Management of Digital Transformation

Digitalization and the associated technological breakthroughs offer enormous challenges and opportunities. Against this background, companies are faced with the question: How can competitive advantages be achieved and maintained in the "age of digital transformation"? The theory-based and action-oriented course gives students an insight into digital core technologies that drive the digital transformation of society and equips them with digital decision-making strategies and frameworks.

Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to (1) explain why and how digital technologies have an impact on companies' business models, (2) explain why and how companies effectively integrate digital technologies and some are more successful than others, (3) systematically choose between different approaches to assess the potential of digital technologies and to implement and use them in companies.

This course can be attended by Bachelor students or Master students in the Joint Master degree.

Organizational details

Date: Summer semester 2024
Degree courses: Bachelor in Business program or Joint Master program.
Scope: 4 SWS/6 CPs
Exam: Finale grade consists of 50% exam grade and 50% tutorial grade (case studies and quizzes)
Date: Mondays from 12:00 to 14:00h and 14:00 to 16:00h (lecture and tutorial)

Start: 15th April 12:00 to 14:00h (only lecture; tutorial starts 22th April)
Location: Building B4.1- Room 0.05. Online option for non-Saarland University students (e.g., Transform4Europe) and upon request.
Contact person: marcel.aksoy(at)uni-saarland.de
Maximum participants: 60

The enrollment for the course (lecture + tutorial) in the summer semester 2024 is closed as a maximum number of 60 students have already registered via the registration form in Moodle. The waiting list is also closed, students who are already enlisted in the waiting list will be informed about a possible course registration as soon as a place in the course becomes free (latest on April 29th).

 

Learning objectives

The course enables students to use various management tools and techniques to support the digital transformation of companies. In particular, different decision-making strategies and frameworks from research and practice are presented, which are clearly oriented towards a multitude of practical examples and applications.

The goal is to give students a profound understanding of the relevance and requirements of the digital transformation and to provide them with structures and methods to successfully implement digital transformation projects in companies. Furthermore, the students will learn tools that enable them to apply different concepts in practice such as machine learning or patent search.

Literature (extract)

  • Creusen, U., Gall, B., and Hackl, O. 2017. Digital Leadership. Führung in Zeiten des digitalen Wandels. Springer Gabler.
  • Foegen, M. and Kaczmarek, C. 2018. Organisation in einer digitalen Zeit. wibas.
  • Hess, T. 2019. Digitale Transformation strategisch steuern. Springer Fachmedien.
  • Iansiti, M., and Lakhani, K. R. 2020. Competing in the age of AI: Strategy and leadership when algorithms and networks run the world. Harvard Business Review Press.
  • Reinhardt, K. 2020. Digitale Transformation der Organisation. Springer Fachmedien
  • Verhoef, P. C., Broekhuizen, T., Bart, Y., Bhattacharya, A., Qi Dong, J., Fabian, N., and Haenlein, M. 2019. Digital transformation: A multidisciplinary reflection and research agenda. Journal of Business Research