What is a digital native? What skills and knowledge do digital natives share? What challenges for leaders are there in motivating digital natives?
A digital native is a term used to refer to an individual who can naturally work with digital technology as a result of having been born during an era of digital bombardment. He can effortlessly operate digital devices without going through their manuals to such an extent that one would think their brains are automatically ‘wired’ to understand digital language (Franco, 2012). A digital native exhibits various characteristics. These include continually being surrounded by video games and computers, always communicating through online channels, and having the ability to use technology transparently. Digital natives are also connected to a lot of online friends and prefer to seek answers to any questions they may need from online sources. They also efficiently process online information and continuously share images and videos with their online friends.
What are the differences between change and mega change? Provide an example of ‘Mega Change’?
Change refers to a new way of happening or doing things. In other words, change describes how things are happening differently. Change is a continuous process and is universally accepted as the only constant. The difference between regular change and mega change is the scale of happening. According to Dionne (2016), mega change is large scale change. “Megachange refers to dramatic shifts in social, economic, or political phenomena” (Dionne, 2016, p. 2). An excellent example of mega change is the great depression that was experienced for over a decade beginning around 1930 that was a significant source of global upheaval both economically, socially and even politically.
Describe only ONE of the FOUR types of innovation and provide an example of each innovation?
Radical innovation is one of the four types of innovations. Radical innovation refers to a spasmodic event which has presently been as a result of intense, deliberate research often driven by institutions like universities or even government laboratories (Coccia, 2016). Although radical innovations were thought to come after periods of recession, recent research shows that they can often be as a result of significant improvements in the existing products. Also, Radical innovations are often accompanied by substantial dramatic effects. A good example of radical innovation is the production of the contraceptive pill. There are three other forms of innovation incremental, regular and revolutionary. An example of regular innovation is the production of synthetic fibre, while the newest version of the Whatsaap App exemplifies incremental innovation. The mechanical calculator, on the other hand, is an example of revolution innovation.
Leaders have been described as “Decision Architects”. In your own words, what is a decision architect? Choose one cause of poor decisions and how this can be overcome as a decision architect.
Decision architecture is concerned with helping an individual to make the right decision. Decision architect is the process of identifying causes of probable indecision or lousy decision and remedying this by creating an environment that enables appropriate decision making (Beshears & Gino, 2015). When buying a car, for example, one might make the wrong purchasing decision by going for a flashy design without considering other aspects. The best decision architecture, in this case, could be coming up with a comparison space and then assess value through this comparison. In so doing, one might present other cars and compare them based on different other aspects other than the physical looks. These other aspects could be fuel consumption, the terrain where the vehicle will be used, one’s budget, the purpose of the car, the cost of servicing and the availability of spare parts.
Choose one of the four models of corporate entrepreneurs and describe their characteristics. Provide an example of innovation.
The enabler model is one of the four models of corporate entrepreneurship. The models are based on the fact that there are employees in the company that have the will to come up with entrepreneurial ideas if they are afforded with enough support (Wolcott & Lippitz, 2007). As a result, the company comes up with a framework that finances and allows teams to come up with new concepts insofar they fit the strategic frame of the company. In the most advanced versions of this model, companies are able to draw guidelines that enable this form of process. They include the criteria through which opportunities are selected, funding guidelines, decision making and transparency, among others. Google is an excellent example of organizations that follow this model.
Disruptive innovation: A case Study of Netflix
Netflix’s ability to dislodge Blockbuster and become the most significant home entertainer in terms of movie viewership is an example of disruptive innovation. According to Christensen, Raynor, and McDonald (2015), a new entrant has to take advantage of the often-overlooked market segment in the business to cause a disruption. However, Netflix had to disrupt itself by changing its business model to be a significant disruptive innovation (Richardson, 2011). This was when it shifted from delivering DVDs through the mail and began offering an online streaming service.
Netflix managed to capture customers that were previously non-customers when it began offering streaming services. Managing to reach out to an untapped market is one of the traits of disruptive innovation, according to (Christensen, Raynor, & McDonald, 2015). Although streaming was a bit sluggish early on as compared to DVD delivery, this proved to be a game-changer that finally beat Blockbuster which had previously established itself across the world with almost 10,000 video rental stores and 85,000 employees across the globe (Kylliäinen, 2019). The streaming service proved to be more accessible as well as flexible to even viewers who were hitherto non-DVD renters. As a result, Netflix has more than 150 million subscribers worldwide.
Netflix has had to face its share of challenges amidst its fortunes. Previously, it had to struggle in the shadow of Blockbuster until it changed the business model. Although its main rival tried to offer streaming services as well, this change came too late in the day. However, the company still faces stiff competition from other services provider like Disney+. According to Chanda (2020), surveys indicate that Netflix is likely to lose up to 9% of its subscribers to Disney+ in the year 2020 with the latter projected to gain a further 25 million viewers in the first half of the same year. However, the same source suggests that Disney+ has always had that euphoria which hasn’t been actualized over the years.
Netflix is also exploring new opportunities. Although the company faces stiff competition from Disney+ and Apple, the company has sought to expand globally by adding local programmes of up to 130 languages across the world (Shapiro, 2019). The company has also tried to venture in Indian viewership by introducing a mobile plan of as low as 2.80 dollars per month. On top of that, the company has hired top-notch producers experiences in the Indian market among others than will seek to inject sufficient expertise in the company’s ambition to capture more eyeballs.