Could you research and write an article like this?

McKinsey & Company published a very interesting article named "Raising your Digital Quotient." The article explains that "... For incumbent companies, the stakes continue to rise. From 1965 to 2012, the “topple rate,” at which they lose their leadership positions, increased by almost 40 percent1 as digital technology ramped up competition, disrupted industries, and forced businesses to clarify their strategies, develop new capabilities, and transform their cultures. Yet the opportunity is also plain. McKinsey research shows that companies have lofty ambitions: they expect digital initiatives to deliver annual growth and cost efficiencies of 5 to 10 percent or more in the next three to five years."

Please read it, and as you read consider the following question: Can you identify the theory behind the key points of this article? You should be able to map key points in corresponding topics we covered in class.

Maybe,  I could use it to make some of the final exam questions!

Class Update - Week 9

During  week 8, we looked at several examples (mini-cases) of business processes and their corresponding  database schemas. Our first objective was to familiarize ourselves with relevant database terminology and theory. The second objective was to learn how to visualize the basic database structure and information flow behind a business process.

The third objective, and focus of our seminar, was an introduction to sql queries. Motivated by the experience of Harrah’s, we learned how to develop and use a query to identify a firm’s most valuable customers (observe the Pareto 80:20 principle in terms of sales and customers).

Topics and Readings for Week 9

Theory: We will focus on two topics. Chapter 6 (enterprise systems) and Appendix A.8 (team project)

The 6th chapter provides an introduction to enterprise systems, the role that they play within the company, expected benefits, risks as well as critical success factors associated with implementation and adoption. One of the main themes that you will see through this chapter is that there is no one silver bullet in any of the choices that the firm has to make regarding ES implementation. Consistent with what we have learned so far the choice will depend on the company's strategic priorities.

Appendix A.8 provides you with a complete discussion on how to develop proxies for the bargaining power of buyers and suppliers. This will give you a good idea of what we hope to achieve with the team project.

Seminar: Because of Canada day (two of the seminars meet on Wednesday), we are not going to have an in class seminar this week. We are going to have an online seminar. I will provide you with the dataset for the project, instructions on how to start working in order to develop the appropriate proxies for your project, and practice problems. I will be available during office hours and via the discussion board to assist you with any questions you may have.

Assignments for Week 9

The online quiz will be a based on chapters 6, Appendix A.8,  and material related to the project. The quiz will be available on Friday at 12:30 pm.

Class Update - Week 8

Our focus in week 8 will be on database theory. We will concentrate on the following topics:

1. Reading entity-relationship diagrams. An entity-relationship (E-R) diagram is the blueprint of a database. It provides us with a concise way of seeing the  entities (tables) and how these entities are related. This is critical if we want to design queries for data extraction.

2. Understanding the process for designing a normalized database. We will look at several examples based on mini cases and see how we can design a normalized data base. One of these examples is for a transportation company. As we will see this database covers many different areas within the company. We will use this as an example for transitioning into the discussion on enterprise systems.

3. In our seminar, we will use the sqldf package in R in order to write sql queries for data extraction. We will start with queries based on data from a single table and make our way to more advanced queries based on multiple tables.

Topics and Readings for Week 8

Reading: Read chapters 5 and 6

Assignments for Week 8

The online quiz will be a based on chapters  5,  and material from the seminar. The quiz will be available on Friday at 12:30 pm.

Class Update - Week 7

During week 6, we used the case of Harrah’s (now known as Caesar’ Entertainment) to review the material on data analytics and we had a brief introduction to database theory.

In the seminar, we used data from the wireless market to explore and try to understand hypercompetition.

Topics and Readings for Week 7

Theory: Continue or introduction to database theory (Chapter 5) and how to create sql queries. Answer questions related to the midterm.

Reading: Read chapter 5.

Seminar: There is no seminar in Week 7. In lieu of the seminar, I will hold extra office hours for the midterm.

Assignments for Week 7

The data collection part of the project is due on Monday, June 15th.

The midterm exam is scheduled for Friday, June 19th from 5:30-7:00 pm. The exam is open books - open notes, and it will be based on  everything we covered in lectures and seminars, except for database theory.

Class Update - Week 6

During week 5, we reviewed theory related to IT strategy and payoffs from IT investments. We used the Whirlpool case study as a two part exercise that would let us a form of sentiment analytics to identify the firm’s business strategy and the focus in financial performance metrics that could best capture the expected payoffs from the firm’s IT investment. The results, especially those related to the firm’s days of inventory, were quite interesting and thought provoking.

Topics and Readings for Week 6

Theory: While we have been using data analytics from the beginning of the term, Chapter 4 provides a formal introduction to the topic, as well as historical presentation of what is perceived one of the most celebrated success stories of competing with data analytics, i.e., Harrah’s entertainment (the firm is now known as Caesars Entertainment Corporation).

Our discussion on data analytics serves as the transition to the introduction to database theory (Chapter 5). Obviously, you need data to perform data analytics. The focus in Chapter 4 will be to understand the basic behind the theory on how to organize and extract data needed for performing data analytics.

Reading: Scan through Read chapter 4 and 5.

Seminar: Hypercompetition is a term that has been introduced since the late nineties to reflect an increasing level of competition and to account for the growing percentage of firms reporting losses. Use exercise 4.7.1 to generate percentage of firms reporting losses in the wireless market. Compare the US versus Canadian side of the market. You may want to generate proxies for rivalry among existing competitors between the two countries.

Analyzing the Whirlpool case, we explored considered one performance metric that could capture the expected payoffs from their ERP investment. If you were to repeat this exercise with Harrah’s which variable would you select and why (exercise 4.7.4)? Feel free to consider/suggest a new variable, i.e., a variable not listed in the Appendix.

Assignments for Week 6

The sixth online quiz will be a based on chapters 4 and 5,  and material from the seminar. The quiz will be available on Friday at 12:30 pm.

If you have not done this yet, please provide your data to the auditor as soon as possible (the deadline is June 5th).

Class Update - Week 5

During our 4th week, we looked at an example of how to assess the expected duration of an advantage due to technology adoption by synthesizing material from Chapter 1 (technology adoption) and 2 (resource based view). Reviewing the discussion on industry structure and its effect on profitability formed the transition to the role of technological innovation adoption on competitive environment (Chapter 3). As I mentioned in the last class update, the special report in the Economist about the effect of financial technological innovation in the banking industry provides an excellent reading on this topic.

In our seminar, we looked at the ROA decomposition as a way of assessing drivers of a firm’s financial performance, and we looked at market to book values as a way of assessing its market valuation. Combining the two of them lets us see what element of ROA seem to drive market valuation.

Topics and Readings for Week 5

Theory: We will look at IT strategy, alignment between IT and business strategy, and payoffs from IT investments.

Read Chapter 3 and revisit the Whirlpool case

Seminar: We will use sentiment analytics as a way of assessing alignment between IT and business strategy.

Read the discussion on sentiment analytics (pp. 397-400) and review the data analytics practice problems 3.9.1 and 3.9.3.

Assignments for Week 5

The fourth online quiz will be a based on Chapter 3  and material from the seminar. The quiz will be available on Friday at 12:30 pm.

You must provide your data set to your auditor no later than June 5th.

Class Update - Week 4

During our 3rd week, we completed an exercise on strategic data analytics. Our objective was to first, develop a process for comparing average profitability in the utility industry between US and Canada; and second, examine whether any differences could be associated to differences of the industry structure. We used confidence intervals to compare the average profitability between the two countries, and we learned how to leverage  accounting data to develop proxies for barriers to entry and rivalry among existing competitors.  While our discussion was specific to an industry the same process (and R script) can be used to compare difference between US  and Canada for any other industry, or for comparing two industries within US or Canada.

Topics and Readings for Week 4

Theory: Our goal this week will be to finish the discussion on business strategy (chapter 2) and transition into IT strategy (Chapter 3). While relative performance has been the major theme in our first section of chapter 2, leveraging accounting data to make sense of business strategies, such as cost leadership and product differentiation, will be our focus in the second half.

The most recent issue of the Economist has a special section on the effect of technological innovations (fintech) in the finance industry. The article will serve as our  transition to IT strategy (Chapter 3) and relates to our first topic in Chapter 3, which is the effect of IT on industry structure.

Read pp. 56-69 from chapter 2, and pp. 82-102 from Chapter 3.

Seminar: We will evaluate a firm’s competitive position and market valuation (2.9.1 and 2.9.2) and make sense of business strategy with accounting data (2.9.4). Read section A.4 (pp. 362 - focus only on market to book value) and A.5 (pp. 364-5) from Appendix A.

Assignments for Week 4

The fourth online quiz will be a based on Chapter 2  and material from the seminar. The quiz will be available on Friday at 12:30 pm.

There is going to be a quiz on SharpScholar based on material from the Seminar of Week 3. The quiz will become available on Tuesday morning and you will have till Saturday 8:0o am to complete it.