Athens Tech College

Fundamentals of Business and ICT

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) is a broad term used to describe the technologies used in managing and processing information. Utilisation of such technologies can increase productivity and promote innovation. This bridging module provides a broad introduction to issues relating to information and communication technologies that are being deployed in modern organisations. It includes underlying principles, concepts, technologies and architectures that enable computer systems to store, process, retrieve, transmit, and protect information. Apart from knowledge on ICT, individuals working in organizations in the twenty-first century have a greater need than ever for effective management skills. Fierce global competition is expected to continue its acceleration and it is these skills that will help to differentiate organizations. Gaining a competitive advantage will be more critical to survival and success. The bridging unit also presents the dynamics of the workplace and key principles underlying the everyday functioning of organizations covering the areas of management, marketing, and organizational behaviour.

Innovation and Entrepreneurship

In many industries technological innovation is now the most important driver of competitive advantage. Management research confirms that innovative firms – those that are able to use innovation to improve their processes or to differentiate their products and services. This unit addresses the complex interactions in the commercialization of technological innovations and provides a strategic perspective on the management of innovation and entrepreneurship. The unit begins with an introduction to entrepreneurship and innovation, provides an overview of the entrepreneurial process, and introduces the importance of industry dynamics of technological innovations for a firm’s competitive success and the achievement of society in general. Finally, the unit introduces the theory of disruptive innovation and how to identify the disruptive innovations, the concept/identification of intelligent communities and cities as well as the concept of open innovation and its applications.

An integral part of the unit is the students’ project where group of students have the opportunity to apply the tools and concepts covered in the unit to develop their own innovative business idea /concept for an entrepreneurial venture (product or service) of their choice.

Strategic Management in Modern Business

The methods and principles of marketing new technology-based products and services are introduced with a focus on innovative strategies for bringing them to market. The issues of competitive strategy, pricing, customer service, international market differentiation, and new product launches are presented. The strategic role of marketing as an integrated part of the product development process and its role in the new business development and corporate strategic planning of the firm are discussed. Qualitative and quantitative market research techniques, including sampling and data collection procedures, demand forecasting, and product research and test marketing are presented.

Managing Knowledge Driven ICT Projects

This course explores the theory and practice of how to successfully manage ICT projects. The fundamental elements of project management are stressed, including project planning, organizing, team building, and effective control mechanisms. The key management aspects and proven techniques that differentiate project management from other types of management are fully discussed. These topics include effective project management styles, critical factors for project success, organizational support systems that enhance projects, project authority, and ethics in project execution. Cost, schedule and technical planning, and control methods such as PERT, CPM, variance analysis and risk analysis are stressed.

ICT for Strategic Management

This unit is based on the premise that Information Communication Technologies (ICT) are:

• to provide organizations with strategic competitive advantage by facilitating problem solving, increasing productivity and quality, increasing speed, improving customer service, enhancing communication and collaboration enabling business process restructuring, and
• to provide an appropriate environment for innovation.

In the last decade, the Web revolution and emerging computing environment is not only changing the way that we work, study, play, and conduct our lives, but it is doing so much more quickly than any other revolution (such as the Industrial Revolution), with impacts that are more far-reaching. The current unit addresses the basic principles of Management Information Systems (MIS) in light of these new developments in the emerging Digital Economy. The rate of innovation is constantly increasing and so are the capabilities of computers and information technologies. Managing information resources for innovations, new technologies, and communications networks is becoming a —or even the— critical success factor in the operations of many organizations, private and public, and will be essential to the survival of organizations in the future.

While recognizing the importance of technology, system development, and functional transaction processing systems, we emphasize the innovative uses of information technology throughout the enterprise. The rapidly increased use of the Web, the Internet, intranets, extranets, e-business, e-commerce, and mobile computing, changes the manner in which business is done in almost all organizations and in almost every aspect in it. The integration of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), and Knowledge Management with e-commerce is of great importance. The role of Social Network services in the modern enterprise and the critical role of IT in security management are becoming every day of vital importance. Finally, there is a resurgence of intelligent systems, both for facilitating homeland security as well as for increasing productivity and competitive advantage.

The importance of global competition, partnerships, and trading is rapidly increasing leading to the emerging global information systems. While technology creates this rapidly changing environment at the same time IT is the facilitator of agility and flexibility. Changing information systems or building new ones must be accomplished rapidly and efficiently.

Thus, we are looking at the digital and agile enterprise that must be supported by information systems. The emphasis of the unit is on strategic managerial decision making, cost-benefit justification, supply chain management, data warehousing and business intelligence, business process management, restructuring, ERPs and CRM as they relate to information technology and security issues. We emphasize enterprise-wide, inter-organizational, and global systems. We also present technologies that support this integration.

Global Virtual Enterprise

The revolution in business conduct in today’s digital networked world, demonstrates that telecommunications and Internet-based technologies and software systems have bypassed the point of being essential ingredients and facilitators of business activities; they are much more like a catalyst of fundamental changes in the strategic structure, operations and management of organizations. In a global business environment, telecommunication technologies and Internet-based systems enable businesses to overcome barriers of time, space, and distance and enable them to enhance the communication and collaboration not only among employees but also among business partners. Today’s managers, entrepreneurs, and knowledge professionals must have a comprehensive insight of the evolving telecommunications world that shapes business conduct and innovation and know how to use and manage a variety of telecommunication technologies and software systems to revitalize business processes, improve managerial decision making, reduce costs, improve productivity, enhance employee and customer relationships and satisfaction, and gain competitive advantage.

Research Skills and Dissertation Preparation

This unit intends to help students develop their research skills and prepare students for working on their MSc dissertation and it covers topics such as: formulating the research question, choosing an appropriate design, quantitative and qualitative approaches to research, designing interviews, using questionnaires, case studies and focus groups, designing a research proposal and guidelines with regard to writing an postgraduate dissertation. In addition, students will take part in SPSS labs and learn how to use a selection of descriptive and inferential statistics.

Dissertation

The Department appoints two modules from the following

Managing Strategic Change

The introduction of technology, increasing needs of society and the growth of global organisations trading in goods, knowledge and innovation has increased the need for, and frequency of, change. Change is critical because it is fundamental to the long-term survival and competitiveness of an organisation and it is complex because of the human resource and cultural barriers that must be overcome if the change process is to be successful. Although the majority of people are resistant to change, more and more are finding themselves affected by it and having to come to terms with the issues and benefits it brings. Effective change management cannot, therefore, be underestimated and its implementation needs considerable thought and commitment. Strategic change management can be viewed from two perspectives – from those implementing the change and from the recipients of change – and it is one of the most critical and complex processes that a manager must enhance, facilitate and implement. Therefore, this module deepens the student’s understanding of the concepts and processes which underpin strategic change in organisations as well as of the problems facing organisations in attempting to achieve strategic change. A special emphasis is given to the analysis of organizational changes caused by technology and innovation.

Innovation Management and New Product Development

This unit addresses the theory and the practice of developing and launching new products, emphasizing the process of planning. Fundamental concepts are analyzed and real life cases are discussed thoroughly in an attempt to link research findings with application. Students will be exposed to strategy, concept generation, concept testing, marketing and all other aspects of new products introduction. This unit provides the managerial approach to acquaint students with the steps and processes involved in product development. The steps and processes introduced apply to products and services as well as to consumer and industrial products.

Human Resource Management in the Digital Age

A business success hinges not only on the effectiveness of each project team and how well they work together, but also on the team leader’s ability to lead and manage the team and focus on people issues. This unit provides a unique opportunity to develop core competencies in such people skills as improving self-understanding, assessing the effectiveness of others, team building, leadership, motivation, and conflict resolution. It also examines recruitment, selection, organisation development and change management. It gives insights on how to assess and sustain effective team performance throughout a project lifecycle, as well as how to identify and resolve key resource issues aiming at reaching the optimal use of human resources to achieve organizational effectiveness.

Digital Marketing

The website is the most important aspect when building an online strategy. But it is only one component of a complex network of information about a business that projects its brand and expertise to those in search of a product or solution. To maximize the chances of being “found” when a prospective buyer is looking, the “digital marketers” need a broader view and coordinated approach to maximizing their web presence. This unit is designed to help students understand how to define the goals of a website, to create an online presence, to differentiate their business and to capture leads.

Knowledge Technologies for Innovation

In a rapidly changing world the path towards innovation demands efficient storage/retrieval and exploitation of a “new” business asset, knowledge that aims to increase the performance of classic enterprise systems and facilitate quality decision-making. The unit provides an introduction to knowledge technologies, with emphasis in methods, applications as well as commercial products. It offers an overview of knowledge and reasoning based systems together with a series of case studies to clearly demonstrate their applicability and potential for innovation. Smart agents, ontologies and the semantic web services, all important research areas with potentially a large amount of business applications are discussed. The unit presents important automated decision-making areas, i.e. machine learning and data mining, planning and scheduling, whose application can significantly increase the efficiency of existing processes in the enterprise. Finally, the unit concludes with a good number of applications that stand at the frontiers of innovative smart business management products.