This seminar, jointly held with Accenture Austria, will focus on developing a business case related to 'The digital insurance company'.

A business case is a type of decision-making tool used to determine the effects a particular decision will have on profitability. A business case should show how the decision will alter cash flows over a period of time, and how costs and revenue will change. A compelling business case adequately captures both the quantifiable and unquantifiable characteristics of a proposed project. Business cases can range from comprehensive and highly structured, as required by formal project management methodologies, to informal and brief. Information included in a formal business case could be the background of the project, the expected business benefits, the options considered, the expected costs of the project, a gap analysis and the expected risks.

The course starts with theoretical input and the explanation of the business case. A substantial part of this course will be spent on various interactive exercises in which student teams will train to build, analyze and calculate this business case. Finally, students will present and discuss the business case in plenum.

After completing this course, students will have the ability to:  

• Understand and apply the fundamentals of business cases
• Critically reflect on business cases
• Know how to break down and analyse business cases
• Develop and support a strategy that lead to competitive advantage
• Provide strong justification and support for strategic choices
• Understand the team-based approach to problem identification and resolution

The course will combine various learning methods to deliver the different topics to the students. These will include theory input, open class discussions, interactive team work, students' presentations, hands-on exercises and role plays.

20% in-class trainings (group assessment)

30% in-class training (individual assessment)

50% reflection paper (individual assessment)

In order to pass the class, all of these performance indicators have to be positive!

In case of any administrative questions please contact kathrin.reinsberger@wu.ac.at.