Scott-Henderson-Financial-Times_opt (1)Illustrating perfectly the teaching philosophy of our program that integrates theory and practice, Scott Henderson and professor Alain Pinsonneault teamed up for a session on how to compete in the digital economy.

Bringing a unique perspective on how digitalization changes the nature of industries and competition, Scott Henderson discussed how the Financial Times successfully changed its business model and took advantage of opportunities offered by digitalization. Henderson stressed the importance of redefining how value is created. For Henderson, the ability of newspapers to sell ads to cross-subsidize their operations will continue to diminish. He suggests that newspapers and magazines need to think about selling content. This new revenue model requires profound changes in the business processes, culture, and in the way organizations interact with their clients. The story of the Financial Times does not stop there. In fact, Henderson stressed that in order to be successful in the digital economy, firms need to go one step further. They must use the huge amount of data now available to better understand and segment their clients. Data analytics were key in delivering value at the Financial Times.

On the role of IT in organizations, Henderson said that technology specialists and leaders now sit at the forefront of businesses and need to help drive organizations.

Alain Pinsonneault then contrasted the successful case of the Financial Times to Kodak, for which digitalization was in large part responsible for its bankruptcy. He presented a framework that combined key elements of the digitalization of business processes and digitalization of products/services. The framework allowed EMBA participants to clearly contrast success and failure in the digital economy. The framework allowed managers to better understand what digital threats and opportunities their companies are facing. He then presented key concepts necessary to compete in the digital economy.

EMBA participants gained an excellent appreciation of the factors that lead to success and failure in the digital economy, what opportunities and threats their own organizations face, and how to successfully lead their organizations forward.