2019/2020

Future of Digital Economics

Type: Optional course (faculty)

Delivered by: International College of Economics and Finance

Where: International College of Economics and Finance

When: 3, 4 module

Instructors: Egor Krivosheya

Language: English

ECTS credits: 3

Contact hours: 32

Course Syllabus

Abstract

The course develops a practical and theoretical structure for understanding and analyzing key elements of the digital economy and other forms of interaction between traditional and new participants in the economy. The course covers the basic differences of the digital economy from the traditional (existing) economy, a description of the fundamental principles of the functioning of the digital economy and digital transformation processes, develops analytical tools for assessing the potential and successful use of the key elements of the digital economy (cryptoeconomics, creative economy, talent economy, sharing economy, etc.). The course also develops students' understanding of the strategic analysis tools covered in Future of Financial Services and Fintech optional course. The course is intended to provide students with the holistic view on the relevant issues related to the digital economy both in Russia and in the world. In addition, each of the tools is mastered on practical examples and cases from Russian and global practice, which allows students to get acquainted with the latest modern trends related to the digital economy in Russia and the world. This provides the necessary knowledge to evaluate various cases in the field of the digital economy and their impact both on the economic sectors and on wider areas of life (social, ethic and cultural aspects of digitalization). The course requires a basic understanding of strategic tools and basic economic concepts, but all the necessary knowledge is covered in the course. The completion of the Future of the Financial Services and Fintech, although it is not a formal prerequisite for this course, will be useful for better understanding of strategic methods outside the context of financial services. This course expands the usage of strategic analysis methods, which are studied in detail in Future of the Financial Services and Fintech course. One of the lessons of the course (lecture and seminar) is based on the practical immersion of students in a specific area of the digital economy within the strategic planning session, where they use the strategic analysis tools to understand their roles as the employers, managers, experts, entrepreneurs (or any other positions chosen by students) in Russian or global digital economy. All the remaining classes are built on interactive learning approaches, where the audience is constantly involved in the discussion process. The course is supported by a weekly newsletter and frequent material discussion using online social medial platforms. The course is designed for students of the 1st and subsequent years of study at ICEF BSc programme, as well as ICEF graduate students. The course is based on lectures, seminars, the study of specific cases and independent, as well as group work of students both in the audience and outside it. Course is taught during 1 semester. The course ends with a final exam.

Learning Objectives

• - to develop students' skills to integrate any business process into the context of the digital economy
• - to help students master a wide range of knowledge and information on the basics of the digital economy, its ecosystem and its main participants based on practical cases and world experience with refraction to the Russian market.
• - to teach students how to approach the strategic analysis tools in any context, especially digitalization and digital transformation. Strategic planning sessions are popular among the management of all levels in order to outline the key directions of their companies or even themselves in the fast-changing world.
• - to help students critically analyze the effects of digital transformation and digitalization regardless of the position of their organization or their own positions within the organization/economy.

Expected Learning Outcomes

• differentiate between the digitalization, digital transformation and the principles of the digital economy
• explain and interpret important trends that determine the direction of development of market participants within digital economy
• analyze the effects of changes occurring at both the global or country and industrial levels
• acquire relevant skills in applying strategic analysis tools regardless of the context
• self-assess the role of their company and their own roles, as the employees, in the modern digital economy

Course Contents

• Digital life of an individual
  Talent economy & future of work. Skills and jobs of the future. Generational conflict in the workplace. Human capital: IQ vs HQ vs EQ vs LQ. Work-life balance in modern society. Labor market trends. The effects of automation & robotization on the jobs. The likelihood of automation and the risk of jobs extinction by industry. Digital relationships. Digital transformation of education vs digitalization of education. On-demand services & products. New consumption forms (P2P, D2C, C2B, etc). Sharing economy and subscription-based consumption. User-generated content in the long-tail companies. Influencers: microinfluence & macroinfluencers. Digital finance (brief overview based on Future of Financial Services & Fintech course). Digital health. Personalization of medicine. Quantification of life (e.g., quantified baby concept). Other aspects of digitalized life.
• Digital production
  IoT and IIOT. 3D printing. Supply chain transformation. Digitalization & digital transformation of key sectors in the economy. Automation technology. The phenomenon and effects of robotization. VR and AR in business, state, art and entertainment. 3D printing technology on a commercial and industrial scale. CRISPR-CAS9 technology. Blockchain and its components. IoT and IIoT. SMART technologies. Quantum computing and its effect on digital production. Traditional incumbents’ digital transformation (e.g., meatless meat, CRISPR-CAS9 in bioengineering, etc.). New players (apps, digital content).
• Digital business
  Digital marketing and SMM. Pricing in the transparent markets. CDO & CDTO roles in digital transformation. Digitally native companies’ management. Talent management & new work agreements: company’s view. Employee life cycle and talent management basics. Open talent management platforms. Freelance vs gig (on-demand) employment vs development within the corporate world. The diversity of the workforce. The share of entrepreneurs vs wage workers in the world and in Russia. SMEs and entrepreneurship transformation. Digitalization & international economic relationships. Models of advertising and informing about products and services. Gamification in products. UI / UX / CX basics for retaining a client in an application / product. Seamless products and services. Effects of digital transformation on business models. Branding and customer loyalty. Stages of the product life cycle. Platforms in different industries. Network effects in platform economy. Advanced strategic analysis methods: scenario planning, analysis and innovation management.
• Digital infrastructure
  Necessary infrastructure for the digital economy. Necessary infrastructure of the digital transformation in the company. Prerequisites for the digitalization of goods and services. Technoparks & special economic zones. Digital regulatory sandboxes. Key technologies: an in-depth dive. Data-driven cities (DDC) & smart cities. Data collected by the city life participants. Digital life areas. Smart mobility. Elements of a smart city vs a fully smart city. The role of NIMBYs. Smart home. Agglomerations and trends in the development of agglomerations in Russia and the world. Examples of elements of a smart city. Quantum computing + artificial intelligence + blockchain as the basis for a self-developing and self-adaptive city. Urbanization and city design trends. The effects of city transformation on monetization schemes and other elements of business models. Investing in urban infrastructure and developing smart cities. The role of FAR rights holders and the importance of PPPs.
• Digital government/governance
  Digital government: components. Open government. Benefits and risks of digital government. Self-regulation and autonomous governance. Influencers vs government agencies. Regulation of BigTech companies and other companies within the digital economy. Antitrust arguments against BigTech companies. Basic income and its effects on the economy and social aspects. Digitalized country’s management. Aggregate welfare in digital economy: the role of government/regulator. Digital economy as a national priority. Digital nationalism. Methods of dynamic strategic analysis: CYNEFIN approach, S-curve of innovation, scenario dynamics.
• Digital society. Future of digital economy: an overview
  Future of science & problems with increased datatification & literacy. Failure of traditional economics concepts. New approaches built on old & newer concepts (e.g., two-sided markets). Future of journalism: trends, challenges, barriers, etc). Digital art. Sustainable digital economy. Digitalization and environment. Ethical side of digitalization. Digitalization of legal systems. Attention economy and the “Trump phenomenon”. Social media platforms and their influence on business models. Existing views on the future of the digital economy and digitalization trends in the medium and long run.
• Practical session - Strategic planning: my role in the digital economy 2020+
  Introduction to the strategic planning session methodology. The approaches to building a framework. Conducting a strategic planning session involving students as experts on a selected topic. Introduction to scenario planning & foresighting. Summing up the results and building scenarios and action plans.
• Overview of key agents in the economy. Introduction to digital economy
  Key participants of the economy. Overview of digitalization trends. Micro and macro trends. The roles of individuals in the economy. The roles of businesses in the economy. The roles of the government in the economy. VUCA world. The concept of the digital economy. Digitalization vs digital transformation. Key players in the digital economy ecosystem and their role. Key components of the digital economy: financial markets and financial infrastructure, industrial transformation, digital technologies in the state, consumer technologies. How to read digital transformation. Key cases of digital economy development. Key effects of the digital economy development. Necessary elements for building a digital economy. Classification of countries by proximity to the digital economy. Digital economy and innovation. Cybercrime and cyber risks. Review of basic strategic analysis methods (e.g., SWOT, PESTLE, vision, mission, values, etc). Digital economy: current state. Current statistics on digital economy. Case Studies.

Assessment Elements

• Out-of-the-class group assignment
• Final exam
  Экзамен проводится в письменной форме с использованием асинхронного прокторинга. Экзамен проводится на платформе https://hse.student.examus.net). К экзамену необходимо подключиться за 10 минут до начала. Проверку настроек компьютера необходимо провести заранее, чтобы в случае возникших проблем у вас было время для обращения в службу техподдержки и устранения неполадок. Компьютер студента должен удовлетворять требованиям: 1. Стационарный компьютер или ноутбук (мобильные устройства не поддерживаются); 2. Операционная система Windows (версии 7, 8, 8.1, 10) или Mac OS X Yosemite 10.10 и выше; 3. Интернет-браузер Google Chrome последней на момент сдачи экзамена версии (для проверки и обновления версии браузера используйте ссылку chrome://help/); 4. Наличие исправной и включенной веб-камеры (включая встроенные в ноутбуки); 5. Наличие исправного и включенного микрофона (включая встроенные в ноутбуки); 6. Наличие постоянного интернет-соединения со скоростью передачи данных от пользователя не ниже 1 Мбит/сек; 7. Ваш компьютер должен успешно проходить проверку. Проверка доступна только после авторизации. Для доступа к экзамену требуется документ удостоверяющий личность. Его в развернутом виде необходимо будет сфотографировать на камеру после входа на платформу «Экзамус». Также вы должны медленно и плавно продемонстрировать на камеру рабочее место и помещение, в котором Вы пишете экзамен, а также чистые листы для написания экзамена (с двух сторон). Это необходимо для получения чёткого изображения. Во время экзамена запрещается пользоваться любыми материалами (в бумажном / электронном виде), использовать телефон или любые другие устройства (любые функции), открывать на экране посторонние вкладки. В случае выявления факта неприемлемого поведения на экзамене (например, списывание) результат экзамена будет аннулирован, а к студенту будут применены предусмотренные нормативными документами меры дисциплинарного характера вплоть до исключения из НИУ ВШЭ. Если возникают ситуации, когда студент внезапно отключается по любым причинам (камера отключилась, компьютер выключился и др.) или отходит от своего рабочего места на какое-то время, или студент показал неожиданно высокий результат, или будут обнаружены подозрительные действия во время экзамена, будет просмотрена видеозапись выполнения экзамена этим студентом и при необходимости студент будет приглашен на онлайн-собеседование с преподавателем. Об этом студент будет проинформирован заранее в индивидуальном порядке. Во время выполнения задания, не завершайте Интернет-соединения и не отключайте камеры и микрофона. Во время экзамена ведется аудио- и видео-запись. Процедура пересдачи проводится в соотвествии с нормативными документами НИУ ВШЭ.

Interim Assessment

• Interim assessment (4 module)
  0.65 * Final exam + 0.35 * Out-of-the-class group assignment

Bibliography

Recommended Core Bibliography

• Atkinson, R. D. (2015). Sharing in the Success of the Digital Economy : A Progressive Approach to Radical Innovation. Policy Network.
• Ben Letaifa, S. (2015). How to strategize smart cities: Revealing the SMART model. Journal of Business Research, 7, 1414.
• Beretta Zanoni, A. (2012). Strategic Analysis : Processes and Tools. Routledge.
• Cusumano, M. A. (2015). How Traditional Firms Must Compete in the Sharing Economy. Communications of the ACM, 58(1), 32–34. https://doi.org/10.1145/2688487
• Grant, R. M. (2016). Contemporary Strategy Analysis : Text and Cases: Vol. Text and Cases, Ninth edition. Wiley.
• Huws, U. (2014). Labor in the Global Digital Economy : The Cybertariat Comes of Age. Monthly Review Press.
• Juho Hamari, Mimmi Sjöklint, & Antti Ukkonen. (2016). The sharing economy: Why people participate in collaborative consumption. Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, 9, 2047. https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.23552
• Menzie D. Chinn, & Robert W. Fairlie. (2007). The determinants of the global digital divide: a cross-country analysis of computer and Internet penetration.
• Scholz, T. (2017). Uberworked and Underpaid : How Workers Are Disrupting the Digital Economy. Polity.
• Uuriintuya Batsaikhan. (2017). Cryptoeconomics – the opportunities and challenges of blockchain. Policy Briefs.
• Vito Albino, Umberto Berardi, & Rosa Maria Dangelico. (2015). Smart Cities: Definitions, Dimensions, Performance, and Initiatives. Journal of Urban Technology, 1, 3. https://doi.org/10.1080/10630732.2014.942092
• ZERVAS, G., PROSERPIO, D., & BYERS, J. W. (2017). The Rise of the Sharing Economy: Estimating the Impact of Airbnb on the Hotel Industry. Journal of Marketing Research (JMR), 54(5), 687–705. https://doi.org/10.1509/jmr.15.0204

Recommended Additional Bibliography

• Zhuplev, A. (2018). Disruptive Technologies for Business Development and Strategic Advantage. Hershey: Business Science Reference. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=1822101