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CMIT DBI - A digital battlefield: how do Internet giants compete?*

Faculty
Moshe Yonatany
Course Coordinator
Moshe Yonatany
Prerequisite/progression of the course
BSc in one of the following fields: Informatics, computer science, business, economics, etc
Course content, structure and teaching
The course portrays the Internet an exciting competitive arena for firms providing digital goods and services, such as Facebook and Google. Concepts, models, and economic principles that are useful in analyzing the digital battle field will be taught and applied on real-life cases. The special characteristics of the products and the industry will be integrated in order to understand the internationalization process of Internet-enabled firms, and the global competitive dynamics among them.
The course includes the following topics: Introduction; the principles of information economics: demand and supply side economies of scale, pricing, versioning and bundling information goods; Historical perspective on the evolution of the online advertising industry; internationalization: fundamental frameworks, models and concepts; internationalization: digital vs. physical, transaction cost economics and resource based view considerations; localization processes : geography, language and crowd sourcing; competitive dynamics in the international digital arena; summary of the course; guidance for the exam
The course combines teaching and class discussions. In addition, students will apply the above topics trough group presentations based on contemporary case studies.
The course's development of personal competences
Students will learn professional terminology, concepts, models, theories, real-life examples and cases, key issues and key solutions relevant for the global Internet-enabled competitiveness of firms.
Learning Objectives
After a successful completion of the course participants will be able to:
  • Independently identify, select and combine key theoretical concepts thought in the course, and apply them on real business cases
  • Critically evaluate and compare the internationalization process of Internet-enabled firms with that of industrial manufacturers (physical products)
  • Explain in depth, asses and analyze business implications derived from the economic characteristics of digital information goods, focus on implications for business strategy
  • Identify and analyze prominent business models of Internet-enabled firms, focus on the online advertising industry
  • Analyze and critically evaluate the competitive dynamics in the global digital arena; develop and present suggested course of action based on such analysis
Type of examination, exam aids and assessment
Oral exam on the basis of a synopsis

Last updated by The Electives Office 11/03/2010