Drive digital transformation in your business and stay ahead of disruptive technology by building a business strategy for the digital future.
6 weeks, excluding 1 week orientation.
5–8 hours of self-paced learning per week, entirely online.
$2,800
(USD)
Email: mitsloan@getsmarter.com
Call: +1 617 997 4979
ABOUT THIS COURSE
In recent years, innovative businesses have used a range of digital tools, from apps to AI, to invent new business models and delight customers with convenience, high quality, and low prices. Many industries have already been transformed by this wave of technology-fueled disruption. The MIT Sloan Digital Business Strategy online short course 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.
“I have been leading our organization’s digital transformation journey and wished I had taken the [course] two years ago. The [course] addresses the changes your organization can make with digital transformation being an enabler, and not just an initiative.”
Todd Balazs
Director, Digital Group Naval Air Systems Command
WHAT THIS PROGRAM COVERS
This six-week MIT Sloan Digital Business Strategy program 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.
A POWERFUL COLLABORATION
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.
ABOUT MIT SLOAN
The MIT Sloan School of Management is one of the world’s leading business schools, emphasizing innovation in practice and research, with a mission to develop principled, innovative leaders who improve the world, and to generate ideas that advance management practice. The school’s focus on action learning means that students are able to apply concepts learned in the classroom to real-world business settings and, through its collaborative spirit, MIT Sloan welcomes and celebrates diverse viewpoints, creating an environment where new ideas grow and thrive.
ABOUT MIT SLOAN EXECUTIVE EDUCATION
MIT Sloan Executive Education offers non-degree executive programs led by MIT Sloan faculty to provide business professionals from around the world with a targeted and flexible means to advance their career development goals and position their organizations for future growth. By collaborating with GetSmarter, a leader in online education, MIT Sloan Executive Education is able to broaden access to its on-campus offerings in a collaborative and engaging format that stays true to the quality of MIT Sloan and MIT as a whole.
ABOUT GETSMARTER
GetSmarter, a 2U, Inc. brand, collaborates with the world's leading universities to select, design, and deliver premium online short courses with a data-driven focus on learning gain.
Technology meets academic rigor in GetSmarter’s people-mediated model, which enables lifelong learners across the globe to obtain industry-relevant skills that are recognized by the world’s most reputable academic institutions.
WHAT YOU’LL LEARN
You’ll be welcomed to the course and 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.
Consider the value of data-driven decision making as a possible transformation for a business.
- Discuss the rapid growth of digitization
- Review the standard partnership between minds and machines
- Determine how to adapt decision making in a business to capitalize on the benefits of a data-driven approach
- Summarize complementary change, which is a key concern for effective digital transformation in a business
- Determine how the key practices and processes of a business fit into the Matrix of Change to enable effective digital transformation
Discover what machine learning is and how it could be applied in a business.
- Review the history of AI to understand the challenges of the first wave and how the second wave could be valuable to businesses
- Show how machine learning could be valuable to businesses
- Relate machine learning to the rebalancing between mind and machine that is taking place in the second machine age
- Investigate how machine learning could be used in a business context
Learn about the types of business opportunities that may be available in the digital economy.
- Discuss the economics of bits and the economics of atoms
- Relate key concepts regarding the digital economy to a business
- Show the value of network effects, Metcalfe's law, and complements in the digital economy
- Analyze the potential for a business to capitalize on the economics of the digital economy
Investigate different types of platforms and the business concepts that underpin their success.
- Discuss the economic power of different platforms
- Associate O2O, two-sided, and n-sided platforms with the value they could generate in a business context
- Determine how platforms capitalize on network effects to generate value
- Deduce pricing strategies in relation to the commoditization and price reductions caused by platforms
Explore how the crowd (decentralized knowledge) outperforms the core (centralized knowledge).
- Associate the effectiveness of the crowd with the benefits of decentralization as enabled by transformational technologies
- Analyze the impact of the rebalancing of the core and the crowd on the centralized core and business practices in general
- Deduce effective approaches to business experiments that utilize the decentralized benefits of the crowd
- Decide on appropriate crowd-related experiments for a business while considering the potential risks associated with the crowd
Learn about the impact of digital technologies on organizational structure and the changing roles of managers and leaders.
- Investigate decentralized technologies, specifically blockchain technology and its use for cryptocurrency and smart contracts
- Evaluate the impact of decentralization on a business
- Conclude why firms are still necessary and how management and leadership positions within firms have changed in the second machine age
- Reflect on the future of a business by making recommendations for digital transformation using insights gained from completing the Matrix of Change
WHO SHOULD TAKE THIS COURSE
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.
THIS PROGRAM IS FOR YOU IF YOU WANT TO:
UPSKILL
Keep your career and business up-to-date by implementing a digital transformation strategy that draws on the knowledge of thought leaders.
GROW YOUR CAREER
Harness the power of disruptive technologies to bring improved operations and increased business value to your current or future role.
VERIFY YOUR KNOWLEDGE
Gain proof of your knowledge and abilities in the form of a certificate of completion from MIT Sloan.
Earn a certificate of completion from MIT Sloan
This program offers you the opportunity to earn a certificate of completion from one of the world’s leading business schools — the MIT Sloan School of Management. This program also counts towards an MIT Sloan Executive Certificate, which you can earn upon completion of four programs where at least three of the four come from your chosen certificate track and at least one is completed in person. Find full details here.
Completion is based on a series of practical online assignments. In order to be issued with a certificate you’ll need to meet the requirements outlined in the course handbook. The handbook will be made available to you as soon as you begin the program.
Your certificate will be issued in your legal name and sent to you upon successful completion of the program, as per the stipulated requirements.
WHO YOU’LL LEARN FROM
These subject matter experts from MIT Sloan guide the program design and appear in a number of course videos, along with a variety of industry professionals.
YOUR FACULTY DIRECTORS
Erik Brynjolfsson
Professor, MIT Sloan School of Management; Director, MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy
Andrew McAfee
Co-Director, MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy
HOW YOU’LL LEARN
Every course is broken down into 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 reviewed 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 journals and ongoing project submissions, culminating in a review of how transformational technologies could fit into a business of your choice
YOUR SUCCESS TEAM
GetSmarter, with whom MIT Sloan is collaborating to deliver this online program, provides a personalized approach to online education that ensures you’re supported throughout your learning journey.
HEAD LEARNING FACILITATOR
A subject expert from GetSmarter, approved by the University, will guide you through learning-related challenges.
SUCCESS ADVISER
Your one-on-one support at GetSmarter, available during University hours (9a.m.–5p.m. EST) to address technical or administrative questions.
GLOBAL SUCCESS TEAM
This team from GetSmarter is available 24/7 to solve your tech-related queries and concerns.
TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS
BASIC REQUIREMENTS
In order to complete this program, you’ll need a current email account and access to a computer and the internet, as well as a PDF Reader. You may need to view Microsoft PowerPoint presentations, and read and create documents in Microsoft Word or Excel.
BROWSER REQUIREMENTS
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 program. Please note that Google, Vimeo, and YouTube may be 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 an Enrollment Adviser before registering for this program if you have any concerns about this affecting your experience with the Online Campus.
