is delivered in collaboration with GetSmarter. Please register on the GetSmarter website.
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Digital Business Strategy: Harnessing Our Digital Future (self-paced online) Certificate Track: Strategy and Innovation Location:
Online Tuition:
$2,800 Program Days (for ACE Credit) 2
In recent years, innovative businesses have used a range of novel digital tools, from apps to AI, to invent new business models and delight customers with convenience, high quality, and low prices. This wave of technology fueled disruption has already transformed many industries, and it’s just getting started. This executive program explores how new and existing business strategies can be improved through the introduction of technologies and digital systems. The framework of the course is based on the book Machine, Platform, Crowd: Harnessing Our Digital Future written by MIT Sloan faculty and New York Times best selling authors Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee. This places the program in a unique position to leverage the knowledge and experience of these experts and guide you towards the creation of innovative business strategies.
This 6-week course will guide you through an exploration of the principles that underpin Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee’s book, research, and teaching. It frames this particular approach to business strategy as an attempt to find a balance between methods that have been used traditionally and new ways in which companies can use technology to improve their best-practices.
The main focus of this executive program is the rebalancing of three key relationships: human minds and machines; physical products and digital platforms; and the core (centralized knowledge) and the crowd (decentralized knowledge). You’ll be introduced to examples of companies that have excelled at finding a harmony between tradition and technology. Furthermore, you’ll be supported in uncovering ways to relate these principles to your organization through weekly, ongoing project submissions which encourage you to apply concepts to a business scenario.
"People are racing against the machine, and many of them are losing that race… Instead of racing against the machine, we need to learn to race with the machine. That is our grand challenge."– ERIK BRYNJOLFSSON, DIRECTOR OF THE INITIATIVE ON THE DIGITAL ECONOMY
Upon completion of this program, participants will be able to:
Explore the ways in which the strategies for new or existing businesses can be improved with transformative technologies like artificial intelligence (AI)
Understand the need to rebalance the three key relationships: human minds and machines; physical products and digital platforms; and the core and the crowd
Identify transformative principles that have worked for real-world companies as you explore ways to implement them in your own context
Develop a review of how transformational technologies could fit into a business of your choice
"We want the participants in this program to do work that is relevant for their businesses; for their organizations. The assignments are geared that way, the overall homework for the program is geared that way. We don’t want this to be a dry exercise at all. We want the participants to be thinking and acting in ways that will help out their organizations." – ANDREW MCAFEE, CO-DIRECTOR OF THE INITIATIVE ON THE DIGITAL ECONOMY
This online program integrates rich, interactive media such as videos, infographics, and e-learning activities as well as traditional didactic components such as written study guides (course notes). There are also opportunities for collaborative learning through discussion forums. The following modules contribute to the holistic approach your learning path takes:
Orientation: WELCOME TO YOUR ONLINE CAMPUS ONE WEEK You’ll be welcomed with a personal call and get introduced to your online teaching and technical support network. Begin connecting with fellow participants while exploring the navigation and tools of your Online Campus. Be alerted to key milestones in the learning path, and review how your results will be calculated and distributed. You’ll be required to complete your participant profile, confirm your certificate delivery address, and submit a digital copy of your passport/identity document.
MODULE 1: INTRODUCING DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION Consider the value of data-driven decision making as a possible transformation for a business.
MODULE 2: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE Discover what machine learning is and how it could be applied in a business.
MODULE 3: PLATFORMS IN A DIGITAL ECONOMY Learn about the types of business opportunities that may be available in the digital economy.
MODULE 4: THE PLATFORM REVOLUTION Investigate different types of platforms and the business concepts that underpin their success.
MODULE 5: HARNESSING THE CROWD Explore how the crowd (decentralized knowledge) outperforms the core (centralized knowledge).
MODULE 6: LIMITS TO DECENTRALIZATION Learn about the impact of digital technologies on organizational structure and the changing roles of managers and leaders.
This executive program integrates rich, interactive media such as videos, infographics, and e-learning activities as well as traditional didactic components such as written study guides (course notes). There are opportunities for collaborative learning through discussion forums to provide participants with a complete overview of the field of IoT in business contexts, including emerging and innovative topics.
The program begins with an Orientation to welcome you to the Online Campus. During Orientation, you will explore your analysis environment, become comfortable with your new online classroom, meet your Success Team, and get to know your fellow classmates. Watch the online campus experience video >
After Orientation, the course is broken down into six manageable, weekly modules, designed to accelerate your learning process through diverse learning activities:
Work through your downloadable and online instructional material
Interact with your peers and learning facilitators through weekly class-wide forums and small group discussions
Enjoy a wide range of interactive content, including video lectures, infographics, live polls, and more
Investigate rich, real-world case studies
Apply what you learn each week to quizzes and ongoing project submissions, culminating in the development of your own IoT roadmap
Each module is released weekly, allowing a flexible but structured approach to learning. You’ll be supported as you engage in individual activities and group discussions, ensuring you feel confident to submit your best work at each weekly deadline. The time commitment is estimated at 6-8 hours per week, self-paced and entirely online.
SUCCESS TEAM Throughout the course of the program, you will be supported by a team of professionals.
Head Facilitator: A subject expert who’ll guide you through content-related challenges
Success Manager: Your one-on-one support available during MIT hours (9am - 5pm EST) to resolve technical and administrative challenges
Global Success Team: Available 24/7 to solve your tech-related and administrative queries and concerns
This program aims to provide CEOs, managers, C-suite executives, and entrepreneurs with the knowledge they need to analyze traditional business strategy models and enhance them in light of ever-present disruptive technologies. By highlighting the need to explore new balances between mind and machine, product and platform, and the core and the crowd, this program will enable participants to analyze and alter (if necessary) their business strategies to introduce, or better deal with the introduction of, disruptive technologies.
Please note that faculty are subject to change and not all faculty teach in each session of the program.
Schussel Family Professor of Management Science Professor of Information Technology Director, The MIT Center for Digital Business
Erik Brynjolfsson is Director of MIT’s Initiative on the Digital Economy, Schussel Family Professor of Management Science at the MIT Sloan School, and research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. His research examines the effects of information technologies on business strategy, productivity and performance, digital commerce, and intangible assets.
At MIT, he teaches courses on the Economics of Information and the Analytics Lab. He has also taught at Stanford University and Harvard University.
Brynjolfsson was among the first researchers to measure productivity contributions of IT and the complementary role of organizational capital and other intangibles. His research provided the first quantification of online product variety value, known as the “Long Tail,” and developed pricing and bundling models for information goods. Recognized with ten Best Paper awards and five patents, Brynjolfsson’s research has appeared in leading economics, management, and science journals. His papers can be found at http://digital.mit.edu/erik
He is the author of several books including, with coauthor Andrew McAfee, the New York Times best-seller The Second Machine Age: Work, Progress and Prosperity in a Time of Brilliant Technologies (2014) and Machine, Platform, Crowd: Harnessing Our Digital Future (forthcoming, June 2017). Brynjolfsson is editor of SSRN’s Information System Network and has served on editorial boards of numerous academic journals as well as the Academic Advisory Council of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
Brynjolfsson holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from Harvard University in applied mathematics and decision sciences, and a PhD from MIT in managerial economics.
Principal Research Scientist and Associate Director, MIT Sloan School of Management, Co-Director of the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy (IDE)
His research investigates how information technology changes the way companies perform, organize themselves, and compete. At a higher level, his work also focuses on how computerization affects competition, society, the economy, and the workforce. In addition to having numerous papers published, Professor McAfee also writes a widely read blog, which is at times one of the 10,000 most popular in the world. He is the author or co-author of more than 100 articles, case studies and other materials for students and teachers of technology. Prior to joining MIT Sloan, McAfee was a professor at Harvard Business School. He has also served as a fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School. McAfee received his doctorate from Harvard Business School, and completed two Master of Science and two Bachelor of Science degrees at MIT. He speaks frequently to both academic and industry audiences, and has taught in executive education programs around the world.
BASIC REQUIREMENTS
In order to complete a course, you’ll need a current email account and access to a computer and the internet. You should be familiar with using a computer and accessing the internet, as you may need to read documents in Adobe PDF Reader, view Microsoft PowerPoint presentations, and read and create documents in Microsoft Word. Installing Adobe Flash Player will give you full access to certain course content, such as interactive infographics. However, you’ll still have access to this content in the form of a downloadable PDF transcript if you’d prefer not to use Flash.
We recommend that you use Google Chrome as your internet browser when accessing the Online Campus. Although this is not a requirement, we have found that this browser performs best for ease of access to course material. This browser can be downloaded here.
ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS
Certain courses may require additional software and resources. These additional software and resource requirements will be communicated to you upon registration and/or at the beginning of the course. Please note that Google, Vimeo, and YouTube maybe used in our course delivery, and if these services are blocked in your jurisdiction, you may have difficulty in accessing course content. Please check with a Course Consultant before registering for this course if you have any concerns about this affecting your experience with the Online Campus.
MIT Sloan Executive Education is collaborating with online education provider GetSmarter to create a new class of learning experience - one that is higher-touch, intimate, and personalized for the working professional. By working with GetSmarter, we are able to broaden access beyond our on-campus offerings in a collaborative and engaging format that stays true to the quality of MIT Sloan and MIT as a whole. GetSmarter's people-driven approach to online learning—centered around the importance of human support—has resulted in an aggregate completion rate consistently above 90% serving more than 48,000 participants over almost a decade.
All reviews are submitted by program attendees and are not edited by MIT Sloan Executive Education. Read more about our ratings and reviews.
Krzysztof R:
one of the best course that I have done! That course lighted me on with idea and process how to transfer my business from analog to digital business.I get a lot of practice material and I was builded in my action by science approach to this change.
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Date Attended:
Apr 15, 2020
Date Reviewed:
Sep 12, 2020
Paulina E:
This program gave me great concepts and tools. I learned a new way to think and create businesses to face new challenges. The program has a refresh vision about what keys are relevant to rearrange and put in action. I recommend to all person who is looking to find how to start in the digital transformation journey.
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Date Attended:
Apr 15, 2020
Date Reviewed:
Jul 20, 2020
Ling Fung K:
fantastic programme, very well structured and the content was very useful. I really like the way they used both the video and text to teach a certain topic.
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Date Attended:
Apr 15, 2020
Date Reviewed:
Jun 26, 2020
Stefano O:
The module on digital platform "weird economics" has opened up a new world
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Sep 25, 2019
Date Reviewed:
Jun 18, 2020
Liam P:
This was my first MIT Sloan course and I had high expectations.
For content my expectations were exceeded - great research, examples and insight. For user experience the getsmarter platform experience is pretty good, but the platform team engagement process isn't robust enough to get five stars - there are a few bugs that annoy.
Overall I am glad that I chose the Digital Business Strategy programme as my 'out of stream' choice - I think that the content is a great and essential complement to my Operations focus
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Date Attended:
Feb 12, 2020
Date Reviewed:
Apr 28, 2020
James H:
A great program. Absolutely applicable to the work environment. I found the modules very well structured, the content informative and the assignments defined in a way that I came away from the course with a work product that I can actually apply in my organization.
I wish I did this much earlier. We are currently going through a digital transformation process and it was as if a light went on for me when I started the course. Thank you very much.
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Feb 12, 2020
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Apr 22, 2020
Sanjay B:
Great experience and fantastic learning. Ready to implement changes for my business
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Nov 27, 2019
Date Reviewed:
Feb 20, 2020
Renzo E:
Very happy to have completed this most interesting 6-week Digital Business Strategy online course. The material presented by Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee, Co-Directors of MIT's Initiative on the Digital Economy, was extremely informative with relevant content presented in a well-organized structure with challenging weekly assignments. The course also gave participants a great opportunity to share and learn from other professionals from around the world via weekly forums. I would highly recommend this course for professionals looking for fresh perspectives as they navigate through the ever-changing "digital transformation" landscape.
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Aug 7, 2019
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Nov 21, 2019
Juan M:
Excelent experience. Clear and applicable knowledge
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Date Attended:
Aug 7, 2019
Date Reviewed:
Nov 19, 2019
William B:
This course provides participants knowledge of how new digital tools and capabilities are re-shaping business. The Matrix of Change tool highlighted resistance to change in an organization and where to focus to overcome the resistance. The course also provided practical ways organizations can benefit from digital strategies.
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Date Attended:
Feb 6, 2019
Date Reviewed:
Nov 16, 2019
Registration for this program is done through GetSmarter.
*The recommended weekly time commitment for core content is 4-5 hours, taking into account the busy lifestyles of working professionals, with an additional 2-3 hours recommended for non-compulsory weekly extension activities, should you have the time. Each module is released weekly, allowing a flexible but structured approach to learning. You’ll be supported as you engage in individual activities and group discussions, ensuring you feel confident to submit your best work at each weekly deadline.
Principles for Prosperity in an Age of Disruption (podcast episode)
The Second Machine Age is here. Two MIT economists create a playbook for how businesses can adapt to our new digital future. Erik Brynjolfsson and Andy McAfee are co-founders the Initiative on the Digital Economy at MIT Sloan. Their new book is Machine, Platform, Crowd: Harnessing Our Digital Future. We speak with Erik and Andy about the great economic rebalancing of minds and machines, physical products and virtual platforms, core competencies and the wisdom of the crowd.
Hear from a Digital Business Strategy program participant
Davide Sartini, a past participant of the program, elaborates on his experience at MIT.
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