SBSD 2063: Technology Management
Individual Assignment
Instructions:
There are 3 related cases and 8 questions presented in the booklet. Answers all questions.

Note: The total marks for this exercise is 45. However, the weightage for total marks of the course is
15% CASE 1: Would COVID-19 Vaccine Nudges
Work?
The best way to get patients to take their vaccinations is to send text message reminders that
a shot has been “reserved” for them at their upcoming doctor’s appointment, according to
research from Wharton and Penn.
Personalized messages using the word “reserved” were enough to boost vaccination rates by
11% in the mega-study of more than 47,000 patients, which was led by Wharton professor of
operations, information and decisions Katy Milkman and executed by the Behavior Change
for Good Initiative at Penn.
“It turns out one of the most simple, straightforward messages worked the best. Instead of
telling people that the vaccine was available for them, we said it was ‘reserved for you,’”
said Mitesh Patel, professor of health care management at Wharton and former director of
the Penn Medicine Nudge Unit, which is the world’s first behavioral design team embedded
in a health care system.
Patel and the Penn Medicine Nudge Unit partnered with Milkman and her team, along with
scientists from several other universities to collaborate with Penn Medicine and Geisinger
Health on the mega-study. The researchers developed 19 different text messaging protocols
to discover which ones were most effective at nudging participants to get their shots. The
messages ran the gamut — from jokes to short videos to allowing participants to dedicate
their shots with a loved one’s initials — but nothing worked as well as the reservation
reminder.
Although the study was designed to boost uptake of the flu vaccine, the researchers said the
method can be easily adapted to encourage COVID-19 vaccinations.
During the 2019–2020 flu season, less than half the U.S. population took the influenza vaccine
and an estimated 35,000 people died from the virus. By comparison, COVID-19 has killed more
than 635,000 Americans since it first appeared early last year. About 74% of Americans
eligible for the vaccine have taken at least one dose, according to the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention.
“The most important takeaway is that the way that we communicate the vaccine to people is
going to have a huge impact on whether or not they’re going to be motivated to get it, and
that really subtle changes can have a big impact,” Patel said during an interview. “Now that
we have the evidence on what works and what doesn’t, we can actually leverage this to help
motivate more people to get vaccinated quickly.”
Gentle Reminders, Powerful Results
The top-performing text message used in the mega-study packed a one-two punch. First,
participants were sent a text 72 hours before their appointments that noted “it’s flu season”
and “a flu vaccine is available for you.” Another text reminder was sent 24 hours before the
appointment, stating that “a flu vaccine has been reserved for your appointment.”
Participants in the study were all at least 18 years old, but they represented a broad range of
demographics. Text messages seem to be the common winner because of the high rate of
cellphone penetration across all ages and races.
Patel noted that the pandemic accelerated the adoption of digital tools for many health care
systems, making text messaging an efficient and inexpensive way to reach patients wherever
they are.
“Individuals every day are glued to their phones; they don’t leave home without them. This
gives us insight into what they’re doing because we can actually track how they’re engaging
with their health care portals or platforms,” Patel said. “It also gives us an opportunity to be
able to then change the interface, the architecture, the communications through those digital
platforms in ways that are aligned with the patient’s goals.”
“Nudges are subtle changes to the design of information or the way we offer
choice to people, but they can have a huge impact.”–Mitesh Patel

Patel said some of the scientists from the University of California-Los Angeles who worked on
the study launched a similar one that produced the same results around “psychological
ownership” of the vaccine. That’s important because it indicates there is still plenty of
opportunities to nudge that last cohort of vaccine holdouts — people who are hesitant or
apathetic — and reach a higher rate of immunity.
Patel said behavioral and health care scientists are hard at work during this pandemic,
designing experiments and digging into the data to learn as much as they can about nudging
people into behavior that benefits everyone.
“Nudges are subtle changes to the design of information or the way we offer choice to people,
but they can have a huge impact,” he said.

Source: https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/would-covid-19-vaccine-nudges-work/ CASE 2: Vaccine Passports: Why the
Market Should Decide
In this opinion piece, Robert Field argues that the market, not state laws, should determine
whether businesses can require proof of vaccination by customers and staff.
Field holds a joint appointment as professor of law and professor of health management and
policy at Drexel University and is an adjunct senior fellow of Penn’s Leonard Davis Institute of
Health Economics. (This article was originally published in the Philadelphia Inquirer.)

“No shoes, no shirt, no service.” You’ve almost certainly seen those words on a sign outside
a store near a beach on a summer day. How about – “no vaccination, no verification, no visit”?
Might we soon start to see words like those?
The CDC says you can now go shopping without a mask if you have been vaccinated. Several
large retailers, including Walmart, Target and Costco, have dropped mask requirements in
response. How do they know you’ve been vaccinated if you walk in maskless? You are on your
honor.
Other businesses may wish to be more cautious, for example health clubs and smaller
specialty shops where customers interact closely with staff. They may prefer something
stronger than the honor system, and many of their potential customers may feel the same
way.
A growing number of private organizations have started down that path. More than 100
colleges will require students to be vaccinated before they can return in the fall. All cruise
lines are doing so, as well, and some airlines are considering following suit. There is too much
risk in those settings to just take customers’ words for it.
Several countries are developing systems for verifying vaccination. Green Passes in Israel are
required to attend concerts and sports events. The European Union is considering a
verification system, as are several countries including Denmark, China and Japan. New York
State is developing an app called Excelsior Pass that stores records of vaccination. All of these
systems also provide for documentation of recovery from Covid or a recent negative test
result.
In the United States, a national system is unlikely. It could be a logistical nightmare and raise
significant privacy concerns. However, cautious storeowners could ask that unmasked
customers at least produce a CDC card recording their vaccination. This is not too big a step
from demanding that customers cover their bare chests and feet when they wander in from
their beach towel. The virus droplets that unvaccinated customers may unwittingly exhale are
surely more of a health risk than the sand and seawater that semi-clothed customers may
unwittingly shed.
You don’t have a right to insist on entering a private business regardless of your state of
hygiene. To the contrary, businesses have a legitimate interest in making their premises as
sanitary as possible. If a customer can’t bear the thought of walking back to their beach towel
to retrieve neglected apparel, they can try another store. A customer who won’t produce
either evidence of vaccination or a mask can do the same.
Hygiene-minded businesses may find that by appealing to the safety conscious, they attract
more customers. If, on the other hand, they find that their policies are driving away business,
they can reevaluate them. That’s the market at work.
“If the public doesn’t want businesses to require evidence of vaccination, the
market will speak.”
A number of states, including Arizona, Florida, Iowa and Texas, have enacted or are
considering laws to override the market and prohibit private businesses from requiring
evidence of vaccination, regardless of what they or their customers want. Those laws replace
the freedom of private businesses and individuals to decide how safe they want to be with
the command of politicians. If the public doesn’t want businesses to require evidence of
vaccination, the market will speak. There is no need for politicians to preempt it.
As Covid case counts fall further, verification of vaccination will hopefully fade as a concern.
In the meantime, those who want to make themselves and those around them as safe as
possible should have the freedom to do so.
Source: https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/vaccine-passports-market-decide/

CASE 3: Innovate or Perish: What
Businesses Should Learn from the
Pandemic
Starbucks was prescient in its pandemic strategy.
The company responded to the upheaval that struck so many businesses last year by rapidly
expanding its digital payment app to sign up millions of users. App customers contributed
50% of Starbucks’ U.S. sales in the first quarter this year, which also saw revenue increase by
11% over last year.
It’s a great example of what Wharton professor Serguei Netessine calls “innovate or perish.”
He’s not talking about the kind of long-term transformation that requires years of research,
development, and testing. This descriptor is specific to businesses that are forced by a crisis
to pivot on a dime.
“As we went into the pandemic, it became clear that in order to continue operating, you need
to become increasingly digital,” Netessine said, noting the pressure on retailers to respond to
a massive surge in online shopping. “All those businesses could continue to operate, but they
needed to have online capabilities, which many of them didn’t have.”
Permanent Changes in Consumer Behavior
Starbucks wasn’t alone in its quick adjustment to the pandemic. Netessine praised Target,
Best Buy, and others for reacting fast with curbside pickup, QR codes, and a variety of
methods that reduced person-to-person contact for both customers and employees.
The coronavirus vaccine is ushering a slow return to normal, but Netessine and other experts
aren’t betting that customers will abandon online ordering in significant numbers.
“A lot of this consumer behavior is very different now. We’re now used to all of this,” he said
about digital shopping. “So, I think from the point of the business owner, there is less risk in
investing in those capabilities.”
Ramping up digital doesn’t take a lot of investment, Netessine noted. “All you have to do is
rent out space on Amazon cloud, and you can be up and running overnight.”
He reminded managers that innovating in times of crisis is easier for firms that maintain a
forward-thinking mindset and a culture of experimentation. After all, innovation is risky,
fraught with failure, and hard to calculate.
“Experimentation is something that traditional companies just don’t do very well,” Netessine
said. “There’s no budget for experimentation.”
The best time to innovate is when everything is going well. “Paradoxically, most businesses
don’t do that because they’re kind of hostages to their success. Why bother if we are making
money and the current business model is working just fine?”
But when a sudden disruption hits, there’s no time or money to form and execute a survival
plan from scratch. “Unfortunately, that’s what most businesses do,” Netessine said. “They
innovate when it is a time of crisis.
Source: https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/netessine-covid-business-innovation/ Questions:
1. The 3 cases above represents technology adoptions from different users of technology.
Identify the parties.
(3 marks)
2. Covid 19 has caused a tremendous effect in human life worldwide. Using theory of technology
diffusion:
a. Identify the 3 innovations involved in each case.
b. Mapped the 3 parties’ position and explain the reasons why you think the parties are
at such position.
(15 marks)
3. Referring to CASE 1, the vaccine is pushed to society with aim to maximise herd immunity.
How this strategy works for new technology in creating high adoption rate? Justify your
answer.
(5 marks)
4. How do you think strategy in CASE 1 affect the party in CASE 2?
(3 marks)
5. What would you do if you are part of the community in CASE 2?
(3 marks)
6. Based on CASE 3, who do you think another 3 related parties that benefits from Starbuck
moves?
(3 marks)
7. Suggest 3 ways how these new parties are able to increase wealth based on the Starbuck’s
business innovation strategy.
(9 marks)
8. Based on your knowledge and cases above, what would you do as Malaysian policy maker that
contribute to maximise vaccine acceptance in the country.
(4 marks)