6B003E - Business 4.0: Disrupt or Be Disrupted 01 Sep 2026 - 31 Aug 2032 | Version 1

Associated Module Information

Module Code: 6B003E
Module Title: Business 4.0: Disrupt or Be Disrupted
Faculty: Faculty of Business and Creative Industries
Faculty Group: Business Management
Faculty Sub Group: Business Management
Module Leader: Liam Newton
Module Team:
First Intended Intake: SEP 2026 Final Year of Intake: 2031
Date Closed:
Credit Value: 30 Credit Level: 6
Language: English
Percentage of Module Taught in Welsh: 0
Equivalent Module:
HECOS codes: 100078 - business and management
HECOS Code Weighting: 100

Document Version Information

Version 1
Valid From 01 Sep 2026
Valid To 31 Aug 2032

Module Aims

The main aims of the module are: 

  • To develop students ability to understand and critically evaluate emerging technologies, based on an awareness of their benefits, limitations, and implications of their use. 

  • To build students confidence in using emerging technologies in a business context. 

  • To learn from case studies of businesses who have either disrupted or been disrupted by modern technologies. 

Content Summary

Schumpeter’s (1942) theory of creative destruction describes the process by which innovation disrupts existing industries and economic structures, making older businesses and technologies obsolete.  Building on both Schupeter’s work and Christensen’s (1995) theory of sustaining and disruptive innovation, this module considers the rapidly developing technological environment within which businesses operate, and how individuals and businesses can leverage that technological development for sustainable business success. 

The module goals are twofold: firstly, for students to understand and critically evaluate modern technologies – able to understand the benefits, limitations, and implications of modern emerging technologies in order to make an informed decision on its use in a business context, and secondly, for students to be confident in using these modern technologies themselves.  

The module will focus on a range of emerging technologies, including classes in IT labs where students are equipped with the confidence to use these technologies in a business context.  Students will also study contemporary case studies of businesses who have both successfully and unsuccessfully applied these technologies; culminating in a grand challenge where students apply emerging and disruptive technologies to solve a grand challenge. 

Learning and Teaching Methods

Activity Type Hours
Lectures 6
Practical Classes and Workshops 50
Groupwork 50
Guided Study 114
Formative Assessment 20
Summative Assessment 60
Total Hours Selected 300

Learning Outcomes

# Learning Outcome
LO1 Demonstrate an ability to confidently use emerging technologies in a thoughtful and innovative way, with a clear practical focus on monetisation.
LO2 Describe and critically evaluate the benefits and risks of innovative technologies to both new and established businesses.

Module Requisites

N/A

Assessment Criteria

Assessment Category Assessment Type Description Duration Word Count Weight (%) Best of? Pass Mark
Asynchronous Assessment Student Choice 1 This assessment requires students to use innovative technologies to build a functional digital project that could be used to address a grand challenge (linked to one of the USW Accellerators), supported by a poster presentation describing and evaluating the project output. 0 N/A 100 No 40

Assessment Matrix

Assessment Type Learning Outcomes
LO1 LO2
Student Choice 1

Reading List

Essential Readings 

  • Iansiti, M. and Lakhani, K.R. (2020) Competing in the Age of AI: Strategy and Leadership When Algorithms and Networks Run the World. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Review Press. 

 

  • Kanbach, D., Heiduk, L., Blueher, G., Schreiter, M. and Lahmann, A (2024) The GenAI is out of the bottle: generative artificial intelligence from a business model innovation perspective. Review of Managerial Science 18, pp. 1189-1220. doi: 10.1007/s11846-023-00696-z 

 

  • Mollick, E. (2024) Co-Intelligence: Living and Working with AI. London: WH Allen. 
     

  • Suleyman, M. and Bhaskar, M. (2023) The Coming Wave: AI, Power and Our Future. London: The Bodley Head. 

 

Supplementary Readings 

 

  • Harding, V. (2024) AI needs you: how we can change AI's future and save our own. Princeton: Princeton University Press. 
     

  • Uctu, R., Tuluce, N.S.H. and Aykac, M (2024) Creative destruction and artificial intelligence: The transformation of industries during the sixth wave. Journal of Economy and Technology 2, pp. 296–309. doi: 10.1016/j.ject.2024.09.004. 
     

  • Verster, P. (2024) AI For Business: A practical guide for business leaders to extract value from Artificial Intelligence. Great Yarmouth: Rethink Press.