APPLIES TO ACADEMIC YEAR 2013/2014

BST 1140 Business Development and Technology

Responsible for the course
Bo H Christensen, Petter Gottschalk

Department
Department of Leadership and Organizational Behaviour

Term
According to study plan

ECTS Credits
15

Language of instruction
Norwegian

Introduction
In combination with BTH 1141 Bachelor Thesis, Business Development and Technology (15 credits) this course will constitute a specialization of 30 credits. It will be stated on the diploma that it is a specialization. It applies to students on the Bachelor Programme in Economics and Business Administration and the Bachelor Programme in Marketing. The course may also be chosen by other students as an elective in their third year of study.

The specialization is intended to give the students in-depth, management-oriented knowledge and understanding of how enterprises may apply modern information and communication technology to strengthen their competitive position. Our perspective is that the right focus and good application of ICT may make enterprises more efficient and constitute an important factor in innovation processes, or form a central element in the products supplied and services provided by the enterprise. Furthermore, we emphasize that the smart use of information technology opens for a more efficient dialogue with the market, not least in connection with the application of e-marketing and WEB shops. The course is intended to provide the students with an understanding of the problems that are important in connection with the management of IT drives that support business utilization of information technology through the implementation of an IT strategy.

The students are to learn how digital business processes are developed, improved and utilized. The students are also to learn how digital business processes work together with knowledge processes in an organization and between organizations. The students are to learn how business strategy interacts with the strategic use of IT in an optimal way for digital enterprise development.

Learning outcome
Acquired knowledge
On completion of the course the students are to be able to:

• Understand what type of business systems are applied in medium-sized and large enterprises (Infrastructure). Among other things this includes knowledge of ERP systems (Enterprise Resource Planning) and CRM systems (Customer Relationship Management)
• Understand what qualities characterize a modern business system and what strategies the system suppliers apply to position themselves in an international market
• Understand how business systems are procured, implemented, applied and managed in order to obtain the best possible effect
• Create an insight into the theoretical basis behind concepts such as e-commerce, e-business and e-collaboration
• Create an insight into various digital business relations such as B2B (Business-to-Business) and B2C (Business-to-Consumer)
• Understand the content of the concept ”digital business operations” and obtain an insight into theories and models for the development and utilization of digital business models and processes.
• Understand the connection between supporting technology, processes and business development.
• Understand how digital enterprise development may be carried out in knowledge organizations with value configuration and value shops
• Understand how the IT resources may be managed within a strategic system, i.e. the development and implementation of IT strategies

• Be able to describe the way systems and process work together (process digitalization)
• Be able to analyse the consequences for the enterprise resulting from the introduction of digital business operations
• Be able to formulate requirements for functional solutions and how they should be implemented
• Be able to define levels of knowledge and categories of knowledge in digital enterprise development
• Have acquired skills in the practical use of a modern web-based business system

• Have a general perspective related to the consequences of digital business processes, including ethical considerations in connection with digital business processes and self-service
• Be curious to understand knowledge development in electronic business operations
• An interest in identifying opportunities for digital business operations in an organization
• A will to introduce digital business models
• An ability to acquaint themselves with the everyday digital life of enterprises

• Enterprise architecture, business architecture and IT architecture
• Business system categories such as CRM, ERP, e-commerce etc.
• System suppliers and their strategies
• From needs analysis to contract
• From contract to efficient application (business systems in use)
• Cloud Computing, the Internet – possibilities and limitations
• Mobile Computing

• Central concepts related to ”electronic business operations”
• Clarification of concepts as regards E-Commerce, E-Business, E-Collaboration
• Discussion of the concept Business-to-Business versus Business-to-Consumer
• WEB shops, architecture for efficient e-commerce
• PIM (Product Information Management)
• E-marketing and campaign management
• The use of social media in marketing and sales
• Business Intelligence (Analytical CRM)

• Value configurations & value chain integration
• Strategy implementation
• Knowledge management
• The position of information technology in business development and entrepreneurship
• Outsourcing

• Examples of enterprises