Day 1
THE STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT PROCESS
-    Understanding strategy and its role in modern organizations
-    Analysing strategic trends and strategic drivers in the business environment
-    Developing a strategic vision and mission
-    Setting objectives
-    Developing strategies that achieve the objectives
-    Effective implementation and execution
-    Evaluation, monitoring and correction
-    Managing change
Day 2
ANALYSING THE ORGANISATION'S COMPETITIVE ENVIRONMENT
-    Identifying strategic spaces and strategic gaps
-    Understanding and analysing critical macro and micro-environmental forces
-    Competing in stable environments
-    Competing in turbulent environments
-    Competing in global markets
-    Analysing and prioritising strategic issues
-    Identifying opportunities and threats
-    Developing strategic futures and scenarios
Day 3
STRATEGIC CAPACITY BUILDING
-    Understanding and building strategic and competitive advantage
-    Analysing the strategic competences of the organisation
-    Identifying and developing strategic resources and capabilities
-    Identifying strategic strengths and weaknesses
-    Recognising the relationship between strategy & structure
-    The impact of decision and reward systems
-    Evaluating technology and innovation systems
Day 4
DEVELOPING EFFECTIVE INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY STRATEGIES
-    Understanding the strategic role of technology
-    Incorporating technology into strategic thinking and planning
-    Incorporating technology into strategic thinking and planning
-    Recognising the changing role of technology strategy over time
-    Models of the innovation process
-    Identifying and stimulating innovation
-    Evaluating and implementing innovation
-    Developing and managing new products and services
-    Knowledge as a competitive driver
Day 5
COMMUNICATION, IMPLEMENTING AND LEADING THE STRATEGIES
-    Capturing and communicating the strategies
-    The importance of strategic leadership
-    Managing and leading change
-    Stimulating and responding to feedback
-    The implementation process
-    The reasons plans fail and how to avoid them
Introduction
'If you don't know where you are going then any direction will get you there!' Sogoes the old proverb. Unfortunately for many managers and organisations this continues to be the story of their approach to planning  and  strategic  decision  making.  But  in  an  increasingly  competitive  and  turbulent  world  and business environment this is no longer enough, and effective strategic managers need to take control. Too often the decisions are made without a clear understanding of what is impacting on the business, what is likely to impact on it and what focus and future outcomes the stakeholders of the business are expecting.
So an essential skill for today's business leaders is the ability to identify a successful plausible future for the organisation, define a path to get there, acquire the necessary resources and then motivate and lead their people to get there. And two key, if not essential ingredients, to the success of a modern organisation are the ability of a strategic manager to analyse and interpret the forces of the operating environments, and the capacity to define outcomes (objectives) and strategies. This seminar will focus on developing strategic thinking  and  planning  skills  and  incorporating  the  critical  strategic  analysis  and  interpretation  skills  and strategy development tools and techniques to define and lead a strategic pathway to success.
Key Benefits
This intensive five day seminar will carefully consider how to:
-    Generate strategic possibilities for the organization
-    Create enduring strategic and competitive advantage
-    Identify, analyse and interpret key strategic trends in the organization's operating environments
-    Understand strategic positioning
-    Identify strategic priorities
-    Develop and lead properly reasoned strategic responses
-    Manage pathways to business success
Course Objectives
-    To identify the difference between strategic thinking and strategic planning
-    To apply strategic analysis to the organisation's operating environments
-    To apply a model for developing possible strategic futures for the organisation
-    To apply the strategic management process to generate effective strategies and action plans
-     To understand the nature of strategic or competitive advantage
-    To generate and communicate strategic directions, outcomes and plans
-    To understand how to effectively manage change and show strategic leadership