Business Acumen and Strategy

How will your organization create, sustain, and extend competitive advantage for the long term? Business acumen and strategy are the cornerstones of success in business. As your leadership responsibilities expand, you need to understand the impact of every decision on the strategic and financial goals of your organization. The pace of business and technological change is increasing. Top managers and leaders need to bring their “A” game to every organizational decision and opportunity.

This program addresses the full strategy planning cycle. We begin with business acumen to assess the organization and the business environment today. You’ll then explore business strategy to evaluate and select winning competitive strategies. Finally, we address strategic choice to identify the actions and metrics for implementing strategy for the long haul. The program uses a combination of interactive discussions, groupwork, case analyses, and peer-based learning to facilitate learning and practice in strategic analysis. You’ll gain deep insight into evaluating business situations and making effective strategic decisions.

You will return to your organization with both a broad understanding of general business and strategy as well as insightful assessments of your own current strategic practice. Throughout the program, you’ll explore the circumstances and capabilities of your own as well as peer organizations. You will leave with a road map for assessing business challenges and leading change and be ready to take on greater responsibilities with more long-term impact.

• Learn how to assess your company’s position, market, and potential opportunities
• Examine your company’s current status and the external environment
• Explore the competitive strategies that create long-term sustainable competitive advantage in your industry
• Identify and assess your organization’s key resources, capabilities, and assets that drive competitive advantage
• Utilize frameworks for measuring and managing strategic initiatives and outcomes
• Become familiar with key financial metrics and the foundational concepts for measuring financial results
• Integrate strategy planning and tools into an actionable plan for implementing strategic initiatives
• Improve your general business skills by learning key strategic and financial terminology

• Functional managers who have new or existing responsibilities to help support other departments and the organization as a whole
• Mid-level managers who lead or will lead strategic business units who want to gain a higher-level perspective on organizational success
• Junior executives preparing to lead divisions or larger business units who want to accelerate their ability to rapidly assess complex organizational situations and implement new strategic decisions