We look at how strategic managers evaluate, select and manage strategic opportunities and issues using principles designed to sustain the organisation over the long term. We then identify skills and processes which enable strategic managers to scan and understand the environment so as to identify which emerging issues they need to respond to. Using techniques like strategic gap analysis, strategic assumption definition and the principles of agile and great organisations, we will develop our understanding of the capabilities that agile strategic organisations possess and nurture.
This Unit looks at how to analyse the organisation itself in order to identify its positive strategic resources and capabilities (strengths) and its strategic deficiencies (weaknesses), and to understand how these strengths and weaknesses – that are grounded in an organisation’s resources, capabilities and competencies – offer the potential to develop competitive and strategic advantages that position the organisation to survive, and thrive.
This Unit will focus on the first two levels; analysing the macro-environment and the industries or sectors in which the organisation operates. It is from the forces in these external environments that the opportunities and threats to the organisation’s strategic vision and sustainability are to be found. Using techniques such as scenario development you will learn to identify what significant external issues present positive Opportunities or negative Threats for the organisation, how to identify strategic risks and develop contingencies for these risks.
As reflected by its title, in this Unit we will closely examine the strategic management process. This means that we will look at the way in which strategic thinking is developed, and how ultimately this will be captured and translated into a plan. You will gain an understanding of the actions, processes and stages that are required to identify strategic options, develop a strategic vision, interpret the corporate mission, create objectives and strategies to turn the vision into action, and to implement and manage these effectively and sustainably.
The course is designed to help you to reflect on the role of strategic management and draw on concepts, issues and principles highlighted in your earlier MBT courses. As a result, you will understand how integrating and effectively managing the diverse range of technology and business management disciplines empowers you to be more effective in achieving your organisation’s strategic goals in a rapidly changing technological organisational environment.
Unit 1: Strategy in Modern Business Organisations, explores what strategic management is all about, how technology impacts on strategic thinking in organisations, and the major approaches to strategic management – proactive and reactive. You will learn to recognise what contribution strategic management offers modern organisations in a technology-driven environment and gain an appreciation of the key principles that underpin modern strategic management. You will also examine the theoretical and practical frameworks employed in considering, developing and managing strategy. You will learn to recognise the wicked nature of some strategic problems and the importance of corporate social responsibility and sustainability to modern strategic management.