[Executive Directions] Strategy: Think small, be small. Oct.04

"I have called this principle, by which each slight variation, if useful, is preserved, by the term Natural Selection."  The Origin of Species,  Charles Robert Darwin. 1809-1882. 

If you want to play in the big leagues, you need their information and point of view. Moreover, flawless execution of a poor strategy ultimately destroys value, whereas average performance of a good strategy at least predicts average returns. Moral - invest in doing the right thing before doing some thing right.  This Digest is a representative sample of upcoming strategy courses from the leading business schools of North America and Europe.  The Digest is an unsponsored service of Cientia http://cientia.net     Please see below for details, or Unsubscribe@Cientia.net .  Prefer HTML? HTML.Digest@Cientia.net 

Michael Porter

Familiarity with Porter's 5 Forces is fundamental to any understanding of economic strategy.  The author of 16 books and over 85 articles, Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors is in its 58th. printing and has been translated into 17 languages, while Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance is in its 34th. His Strategy and the Internet (2001) won him an unprecedented 3rd. first-place McKinsey Award as the best HBR article of the year. HBR article What is Strategy? is due early next year.  See: 5 Forces: http://tinyurl.com/5p5ey & Bio: http://tinyurl.com/4pq7k

Developing Deliverable Strategies, Cranfield, UK.

This programme provides the tools and techniques which are practical and highly relevant in the process of planning and delivering competitive strategies. The programme takes a broad view of the whole strategy process, from external analysis, through competitive strategy at the business unit level, to testing the feasibility of strategic options. Also, participants will think through some key implementation issues to ensure the strategy outcome is realistic and deliverable. Oct. 25-29, 2004, May 16-20, 2005. http://tinyurl.com/5e7bd

Strategic Thinking and Management for Competitive Advantage, Wharton.

Too many companies try to be everything to everybody. They fail to identify and sustain their competitive advantage. They waste time and money in markets that may never give them a worthwhile return on investment. Strategic Thinking distills and applies the latest strategic insights and approaches. It helps you accurately assess the competition in your industry.  You will learn to create coherent and forceful strategies for your future and get the opportunity to apply these concepts to your own situation and planning. It is designed specifically to broaden your perspective on how to make organizations more competitive. You will examine a variety of options for growth, including alliances, acquisitions, and internal corporate ventures. Nov. 1-5, 2004, Apr. 18-22, 2005, Aug. 1-5, 2005. http://tinyurl.com/633gm

Competitive Strategy, INSEAD, France.

Create a business strategy for the long-term success of a firm, while dealing with pressures for short-term financial results. Fine-tune intuition and build on experience while using new practical tools to turn strategic ideas into actions. Achieve greater involvement in competitive strategy management by those close to the markets. Balance pressing operational demands and fulfilment of competitive strategies. Nov. 4-12, 2004, May 25-27, 2005. http://tinyurl.com/4r5c2

Creating and Implementing Winning Strategies, Queens, Toronto.

Often, companies find it difficult to strike a balance between running the day-to-day business, and undertaking activities to build, grow, change, and position for the future. This is an intensive five-day immersion in strategic planning tools and techniques that will change the way you think about your business. It will enable you to draft and implement a strategic plan that addresses your organization92s competitive challenges and capitalizes on opportunities. The Queen92s approach to strategic planning will help you overcome the limitations of conventional strategic planning and enable you to shape the future of your business. Nov. 7-12, 2004, Feb.13-18, 2004. http://business.queensu.ca/execdev/strategy.php

Strategic Decision Making, Center for Management Research (CMR), Harvard.

In developing an effective decision making process, executives must consider how it will influence their capacity to provide leadership throughout the organization, as well as insure the implementation of their decisions. Successful executives need access to high quality information and analysis at the time they make decisions and the confidence that relevant information does not lie hidden beyond reach somewhere in the organization.  To that end, this program examines three executive decision making models which can be adapted to each individual92s own management style and organizational structure. Nov. 11 - 12, 2004, Mar. 29 - 30, 2005. http://cmr.execseminars.com/dm/

Developing Strategy in Your Organization, American Management Association (AMA), San Francisco.

Do you need to jump-start your planning process? Is your firm leading the change in your industry or following and falling behind? This seminar introduces additional depth of knowledge and specific "how tos" for executives who are charged with identifying, creating, leading, facilitating or participating in strategy formation. Nov. 11-12, 2004, Mar. 17-18, 2005, ongoing dates. http://tinyurl.com/57rnk

Reinventing Your Business Strategy, MIT/Sloan.

Traditional competitive approaches that rely on product differentiation do not produce optimal results, nor do they take advantage of new sources of profitability that the connectivity of a networked economy offers. Use the Delta Model to identify new sources of profitability, develop new strategic approaches that fit your firm, establish new directions for the organization and implement a revised strategic agenda. Nov. 15-16, 2004, Mar. 21-22, Jun. 20-21, and Nov. 9-10, 2005. http://mitsloan.mit.edu/execed/epp/courses/rbs.php

Strategic Planning, Canadian Management Association (CMA), Toronto.

For senior executives responsible for setting the strategic direction of their organization and implementing the processes for strategic change, including presidents, general managers, senior vice presidents, heads of operating divisions and business units, and planning managers. Includes: overcoming obstacles to thinking strategically, the power of a strategic vision, achieving commitment throughout the organization, the role of leadership, power, culture and human dynamics in successful planning, how to implement the planning process for optimum results, the role and importance of effective facilitation, tools and techniques for understanding the strategic situation and defining and creating market value. Nov. 29-1,2004, Jan. 12-14, 2005, ongoing dates. http://tinyurl.com/59ltz

Developing the Strategic Leader, Center for Creative Leadership (CCL), Colorado

This insightful, comprehensive program allows executives to learn to lead so that they enhance their organization's enduring success. Participants explore their personal effectiveness as strategic leaders, and learn ways to improve the strategic functioning of teams and the organization over all. Through a variety of interactive exercises, participants learn how leadership behavior influences the strategic process. Nov. 29-3, 2004, Dec. 13-17, 2004. ongoing dates. http://tinyurl.com/66hba

Strategy and Leadership, Ashridge, UK.

Develops your ability to lead yourself and others in strategic action with a programme that offers a unique synthesis of strategic thinking and leadership awareness. Support and challenge of your own one-to-one coach throughout the programme and beyond. Insight into the practical application of the latest ideas on strategy, leadership, creativity and innovation and strategic value. Insight into the design of strategic processes and clear thinking on leading strategic implementation and change. A toolbox of new ideas - and the motivation to take these back to transform your own practices and those of your team. Feb. 2-6, 2005, May 21-28, 2005. http://tinyurl.com/5dwr5

Executive Program in Corporate Strategy, Chicago GSB.

This program focuses on the formulation and implementation of company strategy. Participants learn techniques to understand the competitive structure of an industry and company position in the industry. Entry, positioning, pricing, new ventures, technology, diversification and vertical integration decisions will be studied. The organizational issues associated with effectively developing and implementing strategies will also be analyzed. Additionally, the course incorporates an introduction to game theory and develops a tool to apply it to strategic decision making. Feb. 14-18, 2005, Jun. 06-10, 2005, Sep. 26-30, 2005. http://tinyurl.com/6wysf

Strategic Financial Decision Making, Anderson, UCLA.

Managers and executives must make and justify many of their decisions based on financial data, and this program enables you to make the most strategically sound decisions with your data. The program is essential for non-financial managers in need of a solid foundation of accounting and finance knowledge and techniques, and it delivers the most up-to-date financial decision making strategies for financial managers who want to hone their skills. Particularly with regard to new statements recently enacted by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and new regulations affecting corporate governance, such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, this is a must-have program for managers and executives with various degrees of financial expertise. Mar. 16-4, 2005. http://tinyurl.com/5qp2o

Strategic Thinking and Action: From Concept to Results, Darden.

Designed to give executives a strategic perspective on their businesses, with particular attention given to competing effectively in today92s turbulent and connected world. The focus of the program is on breakthrough strategy and competitive response in a world of uncertainty, economic volatility, industry transformation, and digital opportunities and threats.  Contemporary strategy concepts will be explored and applied to issues that arise in a volatile business environment. This thinking will be applied to firms in a variety of industries that face growth and profit pressures and run the risk of being challenged or threatened by new competitors with changing business models. Mar 20-24, 2005. http://tinyurl.com/4n9fv

Developing Strategy for Value Creation: Reset the Boundaries, London Business School, UK.

Industry boundaries are changing rapidly as new technologies are introduced, markets are deregulated and innovative business models take the world by storm. Basic competence in using strategic frameworks is not enough to succeed. The programme addresses these issues by examining how to capture value from existing processes and products, and develop new sources of value creation. Apr. 3-8, 2005, Jun 26-1, 2005. http://tinyurl.com/5y7zj

Strategic Leadership For Women, Institute for Management Development (IMD), Switzerland.

This program will give you the opportunity to improve the capabilities of your organization and the people you work with and to help you identify and address priorities of the future. You will become a strong senior leader by building your employees92 and your company92s abilities to lead and adapt to change, even taking advantage of the uncertain dynamics. You will see the direct benefits of these capabilities immediately, with improved decision-making, market-responsiveness and commitment to high performance. Apr. 4-7, 2005. http://www02.imd.ch/sl/

Developing & Implementing Your Strategic Plan, Sauder, UBC, Canada.

This seminar develops your capacity to think and act strategically in your organization by introducing the latest ideas and practices in strategic management. You'll learn how strategic planning can be used to identify opportunities for growth and facilitate decision making. We all know that many change initiatives fail because of improper implementation. This seminar offers proven tools and tactics for any manager faced with the task of making strategic planning yield real-world results. Apr.11-15, 2005 http://tinyurl.com/3q6gv

Creating Corporate Advantage: Strategy in the Multibusiness Firm, Harvard

As competition within product markets intensifies, diversified companies are discovering that success depends on the combined assets, skills, and capabilities of the firm as a whole. For senior executives to prove that their combination of businesses97both related and unrelated97maximizes shareholder value, they must be able to demonstrate that the sum is worth more than the individual parts. Creating Corporate Advantage is designed to confront this challenge by exposing executives to state-of-the-art thinking and research on corporate and sector level strategies. May 4 - 6, 2005. http://www.exed.hbs.edu/programs/cca/

New Game Strategies: Breaking Competitive Stalemates, IESE, Spain.

Today's business environment is increasingly dynamic. Your business strategy has to be dynamic also. Driving forces - such as technological development, globalization, deregulation, and the enlargement of regional trading areas - are radically transforming the way companies compete. A number of pioneering firms are rethinking established business models, particularly in the areas of strategic positioning and the promotion new entrepreneurial initiatives. Jun. 1-3, 2005. http://tinyurl.com/5xafk

Creating Breakthrough Strategy, Columbia.

To compete in today's rapidly changing global marketplace, you need to drive your company beyond one-time improvement and commit to continual adaptation and renewal. This course will enable you to develop successful strategies within the framework of superior leadership processes. The program introduces the strategic learning process: a unique combination of theoretical frameworks, situation analyses and personal case studies, which will prepare you to utilize insight, measures, rewards, structures, people and culture to align your organization and develop winning propositions. Jun. 129617, Oct. 30-4, 2005. http://www0.gsb.columbia.edu/execed/open/programs/cbs.cfm

Competitive Strategy, Kellogg.

Create value in competitive and rapidly evolving environments. Understand economic principles for long-term strategic success and quantitative too ls for evaluating choices. During this program, you will learn how to perform an internal resource-based assessment to identify your organization's competitive strengths and turn them into profits and customer value. You will also learn how to analyze your business to identify when and in what form cooperation and competition are appropriate. Blending the latest strategic thinking and practice with case discussions drawn from domestic and international settings, the program covers the dynamics of competition, coping with entry, competing in winner-take-all markets, and creating a sustainable competitive advantage. Jun. 21-24,2005, Oct. 23-28, 2005. http://tinyurl.com/3knw4

Executive Program in Strategy and Organization, Stanford.

In today's global business environment, senior managers are desperately trying to gain the upper hand in the race against ever-accelerating change and constant threats to their organizations' survival. As a leader in this dynamic environment, you must improve your ability to think strategically, understand both market and nonmarket environments, develop the resources and capabilities of your organization, and improve your ability to adapt as situations change. Jul. 17 - 29, 2005. http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/exed/epso/

Strategic Planning & Implementation, Michigan.

This program will provide a review of fundamentals, as well as enhance your knowledge through exposure to the latest information and techniques in strategic planning. It provides an excellent opportunity for you to focus on new trends and pressing issues in corporate strategy and, in doing so, strengthen your company's strategic objectives. Sep.22-27, 2005, Sep.25-30, 2005. http://tinyurl.com/65xv6

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Received on Sunday, 17 October 2004 15:48:05 UTC