IT and Innovation Report
Points: 100
Deadline: Nov 22, 2019, 11:59pm. D2L Assignment folder
SUBJECT: ELECTRIC CAR BY TESLA
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For our class, you will conduct a research project examining IT and IT-enabled innovation management issues surrounding a focal company. We will break this project into two reports. The first report will examine issues relevant to the first half of the class (first six topics), and is due halfway through the semester. The second report will examine issues relevant to the second half of the class (the remaining six topics).
First, you will need to choose a company for your research project. Since you will need access to data on the company’s business operation and performance, it is recommended that you choose a publicly traded company for your study, which will allow you to get access to the companies’ multiple reports, including annual reports, financial statements, Global Reporting Initiatives reports, etc. for your research.
I have the assignment sheets for both reports available on D2L. Please take a look at both assignment sheets to have an idea of what you will need to do for your research project. This will help you in identifying the focal company for your research. Please feel free to contact the professor if you have questions in choosing a company for your project.
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Report 1 requirements:
For the first report, you will identify an IT-enabled innovation that is relevant to the chosen company and write a report (around 2000 words, excluding reference list) to discuss innovation management the issues related to the company’s adoption of this innovation.
Scenario: You are a business consultant who needs to prepare a business report for your client regarding an emerging IT-enabled innovation and its implications for the client company and its competitive market. Pick an IT-enabled innovation that the company and/or its competitors in the industry could adopt (or be affected by the use of it). Prepare a business report that assesses the IT-enabled innovation, its implications on the company and/or its competitive market/industry, and opportunities and challenges for companies within the industry with regards to the adoption of the innovation.
Your report will be distributed among managers within the client company for information and discussion on the business decision to develop and/or adopt of the IT-enabled innovation. Thus the targeted audience of the report would be general business audience.
This report’s focus is on the business implications of the use/adoption of the IT-enabled innovation on an industry, not on describing the new technology, how it works, and where it is adopted, and not on a specific company. The bulk of the report should focus on analyzing business impacts of the IT-enabled innovation. Please make sure you use knowledge and concepts covered in our class for your analysis.
The report MUST include the following sections, each section will address the questions listed below:
1) Executive summary: (5 points)
· A paragraph or two summarizing key findings of the report
2) Company background: (5 points)
· What is the focal company’s main industry/competitive market?
· What is the company’s business model?
3) IT-enabled innovation overview: (30 points)
· Which IT-enabled innovation do you examine? Briefly describe how it works.
· Which technological evolution trends have enabled the IT-enabled innovation?
· What type of innovation is it? Product, process, business model?
· Is the innovation radical or incremental or disruptive or sustaining? Compared to what innovation?
· What is the innovation’s current position within its life cycle? Or hype cycle?
4) Business impacts of adopting the IT-enabled Innovation: (30 points)
· How does the innovation’s adoption affect the nature of business operation and competition of the competitive market or industry of the focal company? E.g. Does it disrupt the industry’s current business model? How does it affect transaction costs within the industry? How does this change the relationship between adopting companies and business partners? etc.
· How does its adoption affect companies of different sizes in the industry? IIs the effect How will it affect adopters’ cost structure, competitive advantage?
· What business challenges and opportunities lie ahead for businesses within the industry with regards to the adoption (or non-adoption) of the innovation? E.g. competitive advantage or disadvantage of adopting or not adopting the innovation, challenges in changing business structure and processes adapt to the adoption of the innovation, etc.
5) Recommended actions: (20 points)
· Your recommendation for the company on business strategy related to this particular IT-enabled innovation from innovation management perspective: e.g. entry timing (time of adoption), changes in business structure and processes, changes in business model and/or product portfolio, etc.
Report format: (10 points)
Your report is expected to be professionally formatted with an appropriate report title, an Executive Summary, appropriate titles for sections of the report, and a reference list of sources cited in the report (any reference format style is acceptable as long as it is consistently applied across the report).
You could check out the link below for an example:
http://www.bain.com/Images/BAIN_REPORT_Labor_2030.pdf
Submission: The finished report must be posted to its corresponding D2L Assignment Folder for grading.
Originality Check: Once you have submitted the report to the D2L Assignment box. TunItIn will automatically run an originality check on your report and show a TurnItIn Similarity score for your report in the assignment box. This indicates how many percent of the report is copied verbatim from other sources. A TurnItIn Similarity score of >10% is not acceptable. If your report’s Similarity score is >10%, you could revise it and submit it again before deadline. The last submission to the assignment box will be graded. If your last submitted report has a Similarity score of 10 or higher, a penalty will be applied to your grade, depending on the extent of the situation.