Overview
Develops advanced decision-making capabilities for AI-enabled business environments. Students learn to critically evaluate AI-supported insights and apply managerial judgement to complex business challenges in real-world organisational contexts.
See what New Zealand businesses are doing with AI in 2026, from the people doing it.
One New Zealand, Les Mills, Fonterra and more, live and unrecorded, with the people doing their AI work. What they are building, what they have stopped, what they got wrong. You can ask them questions, and hear what they want from graduates like you.
About this paper
| Paper title | Special Topic: Business Decision-Making in an AI-Enabled World |
|---|---|
| Subject | Business Studies |
| EFTS | 0.15 |
| Points | 18 points |
| Teaching period | 1st Non standard period (9 November 2026 - 12 December 2026) (Distance learning) |
| Domestic Tuition Fees ( NZD ) | $1,053.30 |
| International Tuition Fees | Tuition Fees for international students are elsewhere on this website. |
- Prerequisite
- 54 200-level points
- Schedule C
- Commerce
- Eligibility
Open to students from any degree who have completed 54 points at 200-level. No technical or AI background is assumed: this is a decision-making paper, not a coding paper. Students outside Commerce should check with their programme adviser how the paper credits towards their degree.
- Contact
- More information link
- Teaching staff
Convener: Rachel McBride (Rowan Advisory)
Lecturer: Rachel McBride
Academic oversight: Mathew Parackal, Damien Mather- Paper Structure
The paper runs over five weeks:
- Stance: deciding where AI belongs in a business
- Analytics: making decisions from evidence
- Automation: designing the workflow, and deciding where a human stays in the loop
- Responsible AI in Aotearoa: people, governance, and Māori data sovereignty
- Synthesis: defending human judgement
- Teaching Arrangements
Taught by distance from 9 November to 12 December 2026. This is a full 18-point paper delivered in five weeks: expect about 36 hours a week.
Each week has three parts: a recorded lecture that sets up the thinking, with a short quiz to pass before the live session; a live online session with a New Zealand organisation and the people running its AI work; and a workshop where students work the case in teams.
Lectures are recorded and available throughout the paper. The conversations with businesses are live and are not recorded, which is what allows those leaders to speak candidly about what their organisations are doing now. Students can complete every assessment from the recorded material and their own work.
Students are expected at every workshop, and that is where they get feedback before anything is graded. Students use the University's approved AI platform.
- Textbooks
Textbooks are not required for this paper.
- Graduate Attributes Emphasised
Critical thinking, Ethics, Lifelong learning, Information literacy, Scholarship, Cultural understanding, Communication
View more information about Otago's graduate attributes.- Learning Outcomes
Students who successfully complete the paper will:
- Critically evaluate the opportunities, limitations, and risks associated with the use of AI and digital technologies in business decision-making.
- Analyse and interpret information, including AI-generated insights, to support evidence-based managerial decision-making.
- Design and recommend AI-enabled approaches to address complex business challenges and improve organisational performance.
- Critically assess business decisions involving AI within the cultural, societal, ethical, governance, and regulatory contexts of Aotearoa New Zealand.
- Communicate and justify business decisions and recommendations effectively to a range of organisational stakeholders.
- Assessment details
Group project: 30%
Analytics memo: 30%
Workflow automation presentation: 20%
Logbook: 20%
Quizzes: 0%, must be completed to a 75% threshold to pass the paperThere is no final examination.
Overview
Develops advanced decision-making capabilities for AI-enabled business environments. Students learn to critically evaluate AI-supported insights and apply managerial judgement to complex business challenges in real-world organisational contexts.
About this paper
| Paper title | Special Topic: Business Decision-Making in an AI-Enabled World |
|---|---|
| Subject | Business Studies |
| EFTS | 0.15 |
| Points | 18 points |
| Teaching period | 1st Non standard period (9 November 2026 - 12 December 2026) (Distance learning) |
| Domestic Tuition Fees | Tuition Fees for 2027 have not yet been set |
| International Tuition Fees | Tuition Fees for international students are elsewhere on this website. |
- Schedule C
- Commerce
- Contact
To be advised when paper next offered.
- Teaching staff
To be advised when paper next offered.
- Textbooks
To be advised when paper next offered.
- Graduate Attributes Emphasised
To be advised when paper next offered.
- Learning Outcomes
To be advised when paper next offered.