In this course, we will cover the 7 steps of the strategy management process, starting with the ‘thinking’ components of strategy, moving into the ‘planning’ components and ending with ‘execution’. At the end of the course, participants will be able to implement or improve the strategic process at their organizations to reach their vision and achieve their mission.

You will learn how to

• Apply strategic thinking to analyze their current environment and determine their organizational ambition
• Employ the strategic management process to best achieve the desired ambition
• Assess and choose strategies that create a sustainable competitive advantage for the organization
• Determine strategic objectives, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and ‘SMART’ targets for the organization
• Convert strategic plans to operating plans through creating strategic initiatives and sequencing activities
• Participate in the performance management cycle to ensure proper execution of chosen strategies

Course Outline

• The strategic management process
• Strategic thinking versus strategic planning
• Benefiting from strategic management
• Evolution of strategic models
• Moving from strategy to organizational planning

Analysis of the environment

• The 5 Cs of strategic analysis
• Porter’s 5 forces
• Creating and capturing value
• Conducting a ‘SWOT’ analysis
• Plotting a ‘SWOT’ analysis
• Fundamentals of ‘PEDESTL’ framework

Vision, mission statements and values

• Using vision and mission statements
• Definition of vision
• Definition of mission
• Formulating vision and mission statements
• Embracing organizational values
• Communicating the vision, mission and values

Assessing strategic choices

• The 3 primary goals of competitive strategy
• The strategy pyramid
• Porter’s generic competitive strategies
• IKEA’s cost leadership
• Innovating in the industry value chain
• Developing a competitive advantage
• Cirque du Soleil value curve

Strategic objectives, KPIs and targets

• Ensuring strategic alignment in the organization
• Developing effective strategic objectives
• Using the Balanced Scorecard (BSC)
• Creating Critical Success Factors (CSFs)
• Using Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
• Characteristics of the right KPIs
• Developing different types of KPIs
• Setting ‘SMART’ targets

Developing operating plans

• Cascading from vision to action plans
• Criteria for effective action plans
• Developing strategic initiatives
• Operational KPIs and the triple constraints
• Developing departmental plans
• Managing the execution of strategy
• KPI dashboard reporting
• Barriers to strategy execution