https://www.coursera.org/course/sdt
Workload: 2-4 hours/week
FREE, offered by University of Maryland through Coursera.
The purpose of this course is to help individuals and organizations
survive when confronted with disruptive technologies that threaten their
current way of life. We will look at a
general model of survival and use it to analyze companies and industries that
have failed or are close to failing. Examples
of companies that have not survived include Kodak, a firm over 100 years old,
Blockbuster and Borders. It is likely
that each of us has done business with all of these firms, and today Kodak and
Blockbuster are in bankruptcy and Borders has been liquidated. Disruptions are impacting industries like
education; Coursera and others offering these massive open online courses are a
challenge for Universities. In addition
to firms that have failed, we will look at some that have survived and are
doing well. What are their strategies
for survival?
By highlighting the reasons for the decline of firms and
industries, participants can begin to understand how to keep the same thing
from happening to them. Through the
study of successful organizations, we will try to tease out approaches to
disruptions that actually work. Our
ultimate objective is to develop a strategy for survival in a world confronting
one disruptive technology after another.
