FinTech Disruptive Innovation: Implications for Society

In this module, we will explore the nature of evolutionary versus revolutionary innovations and business transformations. Innovation disruption as a popular business concept will be examined in the context of the social and economic transformations enabled by FinTech innovations. A case example of peer to peer lending will be used to illustrate and explore these issues in a FinTech context.

FinTech innovations are not uniform in their impact on and adoption by different participants in the global economy. Differences in adoption, attitudes, and capabilities will be explored based on country, size, age, and access to capital or technology in an effort to better understand the likely pace of adoption and transformation that will result from FinTech innovations.

Predicting the future is easy, but being right in what you are predicting is hard. One challenge in regard to understanding the impact of change in the future is that the pace of change is often more important than the eventual nature of market evolution. If change is fast, large established firms are likely to be disrupted and face new competitors that will challenge prior industry structures. When change is slower, or more evolutionary in nature, large firms have time to adapt and thrive in spite of change (although it still may be hard to change culture, even if the changes are slow). In this module, we will examine both the evolution of FinTech markets and capabilities, and the likely pace of changes.

For many learners, the most important part of this course is going to be "so how will this affect me?" In this module, we will discuss and examine implications for both firms and individuals working in these types of firms for their future careers. Some conclusions might be unexpected, such as the risk-adjusted rewards for employees of large, innovative firms might be higher than the average returns in society for smaller startup employees (the founders might get rich, but employees of small firms do not always share in these riches). While it might be good to stay with a large financial services firm that is investing in and adapting to changes in the financial services industry, the skills that are needed to be successful in any career in financial services are likely to change in the future, and employees who are willing to invest in developing new skills and talents are more likely to success in the future.

This final project is designed to help you examine your own firm and your own career in the context of FinTech market innovations, and to develop a plan for improving your future career prospects and options.