Strategic Thinking and Business Planning

Learning Objectives

• 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.

Objective

• Analyze 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 Outline

Vision, mission, objectives, strategy and tactics:

• What they are and how they relate to each other?
• Creating a formal vision and 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.
• Benchmarking – what it is and how to use it.
• 5-Forces model and how to use it.
• Market segmentation and differentiation methods.

Internal analysis:

• Exploring ways of analyzing the business.
• Financial techniques and measures.
• Porter’s Value Chain as an analytical technique.
• 7-S model and review.
• Product portfolio analysis and marketing analysis.
• Identifying the skills shortfall in your business.

Pulling it all together:

• Scenario planning and alternatives – “what ifs'.
• Strategy versus Planning.
• Options and implementation.
• Creating a SWOT matrix – the current strategic position.