Identify the key drivers from the macro-external environment and their impact on strategic decision-making.
Strategic Management
Week 1 :
summarise the components of strategy
identify some of the key definitions/interpretations of strategy and ways in which they differ
explain the value of strategy to organisations
explain the importance of organisational purpose in strategy
explain the elements of organisational purpose
Week 2 :
This week you will learn how to analyse existing strategy. Every organisation has a strategy, even if they don’t know what it is. An organisation may not do strategy consciously, or well even, but a strategy is there.
Strategy is ‘what happens’ in the organisation. So, instead of putting strategy on a pedestal, let’s learn what strategy is. This week you will learn what to look at if you want to figure out what an organisation’s strategy is.
By the end of this week you will be able to:
appreciate the ways an organisation can learn what its strategy is
identify good strategy
critically evaluate the role of stakeholders in strategy
appreciate the role of competitive positioning in strategy
Week 3 :
This week you will be learning about the macro/external environment – forces that are located outside the organisation, to a large extent these forces are uncontrollable and uncertain.
By the end of this session you will be able to:
identify the key drivers from the macro-external environment and their impact on strategic decision-making
explain approaches to managing uncertainty
analyse the broad macro-external environment using the PESTEL framework
explain the S-curve and lifecycle and identify where your organisation is in its operations in relation to it
describe industry structure using the Five Forces and how it relates to your own organisation
Week 4 :
Welcome to week four, where the focus is on capability. Strategic capability refers to a business’ ability to successfully employ strategies that allow it to survive and increase its value over time.
Last week you studied external forces that can affect organisational strategy, whereas this week our focus is on factors that are internal to the organisation.
By the end of this session you will be able to:
recognise key perspectives in the determination of strategic capability
diagnose the strategic capability of an organisation
describe the merits and vulnerabilities of the ways in which by which strategic capability can be obtained
understand the implications of turbulent environments on strategic capability, by considering dynamic capability
Week 5 :
Welcome to week five where the focus is on strategic choice. This is the ability to formulate an effective strategy following the analysis of the situation and understanding of the strategic challenges faced over different business horizons.
By the end of this week you will be able to:
Explain the value and process of portfolio analysis
Identify an organisation’s commercial offering using portfolio analysis
Apply scenario planning to an organisation
Examine the role of Blue Ocean approaches in strategic choice and assess its application
Reflect on the idea of disruptive innovation and its potential impact on business models
Appreciate the role of data analytics in strategic choice
Week 6:
Welcome to week 6 of the module. Strategic implementation is a term used to describe the activities within a workplace or organisation to manage the activities associated with the strategic plan.
By the end of this week, you will be able to:
Describe the ingredients and relevance of organisational alignment
Strategic Management
Appreciate the importance of organisations making commitments in strategy
Describe and apply the Implementation Compass
Evaluate the role and efficacy of agile strategy
Week 7:
Welcome to week seven where the focus is on the process of strategy – how strategy happens in organisations.
By the end of this week you will be able to:
Describe path dependency and its implications
Describe how SAFe can contribute to the strategy process
Appreciate the different styles of working a strategy process
Recognise the potential contribution that different voices and stakeholders can make to a strategy process
Appreciate the contribution that strategy brings to shared language and a way of thinking to the process
Identify and explain bias in decision making and the strategy process
Week 8:
Welcome to week 8. This week we are looking at evaluating the effectiveness of strategy.
By the end of the week you will be able to:
Describe the challenges organisations face in evaluating strategy.
Identify and apply structured evaluation frameworks for determining the efficacy of strategy.
Describe useful perspectives for the informal evaluation of strategy.
Since the end of this week represents the end of the directed learning experience on this module, you should be able to demonstrate conversance with the ideas and concepts that fall under the umbrella of ‘strategic management’, as covered in this module. You should also appreciate the possible future directions of strategic management, accepting the evolutionary nature of strategic thought, organisations and society.
