Building and Sustaining Competitive Advantage through Strategy

Introduction:

Critical to the success of organizations in this ever-changing business world is the role that strategic management and leadership play.

The Strategy-Building and Sustaining Competitive Advantage course focuses on the fundamental principles that underlie building and maintaining a competitive advantage.

By addressing key questions that challenge business leaders, this course explores why some companies succeed in competitive markets while others do not. What are the reasons behind a few firms capturing the majority of industry profits?

These questions revolve around an understanding of strategic management and how it can be harnessed to create and sustain a competitive advantage. Strategy is not a static concept; it is a dynamic process that must continually adapt to the evolving complexities of the business environment.

In today’s complex, highly competitive, and globally integrated marketplace, mastering the art of strategy-building and achieving sustainable competitive advantage is more important than ever.

This course provides participants with the essential knowledge and skills to understand how business practices influence competition in their industries and how to develop strategies for attaining and maintaining a competitive advantage.

Objective:

Upon completion of this business strategy course, participants should be able to:

• Gain knowledge of fundamental concepts in strategic management.
• Apply key frameworks for effective strategy development.
• Understand the dynamic relationship between strategic thinking, strategy formulation, and implementation.
• Appreciate what it takes to gain and sustain a competitive edge.
• Adapt and refine strategies for sustainable high performance over time.
• Understand how functional areas contribute to building competitiveness through business-level strategies.
• Increase the speed of decision-making and problem-solving in strategy formulation.
• Improve operational exposure and its impact on corporate strategy.
• Empower teams to analyze strategic problems collaboratively.
• Actively contribute to achieving strategic objectives.
• Develop motivation toward proactive strategic leadership within the organization.

Training Methodology:

• Simulation games/strategy simulations
• Role-playing exercises
• Scenario-based learning
• Peer feedback sessions
• Individual and group presentations
• Q&A sessions
• Reflection and feedback sessions
• Action planning workshops

Course Outline:

Unit 1: Business Strategy, Competitive Strategies, and Strategic Choice

• Achieving competitive advantage
• Industry structure analysis
• Differentiation strategy vs. cost leadership – Blue Ocean vs. Red Ocean strategies
• Understanding value migration over time
• Customer selection: differentiated customer engagement in marketing
• Integrated demand-supply chain thinking for the 21st-century strategic leader
• Addressing choice and complexity in strategic planning

Unit 2: Refining Strategy-Building Techniques

• External/Internal Analysis Interface – Trade-offs/Balances
• Shareholder value in the strategic planning process
• Financial and non-financial implementation of strategy, objectives, and mechanisms
• Advanced application of "Balanced Scorecard" principles
• Diagnosing strategic problems and opportunity spaces
• Offensive vs. defensive strategic programs – A choice-based view
• Building and using the "5-page Strategy Framework"

Unit 3: Competitive Advantage – Creation and Sustenance

• Tools for achieving competitive advantage
• Gaining competitive advantage through low-cost leadership
• Competitive differentiation via products/services
• Innovative business models for competitive advantage
• Combining cost leadership with differentiation strategies
• Optimizing cost leadership and differentiation for consumer benefit

Unit 4: Tackling Strategic Risk and Embracing Global Strategic Management

• Recognizing and mitigating strategic risks
• Effective management of risk and uncertainty
• Understanding globalization and strategic shifts
• Managing the strategic shift from national to international to global stages
• Addressing organizational change in the global context
• Building and leading a strategic planning team
• Aligning strategy with global operations

Unit 5: From Present Structure to Future Framework

• Envisioning strategic renewal within the corporate lifecycle
• The role of vision and values in strategic evolution and change
• Senior executives as strategic leaders and communicators
• Coaching and mentoring in promoting strategic thinking
• Projecting today's organization into tomorrow's success
• Recognizing the corporate and individual value of strategic thought