Digital Transformation in Business

Business Project Idea – Developing a Business Study

For this assessment, write a 3–page preliminary project topic proposal that is grounded in a business problem related to strategic digital transformation. You must use one of the topic scenarios you selected for the previous assessment.

Introduction

By now, you should be developing an understanding that digital transformation can create challenges and opportunities for business. The digital ecosystem is large and complex, and often it can be difficult to conceptualize the nature of a business problem. For this assessment, you will write a preliminary project topic proposal grounded in a business problem related to leading digital transformation. You must use the topic scenario you selected for Assessment 2: Harvard Business Review – Article Proposal. Think of this as an opportunity to hone skills that you can take back to your professional lives for when you need to create proposals either as part of your work, or to drive improvements in an organization you belong to.

Note: Assessments in this course are designed to be completed in the order they are presented in the course room. Please make sure you are completing them in order.

Overview

The editor of the Harvard Business Review (HBR) is interested in you publishing a business- thought leader article. However, HBR would like what you write to be based on original research

related to a current business problem. For this assessment, develop a proposal for a business study based on the strategic digital transformation topic you chose in the previous assessment.

Instructions

Write a 3–page business proposal using the required six headings below where you address the following:

1.1 Introduction

Include interesting facts, statistics, or statements, which are relevant to your topic and project, that catch the attention of your reader. Cite the scholarly, peer-reviewed, empirical, or practitioner sources of your information. Ensure a thesis sentence exists in which you clearly identify the topic and the specific focus of your project. Make a strong case for your project topic and focus. (1 Paragraph).

1.2 Problem of Practice

• State a general problem, where you state, “The general problem is…” Describe the general problem in a few sentences using citations and support. (1 Paragraph).
• State a specific problem, where you state, “The specific problem is…” Describe the general problem in a few sentences using citations and support. (1 Paragraph).
Be sure to consider how the problem is manifesting. What adversity is being experienced? The specific problem is NOT the gap in practice. What is happening because of the gap in practice is the specific problem. Gaps exist when practitioners are not doing everything they could, are not doing things correctly, could improve what they are doing, do not know something, don’t know

how to do something, don’t have methods or strategies, or are not doing something in their practice. (1 Paragraph).

1.3 Gap in Practice

State and discuss the gap in practice, where you state “The gap in practice is…” or “…is the gap in practice.

Describe the difference between the current state of the problem and the desired state as the “gap in practice” as it relates to the problem. Cite scholarly, peer-reviewed, empirical, or practitioner sources which state this gap as part of the problem. Be explicit in your statements to clearly denote what the gap in practice is and include your gap analysis. (1–2 Paragraphs).

1.4 Purpose of the Project and Project Questions

Write a purpose statement for your proposed study, based on the specific business problem you identified and the gap in practice you seek to address. This section will include two parts:

1. The purpose of the project: This is a declarative statement on what you plan to do to study this problem. The purpose statement must include the potential project technique as outlined in the course materials.
2. Project questions aligned with the purpose statement: Develop two potential project questions, which are influenced by your specific problem and the identified gap in practice you seek to address. Whereas the purpose is a declaratory statement of intent, project questions are formulated as interrogative statements that express the knowledge you are seeking to obtain through conducting your project. The

project questions must be open-ended questions that are formatted to align with a project technique as outlined in the course materials.

1.5 Preliminary Terms and Definitions

Define three important terms to allow your reader to understand the specific use of those terms that may be used in your project proposal. Each definition must have a citation.

1.6 Project Justification

Describe the reason for the project, its need, and evidence to support the need for the project. Describe the rationale and justification for conducting this project. (2–3 Paragraphs).

Address these key elements as you justify the need for your project:

• Describe who in the practitioner or scholarly literature says this project within your topic is needed.
• Describe why your project questions need answering.

• Describe why your project is significant and important.

• Describe which business practitioners your project outcome will be significant and important to, and why.

Author Note: Reflection on Alignment

Reflect on the alignment for the main elements of your proposal, meaning that each key sentence in the foundation sections (problem, gap in practice, purpose, project questions) are focused on the same issue and are consistent and congruent. (1 Paragraph).

Develop a figure (illustration) in APA format that shows how each of the following elements is aligned, and where the key aligned words and concepts are highlighted:

• General Problem.

• Specific Problem.

• Gap in Practice.

• Purpose.

• Project Questions.

Submission Guidelines

As you complete your assessment, be sure your submission meets the following guidelines:

• Written Communication: Written communication is grammatically correct and free of errors that detract from the overall message.
• APA Formatting: All resources and citations should be formatted according to current APA style and formatting guidelines.
• Length: The assessment should be 3 pages; the format should have double-spaced pages.
• Font and font size: APA style font, 12-point.

• Organization: Proposal must use the required headings. Use the section headings provided in the assessment instructions (1.1 Introduction, 1.2. Problem of Practice, et cetera) as headings in your assessment to help structure your submission.

• Scholarship: Use at least eight professionally reputable sources to support your main points and analysis; five sources must be added from your previous submission support Part 1 and be included in the Literature Matrix. Course readings may be included among the five required sources.
• Before you submit: Before submitting your assessment, you are required to check that your in-text citations match the reference list at the end of your assessment.
• Track Changes: For this assessment, you are required to follow the Track Changes requirements for any resubmissions. You will find the requirements on the DBA Submissions Requirements page.
• File Name: For this assessment, you are required to follow the Standard Naming Convention requirements for any files you upload. You will find the requirements on the DBA Submissions Requirements page.
Track Changes

For this assessment, you are required to follow the Track Changes requirements. You will find the requirements on the DBA Submission Requirements page. Track changes are also required
for each re-submission of an assessment based on the previous review.

Competencies Measured

By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the following course competencies and scoring guide criteria:

• Competency 1: Write abbreviated project proposals to conceptualize ideas, which are valid and meaningful to strategy and innovation professionals.

o Write an introduction that clearly states the topic and focus of the project, includes a thesis statement, and is supported by relevant cited evidence.
o Define three terms to improve reader understanding of the specific use of terms in a project proposal.
o Articulate meaning relevant to the main topic, scope, and purpose of the prompt.
o Apply APA style and formatting to scholarly writing.

• Competency 2: Evaluate the integration of scientific information and scholarly frameworks into the standards and processes for publications and conferences relevant to project interests in the field of strategy and innovation.
o Update a Literature Matrix which documents and justifies the scholarly and professional resources used to support the project proposal.
• Competency 5: Synthesize trends in the field of strategy and innovation to envision scenarios encompassing emerging problems and gaps in practice.
o State a general and specific problem which address the problem, who is experiencing the problem, where the problem exists, and the adversity being experienced. Cite evidence to support the problem.

o Describe a gap in practice which addresses the current state and desired state of the problem and includes a gap analysis and cited evidence as support.
• Competency 6: Evaluate the alignment of the purpose of project problems with the agendas of societies, foundations, research organizations, grant providing entities, or associations within the field of strategy and innovation.
o Write a purpose statement that includes what the project plans to do to study the problem, the potential project technique, and is aligned to the topic, specific problem, and gap in practice.
o Create two project questions which align to the purpose statement, topic, problem, and gap in practice.
o Describe the need for the project and the rationale for conducting it within the context of the problem, purpose, and gap in practice. Cite evidence to support the need and rationale.
o Reflect on the alignment of the main elements of the proposal and provide a figure to illustrate the alignment between elements.
Use the resources linked below to help complete this assessment.

Impact of People and Processes in Driving Digital Change & Project Technique Resources for Studying Business Problems

Impact of People and Processes in Driving Digital Change

Business success depends heavily on people and processes when it comes to implementing new digital tools that can foster innovation in the workplace. Review the following from the Digital Marketing Institute (2017):
• Assessment 03: How To Drive the People Part of Digital Transformation.

The following reading list is provided to increase your knowledge and understanding of the topics for this assessment and the next:
• Assessment 03: Impact of People and Processes in Driving Digital Change.

Project Technique Resources for Studying Business Problems

In this course, you are briefly introduced to each of the project techniques (methods) that are used to study a business problem. Refer to the Doctor of Business Administration (DBA)
Acceptable Topics and Techniques [PDF] document to learn more about approved techniques to

conduct a DBA Capstone Project. The following reading list will be helpful in our understanding of each technique:
• Assessment 03: Project Technique Resources for Studying Business Problems.

Big Data

Overcoming cognitive limits in processing and storing information, along with improved data management for managing giant data warehouses and Big Data, have contributed to facilitating decision support and analytics. The Google search engine is an example of Big Data, in that it has to search and index billions of web pages in fractions of a second for each search.
Whether or not you work in strategy and innovation, you should understand the role of analytics in supporting strategic decisions. Analytics is the process of developing actionable decisions or recommendations for actions based upon insights generated from data. There are three types of analytics: descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive. In the readings for this assessment, the goal is to see how analytics uses data to create models of how people, equipment, or other variables operate in the real world.