COURSE OVERVIEW:

The word strategy comes from the Greek word strategos, which means “a general,” and is derived from roots meaning “army” and “lead.” Hence, a general is the leader of an army. In both the military and business, competition typically drives organisations to find ways to best their rivals through the effective use of their resources.

Strategy is often contrasted with tactics, another term with military origins. While strategy represents the big picture about “doing the right things,” tactics are more about the details of “doing things right.” Strategy sets the direction in which the organisation will proceed while tactics determine how it will proceed.

Every business leader would like to create a sound strategy and have it executed well. Accomplishing this, however, remains an elusive goal for most business organisations.

Devising and implementing new and innovative strategies to exploit opportunities in a competitive world is daunting. Clearly, no one strategy fits all companies.

If a business has an excellent strategy and effective implementation, it will likely be successful. If a company has a poor strategy, however, it is probably going to fail in the long run.

An organisation’s strategy should evolve over time as a blend of the intended strategy and the firm’s responses to events, learning from experiences, and the emergence of new information and ideas. It is an iterative crafting process of making and implementing decisions, observing, analysing, and learning from the results, and then making decisions anew. 

Every business leader would like to create a sound strategy and have it executed well. Accomplishing this, however, remains an elusive goal for most business organisations. Devising and implementing new and innovative strategies to exploit opportunities in a competitive world is daunting. Clearly, no one strategy fits all companies.

To create, plan, and implement strategies, one should first learn to think in a way that combines the rational and the intuitive in analysing both hard and soft data to arrive at a unique interpretation of opportunities.

As with most complex problems, the solution to planning and executing strategy lies in creating a practical, step-by-step methodology that breaks the problem into manageable components to be addressed in a logical sequence.

The many steps and lessons in this course describe such a systematic process and will guide you through the process of formulating and implementing any corporate strategy successfully.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

By the end of this course, you will be able to understand:

·       What is a business strategy?

·       What exactly is strategy?

·       How to develop and implement strategies?

·       The benefits from using the strategic management process

·       How to follow the logic?

·       The four tasks that strategic management encompasses of

·       What you should do as you develop your strategic management skills?

·       Why assess your business readiness?

·       How to conduct your readiness audit?

·       How to plan for the strategic planning process?

·       How to start planning your approach to strategic management?

·       Why define your business segments?

·       The three concepts that you should consider when identifying a firm’s businesses

·       Why and how to conduct an assessment of your current business situation?

·       How to understand your firm’s business model?

·       The importance of knowing your market?

·       What you should consider when conducting your analyses and developing responses?

·       Why assess the competitive terrain?

·       The important activities involved in understanding the driving forces of change

·       What to keep in mind as you search for competitive advantages and relevant driving forces?

·       Why you should understand your business opportunities and threats? And how to manage them?

·       Why you should set feasible business goals?

·       What to remember when setting goals and objectives and using the industry/product life cycle to improve strategic decisions?

·       Why you should strategise for goals? And how to craft strategies?

·       Why you should set priorities?

·       How to deal with strategic issues and initiatives?

·       Why you should pursue your business purpose?

·       What to remember when formulating and implementing holding company strategies?

·       The importance of following your mission statement

·       How to formulate and implement business level strategies?

·       What to keep in mind when preparing a business plan?

·       How to write the annual plan?

·       The importance of getting the right people

·       What to remember when selecting those who will implement your strategy?

·       How to achieve cross functional integration?

·       How to execute your strategy with discipline?

·       How to monitor, evaluate and improve your business strategy?

·       How to Learn, change, and institutionalise?

COURSE DURATION:

The typical duration of this course is approximately 2-3 hours to complete. Your enrolment is Valid for 12 Months. Start anytime and study at your own pace.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS:

You must have access to a computer or any mobile device with Adobe Acrobat Reader (free PDF Viewer) installed, to complete this course.

COURSE DELIVERY:

Purchase and download course content.

ASSESSMENT:

A simple 10-question true or false quiz with Unlimited Submission Attempts.

CERTIFICATION:

Upon course completion, you will receive a customised digital “Certificate of Completion”.