Strategic Thinking & Putting Strategy into Action

Course  Description:

There is no one right strategy about how to do something. In this evolving world of transparency, it makes much more sense to develop a “why” based strategy or strategic plan leaving flexibility in how. Why based plans include input from all the stakeholders greatly increasing the inputs and thereby creating more choices. On the other hand, strategic thinking is defined as both a way of looking at the world -particularly at challenging situations - and as a way of applying a set of techniques for framing and solving problems. It takes different forms in different situations, and certain levels of strategic thinking are more efficient for various industries and corporate cultures. In this workshop, participants discuss the four basic levels of strategic thinking under which an organization can operate, and the circumstances under which an organization must shift to a higher strategic level. At the completion of the workshop, participants will be able to prepare a competitive analysis of an organization, with recommendations for strategic development based on an industry analysis and an understanding of the organization's history, culture, and current operations.

Workshop Objectives:

By the end of the Workshop, each participant will be able to:

• Analyze and evaluate a changing business environment
• Measure the company's competitive advantages
  • Explore tools and techniques for strategy implementation
• Identify Specific Trends within Each of the Seven Factors That Help or Hurt His Organization and Define Results/Responses to These Trends
• Understand the Kinds of Questions to Ask and Potential Sources of Information That Will Answer His Questions
• Cut down the List of Trends to the Most Important Ones for his Organization—The Possible Results/Responses Will Become Preliminary Assumptions on Which he Will Base His Plan or Apply More Sophisticated Analytical Techniques for Better Understanding
• Ask the Questions That Must be Answered in Order to Understand the Industry in Which his Firm Operates
• Explain How the Five Industry Forces Influence a Firm’s Potential Profitability
• Suggest Appropriate Responses to a Particular Industry Configuration Apply This Analysis to his Industry
• Define the Types of Situations Where Scenario Building and Simulation Development Can be Most Useful
• Identify the Key Variables That are Likely to Drive an Organization in the Future
• Work through the Organizational Implications of Various Scenarios
• Determine When Diagnostic Instruments are Appropriate
• Decide Which Organizational and Strategic Dimensions Should be Included in a Diagnostic
• Explain What Kinds of Results Can be Expected from a Diagnostic
• Identify What Parts of an Organization Might Lend Themselves to an Analysis
• Determine What Kind of Analysis Is Possible Based on the Reporting System in Use
• Understand the Timing of the Analysis and How it Relates to the Planning Process
• Describe the Important Elements of Business Processes
• Describe the Characteristics of a Good Process
• Identify his Organization’s Core Processes
• Define and Document the Various Processes and Activities That Flow from the Core Processes across the Organization
• Explain How to Identify and Qualify Customer Requirements
• Outline the Differences between Continuous Improvement, Process Redesign, and Reengineering
• Read an I/P Matrix and Understand its Strategic Implications
• Specify the Questions That Need to be Asked if Market Research is Conducted
• Construct an I/P Matrix
• Define What Competitive Positioning is
• Use Competitive Advantages to Build a Position
• Determine Which Elements within Executional Strategies Create and Deliver Positioning
• Explain When a GE/McKinsey or a BCG Growth-Share Matrix is Used
• Use a GE/McKinsey or a BCG Growth-Share Matrix to Determine the Relative Health of a Firm’s Products/Services in Current and Future Markets
• Suggest Strategic Responses Which Might be Made to Given Positions on the Matrix
• Differentiate between Core Competencies and Competitive Advantages
• Identify an Organization’s Core Competencies
• Explain the Relationship between Core Competencies and Strategy Development
• Measure and evaluate the success of business strategy
• Determine the causes of strategic failure and how to avoid them
• Identify different levels of strategic thinking and determine which is optimal for their organization
• Determine the factors that influence organizations to change their level of strategic thinking
• Determine the core competencies and key success factors in an industry
• Apply the concept of strategic intent and evaluate its appropriateness in a specific organization or industry
• Prepare a competitive analysis of an organization

Course Outlines:

• Management of the strategic process as a matter of corporate survival
  • Good Strategy, Bad Execution: Common Causes for Poor Results
  • Key Steps Along the Pathway to Strategic Process Management
  • Strategic Process Management: Optimizing Cross-Functional Performance
• A roadmap for the strategy of a company (SEA Wheel Technique)
• Formulating strategies for the next decade
• Tools and techniques to implement strategy
  • Seven-Factor Analysis
  • Industry-Force Analysis
  • Simulations
  • Organization Diagnostics
  • Key Business Analyses
  • Process Improvement
  • I/P Matrix
  • Competitive Positioning
  • Portfolio Analysis
  • Core Competencies
• Measurement and evaluation of business strategy.

Who Can Benefit?

Top Management, executives, managers, supervisors, project managers and team leaders