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 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.
In teaching Strategy therefore we adopt the philosophy espoused by De Wit and Meyer, which is;
"Executive education is often seen as a form of conditioning, orientated towards getting employees to behave in a defined way. Yet, most modern companies need employees with the ability to actively and creatively seek solutions to changing problems."
Therefore, strategy education must be orientated towards broadening manager's perspectives, enhancing their mental flexibility, stimulating their creativity and imagination, upgrading their analytical skills, and improving their ability to critically reflect on different options."
Our approach to the conduct of executive education programs is therefore to not push "the one best way", but to challenge managers to consider the many possible ways to tackle strategic issues.
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