SM9640 - Digital Entrepreneurship

What will I learn on this module?

This module aims to provide you with the knowledge and skills to understand the start-up and development of companies operating within digital markets. The module is delivered through lectures and seminars.

The module will cover the following issues:

• The growth and scope of e-commerce
• Business models for digital enterprises
• Digital platforms
• Management within digital markets
• Competition within digital markets
• Public policy and regulatory implications

Through this module you will gain skills enabling you to analyse the growth and developing of digital entrepreneurial activities. On completing the module, you will understand how companies grow and appreciate the dynamic and complex nature of the relationship between the digital enterprise and its wider context.

How will I learn on this module?

The lectures will provide you with a theoretical underpinning of the module content, supported by seminars.
The module has a supporting reading list that provides you with an opportunity to see how ‘winner takes all’ markets, competition and regulatory theories and strategies to digital markets.
Your directed study will support the work you have undertaken in the face to face sessions. You will be expected to keep up to date with your seminar.
Independent learning time is set aside for learning activities, self-identified by you, to gain a deeper and broader knowledge of the subject. You may undertake further reading.
The continuous practical nature of the seminars means that tutor (formative) feedback will be received continuously. In-class evaluations and directed learning activity provide formative assessment.

How will I be supported academically on this module?

Support will be provided to you by a member of academic staff leading the module and providing the lecture input. A team of academic staff are allocated seminars, which provides a closer, more personal academic support.
Your module is supported by an e-learning portal, which houses lecture materials, seminars, case studies and how-to multimedia and text files.
You will also receive a wide-ranging electronic reading list that comprises of various books, conference papers and journal articles relevant to the material covered by the module.
There are two components to the assessment for this module. The first is a group presentation that explores the growth of ‘winner takes all’ companies in digital markets, while the second is an individual report that builds on this. The group presentation is worth 40% of the marks for this module, while the individual report is worth 60%.

What will I be expected to read on this module?

All modules at Northumbria include a range of reading materials that students are expected to engage with. Online reading lists (provided after enrolment) give you access to your reading material for your modules. The Library works in partnership with your module tutors to ensure you have access to the material that you need.

What will I be expected to achieve?

Knowledge & Understanding:

1. Understand the scope and scale of digital enterprises
2. Appreciate the complex and dynamic environment in which digital enterprises operate

Intellectual / Professional skills & abilities:

3. Critically evaluate the growth and development strategies of digital enterprises
4. Collaborate with peers in the development of digital enterprise concepts.

Personal Values Attributes (Global / Cultural awareness, Ethics, Curiosity) (PVA):

5. Understand different cultural and social backgrounds and their effect on teamwork in the digital enterprise.

How will I be assessed?

1. Group project – 40%

30-minute group presentation focusing on the development of a specific digital enterprise. Feedback, verbal (when presented) and written (after the presentation) will be provided. (MLO 1-6)

2. Individual report – 60%

2000-word (excluding references) individual report building on component 1. Written feedback will be provided.
(MLO 1-6)

Pre-requisite(s)

N/A

Co-requisite(s)

N/A

Module abstract

Digital dominates today’s economy. Over the last two decades new companies have emerged to provide a series of services that we all rely on, while existing businesses have used the growth of the Internet to reinvent themselves. Understanding how this vibrant and dynamic online economy has emerged, and identifying its key drivers and characteristics, is the focus of this module.

The module is delivered through a combination of lectures, seminars and student-led activities. Through this module you will be exposed to theoretical models that can be applied to the digital entrepreneurship and its socio-economic impact. The knowledge gained will help you appreciate the scale, scope and impact of digital entrepreneurship, both within the UK as well as internationally.

Course info

UCAS Code N155

Credits 20

Level of Study Undergraduate

Mode of Study 3 years Full Time or 4 years with a placement (sandwich)/study abroad

Department Newcastle Business School

Location City Campus, Northumbria University

City Newcastle

Start September 2025

Fee Information

Module Information

All information is accurate at the time of sharing. 

Full time Courses are primarily delivered via on-campus face to face learning but could include elements of online learning. Most courses run as planned and as promoted on our website and via our marketing materials, but if there are any substantial changes (as determined by the Competition and Markets Authority) to a course or there is the potential that course may be withdrawn, we will notify all affected applicants as soon as possible with advice and guidance regarding their options. It is also important to be aware that optional modules listed on course pages may be subject to change depending on uptake numbers each year.  

Contact time is subject to increase or decrease in line with possible restrictions imposed by the government or the University in the interest of maintaining the health and safety and wellbeing of students, staff, and visitors if this is deemed necessary in future.

 

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