MBA ELECTIVE OUTLINE: DIGITISATION – STRATEGY AND OPERATIONALISATION

Presenters: Desan Pillay and Manoj Chiba

OVERVIEW
Max class size 50 students / In today’s technology age, the Internet is changing the face of how business is done – primarily because it allows companies to better connect and collaborate with their customers. Digital technologies offer companies a once-in-a-generation opportunity to both reduce costs and foster new streams of profitable revenue growth.
At the same time though, this digital revolution also poses a threat to the competitive advantage that large players have long enjoyed. The threat to traditional companies is that these companies are better able to communicate, engage and respond to their consumers through online channels.
A four day “workshop” styled programme covering the broad field of Digitisation.
This course is designed for executives and senior managers’ who are involved in high level, complex strategies across the concept of digital channels.It requires a framework to help them plan and manage these situations more effectively. It is therefore appropriate for individuals who are involved with multiple stakeholders that involve multiple issues and high consequence of error. This is not a technology course, rather a programme that involves the strategic reasons to go digital, tactical ways to enhance change and execution of such strategies in all companies.
AIMS & OBJECTIVES / By the end of the course, students should:
  • Have a working definition of what Digitisation is in South Africa, Africa and globally
  • Have an in-depth understanding of the process involved in developing a financial and non-financial business case
  • Integrating the impact on corporates and clients across:
  • Mobile-growth
  • Apps
  • Social media
  • Website development and effectiveness
  • Content management strategy (SEO, Analytics and SEM)
  • Being able to execute end-to-end from digital strategies to implementation and measuring results and client-retention
  • Be able to integrate techniques and skills acquired during the course and demonstrate competency in real life business scenarios
  • Develop a business case for digitization
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FORMAT / The elective is run on a “workshop” basis with most of one’s time spent preparing and discussing global case studies with a selected team, completing your own business plan to create/enhance digitization in their current workplace, and then receiving feedback from neutral observers who utilizes their experience to give structured feedback.
SESSION 1
Lecture
Case Study: Discussion on the impact on your business
Guest speaker
SESSION 2
Preparation
Tactics
Business Simulation – introduction
SESSION 3
Lecture
Case Study: Discussion on the impact on your business
HOW TO DEVELOP THE BUSINESS CASE FOR YOUR COMPANY
Guest speaker
SESSION 4
Simulations and presentations to a panel
METHODS OF
ASSESSMENT /

An individual assignment (60%) and group presentation (40%) will account for 100% of the student mark

RESUMES

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Desan Pillay

- Bachelor Business Science - Honours (Finance, Econometrics and
Strategy)
- Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA Institute): Level 3 candidate
-MBA – GIBS
-Consulted both locally, EMEA and South America
-11 years business and consulting in the field of strategy, execution and organizational transformation - having deployed Digitisation in many companies’ globally
-MBA supervisor, external examiner and alumni to GIBS

Manoj Chiba

-MBA (GIBS) MSc (WITS), PhD (awaiting- WITS), DBA candidate (GIBS)
-11 years of senior management experience, including CEO of a fortune 1000 company.
-Consulting globally to numerous multinational corporations on strategy development, understanding new markets and data analytics.
-Serves on four international Board of Directors
-Lectures Analytical Tools and Techniques, supervisors MBA Research, external examiner and alumni (GIBS); and social entrepreneurship at the African Leadership Academy
-Special focus on analytics, technology, strategy and leadership