Open Enrollment Programs

Dates: To be announced
Tuition: $3,700

This program has been designed to equip executives with the advanced strategic planning and business decision making skills they need to excel as multifaceted leaders in today’s dynamic business world. The first part of the program takes managers and business owners through a strategic planning process that was developed by the program leaders and is used successfully today in over 100 firms. Participants start by examining each of the steps in the strategic planning process, observing how and why other companies have either succeeded or failed in the planning process, and they leave with a strategic planning template that has stood the test of time for mid-sized companies.

The second part of the program focuses on how managers can incorporate strategic business decision making in their day-to-day operations. The topics in the business decision making portion of the program were chosen because decision making under uncertainty is the norm rather than an exception in the 21st century. Managers increasingly have to make important business decisions when information is incomplete and the future is murky. This is further complicated by the fact that technology and globalization are ensuring that no source of competitive advantage remains sustainable. The only way firms can continue to grow and prosper is through continuous innovation; however, companies must also constantly revisit their roots and original corporate vision to ensure that the domain of activities in which they participate remains relevant.

The Strategic Planning and Business Decision Making program is for senior company officers, senior level functional officers (accounting/finance, human resources, marketing and operations), business owners and high potential mid-level managers who:

• Have a minimum of five years of experience
• Have strategic planning responsibilities
• Want to improve their strategic planning and business decision making skills

In the strategic planning portion of the program, you will:

• Use a strategic planning template successfully utilized by profitable companies
• Perform a competitive analysis in your market segment(s)
• Measure segment profitability and return on investment
• Understand sustainable growth rate and what that means for strategy formulation and implementation
• Learn how to fund, manage, and control growth and how to supply the growth capital your company will require
• Learn why it's necessary to define strategic projects, how these drive the strategic business planning process, and what makes an operational strategic project
• Learn how to convert strategic projects into a strategic business plan
• Develop focused skills in negotiating a better banking deal and how it affects your company's growth
• Look at overseas markets, measure their profitability, and study practical methods for distributing to those markets
• Learn what a good strategic business plan looks like, how to evaluate it and how to improve it

In the business decision making portion of the program, you will:

• Understand the link between corporate vision and performance
• Develop and use basic strategic analytical tools such as industry and competitive analysis and resource based frameworks to formulate appropriate strategies
• Understand the difference between formulation and implementation and the linkage between the two
• Differentiate between strong and weak strategies
• Develop and sustain new sources of competitive advantage through continuous innovation
• Manage the tension between performance expectations among different stakeholders

The program leaders use practical, hands-on, solution-oriented teaching methods. They have been facilitators in the strategic planning process for the last 20 years and have been involved in starting and developing companies. In addition to the strategic planning template, program topics include:

• The corporate vision
• Strategy formulation and implementation
• Business decision making under uncertainty
• Continuous innovation
• Sources of competitive advantage

The Strategic Planning and Business Decision Making program is held at the Rizzo Conference Center, our world-class facility in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The Rizzo Conference Center was designed to foster executive management education and is wired for business so we can integrate new technologies into our teaching methodologies.

Below you will find links to additional information on the Strategic Planning and Business Decision Making open enrollment program:

Additional details on the Strategic Planning and Business Decision Making program