Policy Development and Strategic Management

Description

This course examines the components and processes of the strategic management model, using examples from AFRICA. Participants learn to do case analysis throughout the course. Topics covered include strategic management, social responsibility, environmental and internal analysis and diagnosis, strategy selection, and implementation and evaluation.

Objectives

After completing this course, Participants should be able to:

• Perform a rigorous analysis of a company’s strategic direction.

• Identify and explain a company’s mission and vision statement and relate and critique these statements to the company’s strategic direction.

• Prepare a SWOT (strengths, weakness, opportunities, and threats) analysis and explain and evaluate the relationship between the SWOT and a company’s strategic direction.

• Identify and explain all micro and macro forces that shape a company’s strategic plan and determine performance.

• Analyze and evaluate all the steps for the proper alignment of financial and non-financial resources within a company’s strategic plan.

• Analyze a company’s strategic plan in the context of the industry life cycle and environment in which it operates.

• Analyze, evaluate, and draw conclusions on the effectiveness and performance of control and integration mechanisms.

• Establish metrics to assess and measure strategic performance.

• Analyze and evaluate the company’s communication and feedback loop relative to company strategy and performance.

• Analyze, evaluate, and draw conclusions on the financial performance relative to the company’s strategic plan.

• Analyze, evaluate, and identify risks and risk mitigation strategies appropriate to the company’s strategic direction.

• Analyze, evaluate, and develop strategies for a single or multi-business organization.

• Access, analyze, and recommend changes to company strategy based on a full analysis of a company’s strategic plan.

• Develop and prepare a strategic review document presented in a consistent form and properly documented.

Course Outline

Business Policy and Strategy sets out a general framework for strategic management as follows:

• Introduction to Strategic Management

• Creating Competitive Advantage

• Strategies for Competitive Advantage

• Implementing Strategy