Overview:

Digital technologies are reshaping operations, improving efficiency, quality, speed, and enabling new business models. The ability to integrate digital technologies into operational strategy is increasingly critical. Focusing on the operational enablers and implications of digital transformation, this course examines how companies integrate and scale digital technologies in their core operations.

This course examines how firms can leverage digital tools to improve workflows, enhance decision-making, redesign processes, and fundamentally restructure value chains. The course will expose students to how traditional firms are using digital technologies to transform their operations, and how digital-first firms are innovating in digitally-enabled operations.

Career Focus:

Designed for students aspiring to leadership roles at the intersection of technology and operations, the course is relevant for careers in operations, consulting, product management, entrepreneurship, and venture capital.

Students will analyze how firms digitize services and supply chains, streamline processes, and implement new business models. They will gain insights into advising firms on digital transformation, managing tech-driven operations, and investing in emerging business models.

Educational Objectives:

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

• Examine how digital technologies allow firms to improve efficiency, quality, and speed, and foster innovation. Students will recognize the importance of process design and adaptation in leveraging digital transformation.
• Analyze the role of digital integration in operations and how firms leverage digital technologies to synchronize workflows, systems, and data across internal and external partners.
• Assess how automation, AI, and data analytics transform operations by enabling predictive decision-making, intelligent automation, and scalable digital workflows.
• Understand the interplay between digital and physical operations, the different constraints and bottlenecks each present, and how to combine bits and atoms effectively for scaling.
• Understand how digital integration leads to the unbundling and rebundling of operations and its implications for restructuring traditional value chains.
• Identify opportunities and challenges in digitizing operations and recognize the importance of operational enablers such as real-time data accuracy, process redesign, and system interoperability, which are essential for unlocking the full potential of digital transformation.

Course Content and Organization:

This course will primarily use case discussions, with some sessions featuring guest speakers and hands-on exercises to deepen learning.

The cases will cover recent examples of traditional firms digitizing their operations and digital native companies in different geographic markets, and will feature examples from a variety of industries, including manufacturing, logistics, supply chain, financial services, hospitality, and technology.

The course will tentatively be structured into three modules:

Module 1: Foundations of Digital Operations

This module introduces fundamental concepts of digital transformation across industries, focusing on automation, AI, APIs, and data-driven workflows. Students will explore how digital technologies reshape operations, enable real-time decision-making, and drive efficiency. They will recognize the importance of operational enablers and process redesign in effectively integrating technology.

Module 2: Digital Integration and the Unbundling of Operations

Digital integration enables unbundling and rebundling of operations, redefining how firms create and capture value. This module examines the rise of specialized service providers and orchestrators—firms that coordinate multi-party ecosystems through digital platforms. Students will analyze how companies adapt their processes to new industry structures, shifting competitive dynamics, and changing operational roles.

Module 3: Scaling Digitally-Enabled Operations

This module focuses on the opportunities and challenges associated with scaling digitally enabled operations. The module concludes with final project presentations, where students will analyze the digital transformation of operations in a company or industry.

Grading / Course Administration:

Grading will be based on class participation (50%), several short assignments (15%), and a final group (or individual) project in which students will explore the digital transformation of operations in a company or industry (35%).