INFOSYS 306 Digital Business and Innovation

Tutorial 1

Overview

1. Introduction

Generally, tutorials are designed to fulfil the following objectives:

a. Review/reinforce the content covered in the lectures and/or introduce the content to be covered in the following lectures.

b. The review and preparation are given as tasks to be completed in groups. By doing so, we aim to foster a team-based learning process and cultivate critical thinking and independent problem-solving skills, in addition to deepening your understanding of the domain knowledge.

c. Provide opportunities for the group to discuss and prepare for the group assignment.

2. Group formation

a. Members should now have a group to work with.

b. The formed group will be for TBL tasks and group assignments.

3. Participation

a. Participate as a group.

b. Each group (as a whole) must have presented their ideas/answers to discussion questions or raised thoughtful follow-up questions, which both added value to the progression of the class discussion, to receive one mark for the group. That is, there must be at least one member who has spoken up on behalf of their groups during one TBL session. Then, each member (who has contributed) will receive one mark.  

c. We encourage everyone to have a chance to speak their ideas in class. However, group members can participate/contribute in different ways. For example, members can initiate/share ideas between teams, speak/present ideas to the class, follow up/comment on others’ conversations during discussions, or make other forms of contributions.

d. Everyone should record their contributions for each tutorial using the provided form. The form. will be collected after each tutorial.

Task

Many companies have adopted a product-as-a-service business model. Instead of selling products, they take care of customers’ entire product experience, usage process, and outcomes. For example, Michelin's has introduced a “pay-per-mile” program for the use of its tires. Rolls-Royce, the manufacturer of jet engines, charges its customers for engine repair and service only by those hours the engine is in use. 

Discuss the following questions

(1) What digital technologies have made the product-as-a-service business model possible?

(2) How does the product-as-service business model benefit the focal company such as Michelin’s?

(3) How does the product-as-service business model benefit the focal company’s customers?

(4) Share with the class some other products that adopt/can adopt this product-as-a-service business model.