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Duration
2 weeksWeekly study
8 hours
Strategic Planning – Where do you Start?
How organisations obtain and maintain competitive advantage in their business
The main aim of this course is to assess the value of strategic management models and techniques used to analyse and develop organisational strategy needed to maintain the elusive future competitive advantage.
What is competitive advantage and how do you identify the one that is best suited for your business? This exercise is called identifying and planning the strategic objectives. It requires a diligent study of internal and external influences on an organisation and the resultant impact on the overall attractiveness and positioning of that individual organisation within the business world.
What topics will you cover?
- Stages of strategic management
- External and internal environment and their impact on the industry, the market and individual businesses
- PESTEL and SWOT analysis
- Porter’s 5 Forces, Balanced Scorecard, VRIO, Value Chain Analysis
Learning on this course
On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.
What will you achieve?
By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...
- Develop an understanding of setting strategic organisational objectives
- Develop an understanding of the impact of internal and external influences on the industry and markets on the business in question
- Identify and appreciate the importance of industry attractiveness and positioning
- Identify the competitive edge for a specific business within the context of its industry, market and own internal capabilities
Who is the course for?
This course is aimed at individuals looking to understand how to identify and plan strategic objectives for a business.
Please note that the staff described in the ‘Who will you learn with?’ section below may be subject to change.
Who will you learn with?
Lecturer in construction project management Balan Venkatramani leads and teaches on several undergraduate and postgraduate modules. He possesses over three decades of industry and teaching experience.
Learning on FutureLearn
Your learning, your rules
- Courses are split into weeks, activities, and steps to help you keep track of your learning
- Learn through a mix of bite-sized videos, long- and short-form articles, audio, and practical activities
- Stay motivated by using the Progress page to keep track of your step completion and assessment scores
Join a global classroom
- Experience the power of social learning, and get inspired by an international network of learners
- Share ideas with your peers and course educators on every step of the course
- Join the conversation by reading, @ing, liking, bookmarking, and replying to comments from others
Map your progress
- As you work through the course, use notifications and the Progress page to guide your learning
- Whenever you’re ready, mark each step as complete, you’re in control
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