Strategy is key in the effort to secure survival and success of organisations. It contributes to the formation and creation of competitive advantage. However, strategy is also a term often applied without sufficient precision to an entire organization, and, subsequently, the execution of the strategic plan is not always successful.
The aim of this course is to strengthen the participant’s competencies in working with strategic practices based on a solid theoretical foundation. The purpose of the course is to bridge strategy and planning/analysis tools and combining these with the daily strategic practices. This is done by looking at strategy as a particular way of viewing and understanding organisations – and not only as a set of tools and methods reserved for periods of strategic planning, which often is not very well connected with the everyday running of the business.
The outset is a thorough introduction to strategy and a walkthrough of the most current trends addressing recent developments in the field. Hereafter, the principles for strategic practice will be taken under review, while the last stage of the session will provide the participants with the opportunity to reflect, present and discuss their own experiences with strategic practices and execution. Throughout the course, the students will be exposed to a long line of theories, tools and methods, as well as concrete cases that illustrates the many facets and complexity connected to working with strategy in practice.
We will also be examining how theories and tools can be implemented in practice, how strategies should be translated from its written form to how it is supposed to be implemented, as well as how it should be undertaken across the different organisational sections. Through this approach, we will attempt to address some possible challenges connected to working with strategy in practice.
Central themes of the course
- Strategy is much more than a tool or discipline. It is a way of understanding the business and of thinking and acting in a way that provides a perspective on how organisations work.
- The necessity of continuously thinking and acting strategically as a natural part of working in an organization.
- How one connects the written and approved strategy with the practical implementation.
- How one uses tools, theories and models to support the strategic work without simplifying the complex interconnections.
- Think and act strategically in an organisational context.
- Identify which data are relevant and necessary in undertaking a thorough strategic analysis
- Which local strategies should be connected to the organisation’s overarching strategy
- To choose the best applicable analytical tools and adapt them to the specific situation.
