WELCOME TO DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION STRATEGY

Since our initial rollout in June of 2017, we have seen an acceleration of digital as it
transforms organizations, business models, strategies, capabilities and more generally
society. No industry or geography is immune.
Our earlier online courses attracted learners who needed to better understand the
implications on their careers and organizations. Today, we are finding that many of our
learners have first hand experience using digital to reach new customers, redefine their
offerings, streamline processes, and more. Their larger opportunity is in finding ways to
more broadly mobilize the enterprise, engage senior leaders on redefining strategy,
engaging larger cross-sections and beginning to build a broader enterprise roadmap.
In one of our first sessions, one learner in Africa explained how they were inserting IOT
in beehives to reduce theft, monitor and optimize honey production! This idea was
picked up by a Chinese learner to increase hive yield. That’s the community you are
joining and the wonder of this course.
Regardless of the “camp” you fall in, this course continues to support both groups in
their “learning journey”. Better yet, you have an opportunity to engage in the discussion
boards, share experiences and begin to build a cohort for your ongoing personal and
organizational journey.
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This is our 9th run of the course and we too continue to learn. Here are some important
updates aimed at improving your learning journey.
First, we are offering this course for the second time as a self-paced offering. This
means you can take the course at your own schedule. Like Netflix, we are now releasing
all the content on the start of the course and it will be available for eight weeks, so you
can set your own pace.
Second, to increase the depth of our engagement with learners, we have added a new
discussion board. Entitled Office Hours, this is a place where you can engage with the
faculty on topics of substance. Different than “Technical Issues”, this is a forum where
we can begin to focus on broader strategic issues. Our goal is to engage at a deeper level
to understand top challenges/opportunities , innovative approaches, important learnings
and more.
Third, in Part 6 “Transformation in Action”, we originally portrayed GE as an
aggressive innovator focused on Jeff Immelt’s vision of the Industrial Internet. We
follow their storied journey which illustrates the challenges incumbents face in broad
business transformation. Many of these approaches remain valid, the issue is in how
broadly you execute strategy. Added to this section is a copy of Jeff Immelt’s Spring
2019 SMR article entitled “The Only Way Manufacturers Can Survive”.
Fourth, We have also added a new section entitled “Additional Transformations in
Action”. This includes a new note from Dr. Venkatraman entitled Digital
Transformation Moves By Resurgent Incumbents: The Case of Walmart. This
chronicles how incumbent retailers are responding to Amazon as the once virtual store is
now entering the “bricks and mortar” world with Whole Foods, Amazon Go Stores and
other initiatives.
Fifth, the learning frameworks and content are stable parts of the learning curriculum.
While some of the content may be several years old, they provide learners with valuable
reference points that frame your understanding of how digital changes industries,
business models, company strategies, and potentially your career.
Finally, we have added a “graduation gift for all learners”. In Final Steps, you will see
that you have access to select content from The Jeff Bezos Letters. These materials
highlight approaches Amazon has taken that is appropriate for all organizations to
consider. Described as “principles”, the question is which of these are appropriate for
your organization as you move forward.

The digital world is changing every day. So too does our offering. With over 50,000
global registrants to date, you are part of a larger community of digital pioneers. With
that, on with the rest of syllabus describing the course in more detail. Thank you for
your time.

Christopher Sprague
BU Questrom Digital Fellow and Strategy Faculty
 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
are 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 a 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 an
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. Since
joining the staff, he has worked with senior executives,
MBAs and undergraduates to think through options they
have on their digital journey.
Outside of the classroom, he had conducted sessions in
Ireland, Colombia, Chile and Mexico in May. What’s clear is
that every country and industry are experiencing digital. His
focus is on helping leaders learn from the past, consider best
ways to reframe their thinking today and help build the best
strategy | experiments and future roadmap.
Professor Venkatraman and Sprague continue partnering on the topic of digital
strategy based on Venkat’s book: The Digital Matrix: New Rules for Business
Transformation through Technology. Beyond Questrom Digital and the series of
courses online, they are engaged with leading organizations to change the way
they think, operate and grow.
Their partnership began in 1988 at MIT Sloan School of Management.
Christopher studied under Venkat and became his teaching assistant for the first
IT strategy course later memorialized in the IBM Systems Journal.
Upon graduation, the partnership continued at Gemini Consulting where he
developed an IT Strategy discipline that commercialized Venkat’s thinking. Later
he would lead a larger practice at Accenture that morphed into B2B Netmarkets
team that later won the firm-wide Ken Ernst Award. In both organizations he was
the lead faculty member in each firm’s Strategy University
Christopher became a Vice President and Executive Partner at Gartner. He
teamed with 25 CIOs on their top business and IT-related initiatives.

Senior Program Manager & Head Instructor

Mahesh Kondiparthi is a Sr. Program Manager for

Questrom edX program and is an MBA and MSDT graduate
from Boston University Questrom School of Business with
Marketing, Strategy & Entrepreneurship concentrations. Prior
to starting Business school, he worked in consumer electronics
and Automotive industries as a Research & Development lead.
Mahesh holds degrees in Instrumentation & Applied Physics
from Indian Institute of Science and Nagarjuna University, and subsequently
worked for leading corporations and clients with global presence and diverse
customer base. Some of his clients were BMW, General Motors and Samsung
Electronics. He published 25 documents in industry and academia, including
patents, journals and conference proceedings.

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. We 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 peer
assessed ORAs- where your answers are evaluated by your peers. You are asked
to apply the rubric and score your peers’ ORAs based on your review of their
answers. In exchange, you will then receive a grade for your completed ORA.
 Course Outline

Part Title Suggested Start Date

Aug 31, 2022

Part 1: Why Every Business is (Becoming) Digital

Part 2: Digitization of Industries and Companies Oct 07, 2022

Part 3: The Digital Matrix for Business Sep 14, 2022

Transformation

Part 4: The Digital Matrix in Action: Cars as Sep 21, 2022

Computers on Wheels Connected to the Cloud

Part 5: Three Winning Moves for Digital Business Sep 28, 2022
Transformation

Part 6: Transformation in Action and Synthesis Oct 5, 2022

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 10% For those of you who are taking the course for
a Verified Certificate, you will have to
Part 4 Assessment 10% complete additional assessments and you
Part 5 Assessment 30% must meet a minimum grade of 67% in the
course to be eligible to receive a certificate
Part 6 Assessment 10% from edX.
Final Exam 40%
 Open Response Assessment (ORA) Deadlines

Response Latest Due Complete peer grading

ORAs
Date/Start peer grading by...

Part 1

Audit learners none N/A N/A

Verified learners none N/A N/A

Part 2

Audit learners 1 10/16/2022 at 19:00 UTC Self Assessed

Verified learners 1 10/16/2022 at 19:00 UTC Self Assessed

Part 3

Audit learners none N/A N/A

Verified learners 1 10/16/2022 at 19:00 UTC 10/26/22 at 19:00 UTC

Part 4

Audit learners none N/A N/A

Verified learners 1 10/16/22 at 19:00 UTC 10/26/22 at 19:00 UTC

Part 5

Audit learners none N/A N/A

Verified learners 1 10/16/22 at 19:00 UTC 10/26/22 at 19:00 UTC

Part 6

Audit learners none N/A N/A

Verified learners 1 10/16/22 at 19:00 UTC

ALL graded assessments must be completed before the end of the course date to
count towards your final grade → Oct 26, 2022 19:00 UTC
 Final Exam Deadlines

Final exam (Audit learners) & Proctored exam (Verified learners)

Track Format Assessment Due date

Audit learners Multiple-choice questions 10/26/22 at 19:00 UTC

Closed-book,
Verified learners multiple-choice questions, 10/26/22 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 conversations.
Please read the edX Learner Guide for more information about Participating in
Course Discussions.
 FAQ
Q: Should I email the professor or any persons involved with this
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.

Q: Do I need to buy any personal materials to take this course?

A: As an audit learner, you don’t need to purchase any materials to take the
course. It provides all the material you need. As a verified learner, we will
provide you an electronic copy of The Digital Matrix to supplement the online
course material.

Q: I've never taken an edX course before and this is confusing. What
do I do?
A: For further information, please visit the demo edX course.

Q: I found a mistake in the course. Where do I report it?

A: To report an error or make suggestions, please post to the discussion forum
and provide feedback in the Course Evaluation.

Honor Code
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edX Honor Code Pledge

By enrolling in an edX course, you have agreed to:
● Complete all tests and assignments on your own, unless collaboration on
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