Strategic Thinking And Business Planning

Course suitable for:
This programme is for you if you want business planning with built-in agility, flexibility and ability to respond quickly and effectively to market fluctuations. Attending will give you a practical opportunity to use tried and tested formal planning processes together with strategy development techniques, either to assess your current business strategy or plan new ones for the future. Using formal analysis techniques you will assess internal business environments, the external market place, and corporate missions, objectives and strategy.
Course objectives:
On completion of this programme you will be able to:
-Analyse your current business strategy and recommend changes and improvements
-Review your business and understand its strengths and weaknesses
-Understand the external business environment in which your business operates
-Review your corporate mission, objectives, strategy and tactics
-Know where strategic planning stops and tactical operations begin
-Apply formal and semi-formal techniques to your business throughout the workshop
Course content:
Mission, objectives, strategy and tactics
-What they are and how they relate to each other
-Creating a formal mission statement
-Entrepreneurship and leadership input to planning
-Using strategy and tactics with planning and operations
External analysis
-Applying analytical techniques
-PESTLE analysis and its applications
-Competitor analysis and benchmarking
-Market analysis
-Benchmarking - what it is and how to use it
-Porter's 5-Forces model and how to use it
-Market segmentation and differentiation methods
Internal analysis
-Exploring ways of analysing the business
-Financial techniques and measures
-Porter's Value Chain as an analytical technique
-McKinsey's 7-S model and review
-Product portfolio analysis and marketing analysis
-Identifying the skills shortfall in your businessGeneric strategies and models
-Michael Porter's generic strategies model
-Ansoff's Growth Vector matrix and interpretation
-Product market matrices in developing a strategy
-Creating a niche and a USP
-Sustainable advantages and how to create them
-The BCG matrix
Pulling it all together
-Creating a SWOT matrix - the current strategic position
-Scenario planning and alternatives - 'what ifs'
-Strategy versus Planning
-Options and implementation
Strategic leadership and entrepreneurship
-Leaders and entrepreneurs
-Vision
-Issues in strategic leadership
-Managing human resources
-The impact of the internet
Review of Programme
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