Unit rationale, description and aim

Innovation of digital technologies has become central to driving economic productivity and the future wellbeing of society. This unit will investigate core aspects of value creation from emerging digital technologies.

Digital technologies are presenting significant opportunities and threats to existing business models. For example, big data analysis can be used to assist managerial decision making, and artificial intelligence can have a profound impact on traditional work practices and the professions. As such, executives need to understand the strategic, managerial and execution aspects of digital technologies, and how they can be captured to create organisational value.

The unit provides a broad base of digital literacy and cyber security from which students are expected to examine and create a digital strategy for their own organisations to capture and sustain competitive advantage in a world of technological turbulence.

2025 10

Campus offering

No unit offerings are currently available for this unit.

Prerequisites

MGMT605 Strategic Management for Sustainability

Learning outcomes

To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.

Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.

Explore the graduate capabilities.

Apply the concepts associated with emerging techno...

Learning Outcome 01

Apply the concepts associated with emerging technologies required to help business leaders take advantage of data, digital and technological advances

Understand and evaluate the impact of emerging dig...

Learning Outcome 02

Understand and evaluate the impact of emerging digital technologies on human beings, whether as customers, employees, stakeholders or citizens

Evaluate and synthesise options concerning how bes...

Learning Outcome 03

Evaluate and synthesise options concerning how best to organize, prioritise and exploit emerging technology opportunities

Critically evaluate the leadership and ethical iss...

Learning Outcome 04

Critically evaluate the leadership and ethical issues associated with the management of ever-expanding technological capabilities including, but not limited to, the rise of artificial intelligence (AI).

Demonstrate digital literacy and practical skills ...

Learning Outcome 05

Demonstrate digital literacy and practical skills to create competitive advantage in a world of technological turbulence in which adaptability and reinvention are likely to be business imperatives

Content

Topics will include: 

  • Introduction and context – the history of technology and its relationship with commerce, the impacts of digital disruption and digitisation on business and society. 
  • Digital disruption and transformation – how businesses today are adapting to the daily challenges of digital disruption.  
  • Ethics and governance of digital technologies - understanding the ethical issues for organisations, governments and society. 
  • Digital risks - examining core digital threats, cyber security and the overall digital strategy.  
  • Developing a digital strategy – a systematic analysis of the most problematic parts of your industry, customer trends, the competitive landscape, etc. 
  • Leading the digital transformation – developing the requisite change and communication plans for digital transformation.

Assessment strategy and rationale

Assessments are used primarily to foster learning. ACU adopts a constructivist approach to learning which seeks alignment between the fundamental purpose of each unit, the learning outcomes, teaching and learning strategy, assessment and the learning environment. To pass this unit, students are required to submit all pieces of assessment and achieve an overall score of at least 50%. Using constructive alignment, the assessment tasks are designed for students to demonstrate their achievement of each learning outcome.  

 

Each of these assessment pieces has been designed to empower students, lead to greater equity and deepen students’ skillsets by virtue of their design. They are assessments that are constructed to integrate the unit’s instruction and curriculum. Total assessments are limited to 5,000 words or equivalent.  

 

The purpose of Assessment 1 is to enable students to demonstrate their broad understanding of each of the topic areas in the unit.  

 

The purpose of Assessment 2 is to critically assess the success of a strategic digital change in the student’s organisation. This form of assessment allows students to identify areas that worked and areas of improvement. 

 

The final assessment requires students to demonstrate their understanding of the unit’s content by critically analysing opportunities and potential threats that digital technologies pose to their organisation. Students outline a potential strategy that could be implemented in their organisation to increase value. 

Overview of assessments

Participation through class discussion and blog p...

Participation through class discussion and blog posts. Blog posts are expected to be approximately 200 words per post and to succinctly articulate your informed views of each session within the Unit.

Weighting

25%

Learning Outcomes LO1, LO2

Written report:  Critically assess a strategic di...

Written report: 

Critically assess a strategic digital change in your organisation and identify whether it achieved its objectives, including highlighting what worked well and how it could have been improved. (1300 words) 

Weighting

25%

Learning Outcomes LO3

Written report:  Digital technologies are transfo...

Written report: 

Digital technologies are transforming entire business models. In 2500 words: 

A. Analyse the opportunities and potential threats that digital technologies pose to your business. 

B. Identify the key domains in which your business strategy could change to take advantage of these opportunities and counter any potential threats. 

C. Outline a potential strategy that could be implemented in your organisation to increase organisational value. 

Weighting

50%

Learning Outcomes LO5

Learning and teaching strategy and rationale

This unit takes an active learning approach to guide students in the analysis, synthesis, evaluation and application of the core aspects of value creation from digital and emerging technologies and their impact on organisations.  

 

ACU’s teaching policy focuses on learning outcomes for students. Our teaching aims to engage students as active participants in the learning process while acknowledging that all learning must involve a complex interplay of active and receptive processes, the constructing of meaning for oneself, and learning from others. ACU promotes and facilitates learning that is autonomous and self-motivated, is characterised by the individual taking satisfaction in the mastering of content and skills and is critical, looking beneath the surface level of information for the meaning and significance of what is being studied. 


Mode of Delivery: 

Lectures, seminars and workshops on campus or multi-mode 


Pattern of attendance and duration: 

Intensive mode of delivery. Students should anticipate undertaking 150 hours of study for this unit, including class attendance, readings and assignment preparation. 

Representative texts and references

DalleMule L, Davenport TH (2017), What’s Your Data Strategy?, Available at: https://hbr.org/2017/05/whats-your-data-strategy 

 

Decker R, Haltiwanger J, Jarmin R, and Miranda J (2014), The Role of Entrepreneurship in US Job Creation and Economic Dynamism. Journal of Economic Perspectives, vol. 28, no. 3, pp. 3-24  

 

Deloitte Access Economics (2014), Democratizing technology: crossing the “CASM” to serve small and medium businesses. Available at: https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/insights/us/articles/dr14-democratizing-technology/DR14_Democratizing_Technology_CASM.pdf 

 

Deloitte Access Economics (2017), Digital Opportunities for Today’s Small Business. Available at: https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/au/Documents/Economics/deloitte-au-economics-digital-opportunities-for-todays-small-business-salesforce-220317.pdf 

 

Dodgson M (2018), Innovation management: a research overview, ISBN 9780815375296 0815375298 

 

Issa T and Isaias P (2015), Artificial intelligence technologies and the evolution of Web 3.0, ISBN 1466681489 9781466681484 

 

Johansson A (2016), The Seven Biggest Challenges that Small Business Owners Face in 2016. Available at: https://www.inc.com/anna-johansson/the-7-biggest-challenges-that-small-business-owners-face-in-2016.html 

 

Kim D (2014), 3 Principles of Innovation for Startups and Small Businesses. Available at: https://www.inc.com/young-entrepreneur-council/3-principles-of-innovation-for-startups-and-small-businesses.html 

 

McKinsey (2016), Automation at scale: The benefits for payers. Available at: https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/healthcare-systems-and-services/our-insights/automation-at-scale-the-benefits-for-payers?cid=other-eml-alt-mip-mck&hlkid=ceda5c325e4240e8b79cfdec43af11c7&hctky=10204051&hdpid=3221b5d0-0b9f-42e0-831e-ffbc5e044da9 

 

McKinsey (2016), Digital globalization: The new era of global flows. Available at: https://www.mckinsey.com/%20business-functions/digital-mckinsey/our-insights/%20digital-globalization-the-new-era-of-global-flows 

 

 Microsoft (2016), Survey reveals customers crave digital experiences. Available at: https://www.theselfemployed.com/infographics/infographic-microsoft-survey-reveals-customers-crave-digital-experiences/ 

 

Muhammad Anshari, Mohammad Nabil Almunawar, Masairol Masri, (2020), Financial technology and disruptive innovation in ASEAN, ISBN 9781522591856 1522591850 

 

O'Reilly T (2017), WTF: what's the future and why it's up to us, ISBN 9780062565716 0062565710 9780062699558 

 

Russ M (2017), Human capital and assets in the networked world, ISBN 9781787148277 1787148270 

 

Shan-Ling p (2006), Managing emerging technologies and organizational transformation in Asia: a casebook, ISBN 9812565922 

 

Sharma D (2016), Why Digital Tech is a Competitive Advantage for Small Businesses. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/sap/2016/08/15/why-digital-tech-is-a-competitive-advantage-for-small-businesses/#134d298b3755 

 

Zhu, Xiaoming, and Cao, Xuehui (2019), Emerging champions in the digital economy: new theories and cases on evolving technologies and business models, ISBN 9789811326271 

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