DIGITAL DISRUPTION: DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION STRATEGIES
OBJECTIVE
Disruption is a force that is changing the corporate landscape like no other. Today’s organisations are not just being driven to transform to meet the demands of digital. With the recent wave of disruption that has left many in its wake, firms now frequently find themselves competing with players outside their own industry.
This unprecedented disruption is happening fast, as many well-known incumbents will attest. Succeeding in this volatile environment requires not only a thorough understanding of what disruption is and how to deal with it. Even more importantly, you must know how to disrupt others.
This new online programme from Cambridge Judge Business School Executive Education provides research-based insights on disruptive innovations and what it takes to build and manage successful business models in this complex era.
WHO IS THIS PROGRAMME FOR?
- This online programme is designed for executives who take part in building strategies in their organisations.
- Participants will engage, via video lectures, with Cambridge Judge’s world-class faculty. They will share their cutting-edge research and give executives the opportunity to reflect on what disruption means in their industry.
- They will also offer unique frameworks and tools proven to help executives define sound strategies to compete and thrive in this fast-changing landscape.
- These new frameworks reflect the realities of modern strategy, introducing concepts that were unknown a decade ago, then challenging executives to use them on case studies that will have relevance to their own circumstances.
EMERITUS and Cambridge Judge Business School
Founded in 1990, Cambridge Judge Business School is part of the Faculty of Business and Management at the University of Cambridge. The reputation of Cambridge Judge Business School has grown rapidly, and today it is internationally celebrated as a provider of stimulating management education, with a particular emphasis on entrepreneurship and innovation management.
Cambridge Judge Business School Executive Education offers a wide range of open enrollment and customised programs designed for organisations, business professionals, managers, leaders, and executives from many different functions. These programs are developed to help executives and organisations from both the private and the public sectors achieve operational excellence and results.
Duration and Course Fee
- Starts TBD
- 2 Months
- 4-6 hours per week
- Course Fees USD 1,800
Faculty

Professor of Strategy & Innovation Director of the MPhil in Innovation, Strategy & Organisation Programme Professorial Fellow of St Edmund’s College


Reader in Strategy & Policy

SYLLABUS
- What is disruption, and how do we recognise it?
- Types of disruption
- Strategy in times of disruption
- Products to platforms
- Disruptive business models
- Dominant designs
- Why incumbents can’t adapt
- The challenge of scaling down
- Dealing with disruption & irrelavance of the concept of industry
- 5 major shifts leading to new ecosystems
- Common disruption strategies
- Successful vs. unsuccessful platforms
- Two-sided markets and network effects
- What do platform providers do?
- Platform pricing
- Winner-take-all dynamics
- Platform envelopment
- Defining platforms
- Platform dilemmas—and strategies for navigating them
- Comparison of conventional vs. platform strategy
- What strategists get wrong about platforms
- What is an ecosystem?
- Ecosystems in healthcare
- Disruption: incumbent perspective
- Disruption: new entrant perspective
- Value of ecosystems
- Mapping business ecosystems
- Why innovate?
- Innovation examples
- Relationship with performance
- Levers of business model innovation: technology
- Levers of business model innovation: management
- Levers of business model innovation: organisational forms
- Levers of business model innovation: co-creation
- Transformation trajectories
- Rethinking news and journalism
- Defining a business model
- Ideal type 1: product business model
- Ideal type 2: solution business model
- Ideal type 3: matchmaking business model
- Ideal type 4: multi-sided business model
- Business model thinking: who, what, and how
- Do’s and dont’s of business models
PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS
Dealing with Disruption
Define and recognise disruption in its various forms and learn common disruption strategies.
Platform Strategies
Understand the challenges associated with platforms and learn to develop strategies to deal with them.
Business Models
Identify what a business model is, and be able to design a business model to create value.
Challenges Adapting
Learn to distinguish successful platforms from unsuccessful ones, and why some incumbents are unable to adapt to disruption.
Ecosystem Evolution
Examine the importance of ecosystems from the perspective of both a new entrant and an incumbent, and be able to more accurately predict how new ecosystems are likely to evolve.
CASE STUDIES
Dell
Learn how the technology corporation disrupted the PC industry and its incumbents by cutting out the middlemen (distributors, resellers and wholesalers), going directly to the end user.
Netflix
Discover how this powerhouse entrant took on incumbent Blockbuster to become one of the most compelling examples of disruption to date.
Ryanair
Learn how Ryanair’s deliberate strategy and no-frills business model upended the budget airline industry, increased the size of the market and positioned the company for success.
Kodak
From starting as an industry disruptor with a consumer camera to being disrupted by the shift to digital imaging, explore the colorful history of one of the world’s most profitable and recognisable brands—and what ultimately led to its demise.
TiVo
Study the challenges TiVo faced as a new entrant trying to break into an ecosystem, from the dilemma brought about by their incredible innovation to the mistakes they made and the strategies they used in an attempt to remedy them.
eHarmony
Find out how the online matchmaking platform found success in a challenging market: forging its own path by carefully considering the rules of access and interaction, making the right tradeoffs, and effectively governing its platform.
ASSIGNMENTS
Streaming Services
With Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Disney all competing, who will win? Who will lose?
Design a New Business Model
Design a model as an incumbent and new entrant
Connected Car Exercise
Assume the role of a company such as BMW, Tesla, Alphabet, Intel, Aston-Martin, etc. Which company will dominate?
Netflix vs. Disney
What makes a platform successful?
Duration and Course Fee
- Starts TBD
- 2 Months
- 4-6 hours per week
- Course Fees USD 1,800
Faculty
Dr Nektarios (Aris) Oraiopoulos
University Lecturer in Operations Management, Director of the MPhil in Strategy, Marketing & Operations Programme
Dr David Stillwell
University Lecturer in Big Data Analytics & Quantitative Social Science Deputy Director of the Psychometrics Centre
Duration and Course Fee
- Starts TBD
- 2 Months
- 4-6 hours per week
- Course Fees USD 1,800
Faculty

Professor of Strategy & Innovation Director of the MPhil in Innovation, Strategy & Organisation Programme Professorial Fellow of St Edmund’s College


Reader in Strategy & Policy

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