Strategic Management: Developing and Implementing Business Strategy

Strategic Management: From Theory to Practice

The program introduces the key tools for developing and implementing strategy and teaches you to apply them to your own company's challenges. The material follows the strategic management cycle: analysis, strategy choice, implementation, monitoring and adjustment.

Topic 1. Introduction to strategic management

• The concept of strategy: from military affairs to modern business; the key elements of strategy.
• Strategic, tactical and operational management: how to tell decisions at different levels apart.
• Levels of strategy: corporate, business unit and functional — and how they are linked.
• The business life cycle and the role of strategy at each stage.

Topic 2. External strategic analysis

• PESTEL analysis: political, economic, social, technological, environmental and legal factors.
• Porter's Five Forces model: the competitive environment and industry attractiveness.
• Industry and competitor analysis, key success factors.
• Assessing threats and opportunities in the external environment.

Topic 3. Internal strategic analysis

• SWOT analysis: bringing external and internal factors together into strategic directions.
• VRIO analysis of resources and capabilities: value, rarity, inimitability, organization.
• The value chain: primary and support activities, efficiency reserves.
• Organizational culture and structure as resources that help or hinder strategy implementation.

Topic 4. Strategy formulation

• Porter's generic competitive strategies: cost leadership, differentiation, focus.
• Growth strategies using the Ansoff matrix: intensive growth, integration, diversification.
• Business model: the Business Model Canvas and other design approaches.
• Goal setting: SMART goals and the OKR methodology.

Topic 5. Strategy implementation

• The Strategy Map: objectives and the cause-and-effect links between them.
• The Balanced Scorecard across four perspectives.
• Project management as a tool for implementing strategy.
• Leadership and organizational change management.

Topic 6. Strategy evaluation and control

• KPIs and strategic control.
• Variance analysis and strategy adjustment.
• The strategic management cycle: planning, implementation, analysis, review.

Topic 7. Practice and case studies

• Analysis of the strategies of well-known international companies (Apple, Tesla, Shell and others): successful and unsuccessful decisions.
• Developing a strategy for a chosen company or a training case.
• Group work and defense of strategic plans.

Who the course is for

• Business leaders and owners who need sustainable growth and competitiveness.
• Middle managers responsible for their unit's strategy.
• Professionals who want to deepen their knowledge of strategic management and move into a management position.
• Anyone who wants to understand how key business decisions are made.

Learning outcomes

• An understanding of the key concepts and tools of strategic management.
• The ability to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the company's external and internal environment.
• The skill of developing a strategy that matches the goals and capabilities of the business.
• The ability to plan strategy implementation and monitor its execution.
• Well-founded strategic decisions and strategic thinking.

Upcoming dates are in the schedule; other management programs are in the Programs section.