Digital Economy Syllabus - BCIS (PU)

Course Objectives:

The course aims to impart students with the knowledge on basic fundamentals of an economy based on digital technologies .

Course Description

This course is designed to help students build cognitive foundation for fully understanding the linkages among digital technologies, economy and society at large in the context of emerging knowledge economy and knowledge societies.  At the completion of the course, the students will be able to articulate overarching fundamentals of digital economy and would have developed sufficient conceptual grounding for further studying and analyzing key elements of digital economy. The course delivery method would entail class room lectures based on both primary and secondary sources of information and knowledge backed by deliberations on case studies and real world examples. Pedagogical method to be employed would encourage classroom discussions and references to materials from varied sources. 

Course Outcome

Students completing the course will have sufficient theoretical and conceptual grounding on fundamentals that define emerging knowledge and digital economy for them to be able either to effectively pursue advanced studies in emerging paradigm or enter job market that is more and more geared towards ensuring multi-disciplinary orientation on prospective employees. The course is designed to equip students with knowledge on ways and means of creating organizational value and leveraging ICTs and knowledge resources as tools for securing competitive advantages in organizations.

Course Contents:

Unit 1: Fundamentals of knowledge dimensions of economy                   3 hours

Role of information and knowledge in society and economy,  value of Information, Information and knowledge as  factors of production, knowledge and value creation, Concept of knowledge management, Contemporary practices in information and knowledge management in creating organizational value

Unit 2: Development of knowledge based societies                                    5 hours

Conceptual premise: ICTs and development, Delivery of public information and services through digital means - e-government, e-Business; Policy issues and national policy and regulatory framework, ,  Infrastructural issues and challenges, The need for Intellectual and cultural shift; Emerging technological trends and their policy ramifications,  Media/Digital convergence, Broadband and IP-enabled services, basic concept of telecom regulation and Radio-spectrum management

Unit 3 : Fundamentals of e-Readiness and its assessment techniques             2 hours

Unit 4: Role of Information and communications technologies in economic Development 4 hours

Economic and Social dimensions of ICTs: ICTs and economic growth interlink ages, ICTs and Development interlink ages, IT enabled business and service delivery models, BPO/BPM/IT-ITeS landscape and fundamentals, Positioning Nepal in global sourcing landscape

Unit 5 : ICTs and Enterprise Level Value creation                                          4 hours

ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning), CRM (Customer Relationship Management)

Unit 6: Fundamentals of knowledge economy                                                   7 hours

Internet economy, E-business – Conceptual premise and topologies,  Leveraging ICTs to build brand awareness and expanding product and services visibility; Components of fully integrated e-business models involving Enterprise, Manufacturing, Distribution, Financials, Human Resources, Suppliers, concepts of value proposition, value chain and integrated value chain with examples,  ICTs and  Supply chain management, Electronic sourcing and procurement,  Integrated forecasting, Quality System Management;  Electronic Commerce: Customer Service, Interactive marketing, Demand forecasting, Order Management,  Developing e-business models,

Unit 7: E-commerce                                                                                              2 hours

Topology of e-commerce - B2C, B2B and B2G, Prospects, Issues and challenges, Payment mechanisms, Order fulfillment,  Payment gateways, Nepal e-Commerce landscape, issues and challenges

Unit 8 : Issues on developing e-commerce based business models                  4 hours

Analyzing value proposition, Techno graphic profiling, case studies in e-Commerce/e-Business, Impact of ICTs based implementations on traditional business models on some verticals: travel, entertainment and hospitality industries

Unit 9: Financing                                                                                                  3 hours

Elements of knowledge industry growth ecosystem, Concept of Venture capital (VC), Angels

Unit 10 : Information economy: requisite infrastructure                                3 hours                            

Regulatory regime, Trust - governance and accountability, Operational issues,

Unit 11: Emerging/evolving  technology landscape and their implications on digital economy           5 hours

Concepts of business/competitive intelligence and business analytics, social media, mobile and cloud computing, Data mining and Big Data Analytics, Cyber security and Public Key Infrastructure (PKI)

Unit 12:Information economy landscape:  Nepal                                                  3 hours

IT policy and strategy, Application of ICTs in public and private sector, Level of e-business related activities, prevailing Regulatory instruments, Opportunities/Constraints/ limitations

Unit 13: Internet Access and Infrastructure related issues                      3 hours

Telecom policy, Telecom infrastructure, ISP's, Issues impinging upon ICT penetration and uptake in the country

Text Books:

1. Don Tapscott: The Digital Economy, McGraw Hill Professional Book Group, 1996, Copyright 1996 by the McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
2. Don Tapscott, Alex Lowy, David Ticoll: Blueprint to the Digital Economy, McGraw Hill Professional Book Group, 1998 Copyright 1998 Alliance for Converging Technologies Corporation.

1. Rene Tissen, Daniel Andriessen, Frank Lekanne Deprez: The Knowledge Dividend, Financial Times/Prentice Hall, 2000, Copyright Pearson Education Limited 2000.
2. Paul Timmers: Electronic Commerce, John wily & Sons, Ltd, 1999, Copyright 1999 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Reference:

1. Charles Trepper: E-Commerce Strategies, Microsoft Press 2000, Copyright 2000 by Microsoft Corporation
2. IT Policy 2000, National Planning Commission, His Majesty's Government of Nepal
3. Electronic Transaction Ordiance, 2061, his Majesty's Government of Nepal.