Executive Education in Strategy:

Enhancing Competitive Advantage through Strength in Leadership

The Strategic Management Institute’s (SMI) Executive Education programs in strategic management are designed to develop strength in leadership through strategy in a context advocated by Professor Michael Porter from Harvard University:

The SMI has conducted numerous Briefings, Seminars and Education Programs over the last five years. Executive education is a key aspect of our philosophy of ‘knowledge sharing’. Our  courses are grounded in academic research and use national and international cases to illustrate and explore practical issues in strategy.

Our motto: grounded in research, practical in application, broad in perspective.

Our approach reflects the philosophy of our colleagues upon whom much of our coursework is based (Strategy Academy):

“We do not push 'the one best way', we challenge managers to consider the many possible ways to tackle strategic issues.”

Our course facilitators are specialists in their field and have obtained:

• business, strategy and academic qualifications of the highest order,
• first class, practical experience in industry/management/consulting,
• international recognition and experience.

The SMI is able to offer greater value to our clients over other ‘educational institutions’ because of our consulting capabilities that reside within the SMI’s sister organisation, HCP Management Consultants. Our consulting skills allow us to assist our clients to resolve strategic issues ‘up front’ (e.g. conduct strategic review, problem structuring and resolution etc.) and then, either:

• design a customised education program that will ensure the solution is fully embedded within the organisations culture, or
• tailor a generic education program that will meet the specific needs at hand.

Customised vs. Tailored Courses:

Customised Courses: With a primary focus on the resolution of complex, strategically oriented business issues, the SMI’s customised courses are designed and developed from the ground up. The application of this approach is of greatest benefit to organisations seeking resolution of particularly difficult strategic issues. The primary benefit to our clients from a customised program is our ability to align the course content to the specific needs of the situation/business problem at hand.

Tailored Courses: A tailored course is faster to prepare because it is a generic course that is tailored to our clients specific needs. Such tailoring may address the needs of different functional groups (R&D, Finance and Accounting etc.) or different levels of management, e.g.:

• Level 1: Introductory/Foundation: Undergraduates/recruits/those new to strategy role.
• Level 2: High Potential/Advanced: Candidates with potential for rapid advancement.
• Level 3: Senior Executive: Enhancing Strategy Effectiveness at senior executive level

Example: Customised vs. Tailored Coursework

To illustrate the application of tailored and customised programs, an organisation seeking to improve it’s strategy creation and implementation capability and associated Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) could appoint the SMI to conduct a repeatable, tailored course that imparts to participants knowledge on the various aspects of strategy creation, implementation and execution as well as development relevant of KPI’s.

Our customised program on the other hand will be more comprehensive and will typically:

• seek to identify what the best approach to strategy creation, implementation and performance reporting within our client’s organisation should be,
• understand the implications of introducing better strategy creation and implementation methods to the business and the ensuing performance measurement, management and reporting capabilities,
• apply this context as the basis for the coursework design,
• incorporate the strategic implications of the design to the roll out of the course across the business (e.g. identifying how the course can be cascaded from corporate level to Division/Business Unit level), and
• identify how the concepts can be absorbed into the culture of the organisation and thereby make a positive contribution to its sustainable competitive advantage.

SMI’s Executive Education Programs in Strategic Management

Introduction

As Gary Hamel once observed, there is a ‘Dirty Little Secret’ of strategy, i.e. there is no one correct approach to strategy creation. Bob De Wit and Ron Meyer recognised that and structured their entire strategy text (De Wit B., Meyer R. “Strategy Process, Content, Context An International Perspective,” 3rd Ed., Thomson, London, 2004) within a context of strategy as a ‘paradox’. The paradox reflects the fact that there are many seemingly contradictory views (polarities) of strategy and that all appear to be true at the same time.

Course Content

The DeWit and Meyer text provides the primary content for the SMI’s Executive Education program in Strategic Management. Consistent with DeWit and Meyer, our approach to strategy education is to address all perspectives of the apparent paradox of strategy theory:

A sample of De Wit and Meyer’s ‘opposing’ perspectives of strategy is illustrated as follows:

Image: De Wit B., Meyer R. “Strategy Process, Content, Context An International Perspective,” 3rd Ed., Thomson, London, 2004

Course Presenters

Our presenters are selected from a broad mix of specialists, examples include:

Paul Hunter B Buss, MBA, DBA, CPA: Founder of SMI and HCP, past partner of a Big Four consulting firm with over 25 years consulting experience and past adjunct faculty at RMIT. Past office bearer of international strategic management research group, Strategic Management Society and .
Mark Pickering: B Buss, MBA, DBA, ACA: Specialist in process based restructuring and realignment of organisations, adjunct faculty of Swinburne University and Partner level (Big 4) consultant with 20 years experience.
Andrew Rixon: B Sc (Hons), PhD: Andrew holds a PhD is in Complexity Science. He applies this specialisation to the application of facilitative processes to help organisations and individuals through various stages of transformation and complexity resolution.
Michael Petit: BA MApp Fin, MBA, PhD: PhD in Management which led to a new theory for organisational management in ‘Dominant Logic’. Michael has over 20 years senior management experience as the member of various executive teams in several Top 20 Australian companies.
Andrew Downard B Economics, M Logistics, SCLAA: Supply Chain executive who has worked in major international corporations that spanned the Asia Pacific region. Adjunct faculty at Victoria University his PhD research is the measurement of supply chain relationship success.
Tim O’Shannassy: PhD, MBA, Post grad Dip Ecs, B Com. Snr Lecturer, RMIT GSB. International specialist, MBA teacher in Entrepreneurship/Strategy. Tim is a lecturer and senior advisor to SMI. Tim provides advice on content and also provides a quality assurance role to our programs.

One Day Introductory Workshop

Demand for the conduct of internal executive education programs at the level proposed by the SMI is experiencing high growth.

Recognising that it may be a relatively new approach at this level, we have developed an introductory, tailored program that addresses one of the most fundamental questions of strategy, i.e. strategy formation.

As a fundamental paradox, strategy formation (i.e. the journey from strategy conceptualisation and formulation through to implementation), represents the polarities between:

• formal strategic planning (deliberate strategy) vs.
• informal, strategic renewal (emerging strategy).

The focus for this course is described as follows in the format of a question:

Do we let strategy simply ‘emerge’ (as proposed strongly by Henry Mintzberg), or do we develop formal ‘strategic plans’ (a traditional process that represents the start of strategy (e.g. Long Range Planning or Strategic Planning as proposed by Ansoff)) through deliberate programs and workshops conducted over a period of time?

Course Content:

The core content of this introductory workshop can be tailored and refined in accordance you’re your needs, in general however it addresses:

• The paradoxes: Deliberate vs. Emerging Strategy, Strategic Management vs. Strategic Planning
• Strategy Process: Fully Integrated Strategic Management Framework and use of Strategic Architecture
• Strategy Evaluation: Assessment of Formal Strategy and facilitation of Emerging Strategy
• Strategy Execution: Balanced Score Cards, Strategy Maps and Pathway to Implementation
• Alignment to Operations: Strategically aligned budget development, capital expenditure and Development of Key Performance Indicators

This course can be tailored to the different needs of your target audience:

• Level 1: Introductory/Foundation: Undergraduates/recruits/those new to strategy role.
• Level 2: High Potential/Advanced: Candidates with potential for rapid advancement.
• Level 3: Senior Executive: Enhancing Strategy Effectiveness at senior executive level

Can we help? We will be delighted to discuss our program with you. Please contact Dr Paul Hunter, Ph: +613 9863 8980, Email: phunter@hcandp.com, Web: www.hcandp.com