Course Title

Day 1 — Strategic Thinking and External Environment Analysis

1. Introduction to Strategic Planning

1.1 Strategy Fundamentals

• Strategy definition — making deliberate choices about where to compete and how to win

• Strategic planning versus operational planning — strategy sets direction; operations deliver it

• The strategy execution gap — why most strategies fail at implementation, not formulation

• Strategy as a management system — not an annual event but a continuous performance discipline

• Strategic planning process — environment scan, direction setting, option generation, execution, and review

• ISO 9001:2015 Clause 4 — understanding the organizational context as the foundation of strategic planning

1.2 Levels of Strategy

• Corporate strategy — what businesses to be in and how to allocate capital across the portfolio

• Business unit strategy — how to compete within a defined market or industry

• Functional strategy — how operations, marketing, HR, and finance support the business strategy

• Strategy cascade — each level must align with and support the level above

• Strategic horizon — short-term (1 year), medium-term (3 years), and long-term (5–10 years) planning cycles

2. PESTLE Analysis — External Environment Scanning

• PESTLE Analysis — Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal, and Environmental — scanning macro-environmental forces

• Political factors — government stability, trade policy, taxation, and regulatory direction

• Economic factors — GDP growth, inflation, interest rates, exchange rates, and labour costs

• Social factors — demographic trends, cultural shifts, workforce expectations, and consumer behaviour

• Technological factors — emerging technologies, digital disruption, and automation impact

• Legal factors — employment law, health and safety regulation, and industry-specific compliance requirements

• Environmental factors — climate change, sustainability regulation, carbon commitments, and resource scarcity

• PESTLE in GCC context — Vision 2030, diversification mandates, and localization requirements

• Translating PESTLE findings into strategic implications — identifying the threats and opportunities each factor creates

3. Porter's Five Forces — Competitive Analysis

• Porter's Five Forces — developed by Michael E. Porter, Harvard Business School — the dominant competitive analysis framework

• Force 1 — Threat of new entrants: barriers to entry, capital requirements, and brand loyalty

• Force 2 — Bargaining power of suppliers: supplier concentration, switching costs, and input criticality

• Force 3 — Bargaining power of buyers: buyer concentration, price sensitivity, and switching costs

• Force 4 — Threat of substitute products: availability of alternatives and relative price-performance

• Force 5 — Competitive rivalry: number of competitors, industry growth rate, and exit barriers

• Five Forces output — industry attractiveness rating and the strategic implications for positioning

• Five Forces limitations — point-in-time analysis requiring regular refresh as market conditions evolve

4. SWOT Analysis and Internal Assessment

4.1 SWOT Analysis

• SWOT Analysis — Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats — integrating internal and external findings

• Strengths — internal capabilities that provide competitive advantage

• Weaknesses — internal capability gaps that limit competitiveness

• Opportunities — external factors the organization can exploit to grow

• Threats — external factors that could harm organizational performance or competitive position

• TOWS Matrix — generating strategic options by combining SWOT quadrants — SO, ST, WO, and WT strategies

• SWOT quality — specific, evidence-based findings outperform generic statements that apply to any organization

4.2 McKinsey 7S Framework

• McKinsey 7S Framework — assessing seven interdependent organizational elements for strategic alignment

• Strategy — the organizational plan for competitive success

• Structure — how the organization is divided and coordinated

• Systems — the processes and procedures that govern daily operations

• Shared Values — the core beliefs and culture that guide organizational behavior

• Style — the leadership approach of senior management

• Staff — the people, their capabilities, and their development

• Skills — the core competencies that differentiate the organization

• 7S alignment — all seven elements must be mutually reinforcing for strategy to execute effectively

Day 2 — Strategic Direction, Options, and Portfolio Management

5. Mission, Vision, and Values

• Mission — why the organization exists; the fundamental purpose it serves

• Vision — what the organization aspires to become in the long term

• Values — the principles that govern how the organization behaves in pursuit of its mission and vision

• Mission and vision quality test — specific, aspirational, differentiating, and memorable

• Values as strategic constraint — values define what the organization will not do, not just what it will

• Communicating mission and vision — the leader's role in embedding direction throughout the organization

• Strategic alignment — all organizational objectives must trace back to the mission and vision

6. Strategic Options — Growth and Competitive Strategies

6.1 Ansoff Matrix

• Ansoff Matrix — four growth strategies based on product and market combinations

• Market Penetration — existing products in existing markets with lower risk and lower return

• Product Development — new products for existing markets requiring innovation investment

• Market Development — existing products in new markets requiring geographic or segment expansion

• Diversification — new products in new markets with highest risk and highest potential return

• Risk-return trade-off — the further from the core, the higher the risk and resource requirement

6.2 Porter's Generic Strategies and Blue Ocean

• Porter's Generic Strategies — Cost Leadership, Differentiation, and Focus

• Cost Leadership — competing on lowest total cost in the market

• Differentiation — competing on unique attributes that justify a price premium

• Focus — targeting a narrow segment with either cost or differentiation advantage

• Blue Ocean Strategy — creating uncontested market space by making competition irrelevant

• Value Innovation — simultaneously pursuing differentiation and low cost to create new demand

• Four Actions Framework — Eliminate, Reduce, Raise, and Create — for Blue Ocean strategy design

7. Portfolio Management — BCG Matrix and Strategic Investment

• BCG Growth-Share Matrix — developed by Boston Consulting Group — classifying business units by market share and growth

• Stars — high growth, high share — invest to maintain position and build future cash generation

• Cash Cows — low growth, high share — harvest for cash to fund Stars and Question Marks

• Question Marks — high growth, low share — selectively invest or divest based on competitive potential

• Dogs — low growth, low share — divest or reposition to free resources for higher-value units

• Portfolio balance — a healthy portfolio has sufficient Cash Cows to fund Stars and promising Question Marks

• Capital allocation discipline — portfolio analysis must drive investment decisions, not historical budgets

• BCG Matrix limitations — market share and growth alone do not capture full strategic value

8. Scenario Planning and Strategic Risk

• Scenario planning — developing multiple plausible futures and strategy responses for each

• Scenario development process — identify key uncertainties, develop axes, build scenario narratives

• Two-axis scenario matrix — four scenarios from two independent and uncertain driving forces

• Scenario implications — identifying which strategic options perform well across multiple scenarios

• Robust strategy — a strategy that delivers acceptable outcomes across all plausible scenarios

• Strategic risk register — documenting the threats identified in PESTLE, Five Forces, and scenario analysis

• Risk appetite — the level of strategic risk the organization is prepared to accept in pursuit of its objectives

• ISO 9001:2015 Clause 6.1 — addressing risks and opportunities as a formal planning obligation

Day 3 — Strategy Execution, Balanced Scorecard, and OKR

9. Balanced Scorecard and Strategy Maps

9.1 Balanced Scorecard Framework

• Balanced Scorecard — BSC — developed by Kaplan and Norton — translating strategy into measurable objectives across four perspectives

• Financial Perspective — revenue growth, profitability, return on capital, and cost efficiency objectives

• Customer Perspective — customer satisfaction, retention, acquisition, and market share objectives

• Internal Process Perspective — operational efficiency, quality, innovation, and process improvement objectives

• Learning and Growth Perspective — workforce capability, technology, and culture objectives

• Cause-and-effect logic — Learning and Growth drives Internal Process, which drives Customer, which drives Financial

• Lag indicators — outcomes that measure what has already happened

• Lead indicators — drivers that predict future performance

9.2 Strategy Maps

• Strategy map — a one-page visual showing cause-and-effect linkages between BSC objectives

• Strategy map construction — building from Learning and Growth upward through each BSC perspective

• Strategic theme — a cluster of related BSC objectives addressing a defined strategic priority

• Strategy map communication — the most powerful tool for explaining strategy to the entire organization

• Linking BSC to budget — the BSC translates strategy into resource requirements and annual budget allocations

10. OKR — Objectives and Key Results

• OKR — Objectives and Key Results — goal-setting framework developed at Intel, popularized by Google

• Objective — an ambitious, qualitative, inspiring goal that states what the organization wants to achieve

• Key Results — three to five measurable, time-bound outcomes that define success for the Objective

• OKR quality — a good Key Result is measurable, achievable, and directly signals progress toward the Objective

• OKR cascade — company OKRs cascade to department OKRs, then to team and individual OKRs

• OKR cycle — quarterly review cycle with 70% achievement as the target — 100% signals insufficient ambition

• OKR versus BSC — OKRs are agile and aspirational; BSC is comprehensive and cause-and-effect based — used together for maximum effect

• OKR alignment review — weekly check-in and quarterly OKR review to assess progress and obstacles

11. Hoshin Kanri — Policy Deployment

• Hoshin Kanri — Japanese policy deployment methodology aligning organizational priorities from senior leadership to frontline

• Catchball process — iterative top-down and bottom-up dialogue to align priorities across all levels

• X-Matrix — the Hoshin Kanri planning tool linking breakthrough objectives, annual priorities, improvement projects, and metrics

• Breakthrough objectives — the three to five multi-year priorities that define the organization's strategic focus

• Annual priorities — the specific objectives for the current year that advance the breakthrough objectives

• Improvement projects — the specific initiatives assigned to functional teams to deliver annual priorities

• Hoshin review — monthly review of Hoshin performance against the X-Matrix metrics

• Hoshin versus BSC — Hoshin deploys the annual plan; BSC measures multi-year strategic performance

Day 4 — Strategy Execution Management and Change Leadership

12. Strategic Execution Planning

12.1 Strategic Initiative Management

• Strategic initiative — a time-limited project that closes the gap between current performance and strategic objective

• Initiative prioritization — selecting initiatives by strategic impact, resource requirement, and risk

• Initiative charter — defining scope, owner, timeline, budget, KPIs, and success criteria for each initiative

• Initiative portfolio management — tracking all strategic initiatives on a consolidated strategic dashboard

• Resource allocation — assigning financial and human resources to strategic initiatives before the budget year begins

12.2 Strategy Execution Governance

• Strategy management office — the function responsible for maintaining the strategic planning cycle

• Strategic review cadence — monthly operational review, quarterly strategy review, and annual strategic planning cycle

• Strategy review agenda — KPI performance, initiative progress, emerging risks, and resource reallocation decisions

• Escalation process — defining when performance gaps require executive intervention versus functional correction

• Strategy communication — consistent messaging from leadership on strategic priorities and progress

13. Change Management in Strategy Execution

• Strategy execution requires behavior change — new strategies demand new ways of working

• Kotter's 8-Step Change Model — Create Urgency, Build Coalition, Form Vision, Communicate, Empower, Generate Wins, Consolidate, and Anchor

• Resistance to strategic change — identifying sources of resistance and designing engagement strategies

• Culture as a strategic enabler or barrier — the 7S Shared Values element determines execution capacity

• Stakeholder mapping — identifying supporters, neutrals, and resisters for each strategic initiative

• Leadership alignment — senior leadership team must visibly and consistently model the new strategic direction

• Quick wins — early visible results build momentum and reduce resistance to strategic change

14. Strategic KPI Development and Dashboard Design

• KPI selection criteria — directly linked to a strategic objective, measurable, owned, and actionable

• KPI hierarchy — organizational KPIs cascade to departmental KPIs and individual performance metrics

• SMART KPI targets — specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound

• Baseline establishment — measuring current performance before setting the target

• Strategic dashboard design — displaying the most critical KPIs with trend, target, and variance at a glance

• RAG status — Red, Amber, Green — for rapid performance status communication in strategy reviews

• KPI review discipline — consistent review of the same KPI set prevents metric switching to avoid accountability

• Linking KPIs to rewards — connecting individual performance evaluation to strategic KPI achievement

Day 5 — Strategy Review, HSE Integration, and Case Studies

15. Strategic Review and Course Correction

15.1 Strategy Performance Review

• Applying PDCA — Plan-Do-Check-Act to the strategic management cycle

• Check phase — comparing actual strategic performance against BSC objectives and OKR targets

• Performance gap analysis — quantifying the gap between current and target performance for each strategic objective

• Applying RCA — Root Cause Analysis to strategic underperformance — identifying strategic, operational, and execution root causes

• Strategic pivot decision — determining when performance gaps require strategy revision versus execution improvement

15.2 Strategy Adaptation

• Strategy revision triggers — market disruption, competitive move, technology shift, or sustained performance gap

• Emergent strategy — recognizing and incorporating unplanned strategic opportunities as they appear

• Annual strategic planning refresh — updating PESTLE, Five Forces, SWOT, and BSC objectives each year

• Strategic learning — capturing lessons from strategy execution to improve the next planning cycle

• ISO 9001:2015 Clause 9.3 management review — incorporating strategic performance into the formal management review agenda

16. HSE and Quality Integration in Strategic Planning

• HSE as a strategic objective — integrating safety and environmental performance into the BSC Learning and Growth and Internal Process perspectives

• ISO 9001:2015 Clause 4.1 — external and internal context analysis as the quality-aligned equivalent of PESTLE and SWOT

• ISO 9001:2015 Clause 6.1 — risk and opportunity planning as the quality-aligned equivalent of strategic risk management

• Strategic sustainability — integrating environmental and social governance — ESG — into the strategic planning process

• GCC Vision alignment — integrating national Vision 2030 and sustainability commitments into organizational strategy

• Applying PDCA to HSE strategic objectives — Plan HSE targets, Do — implement programs, Check — measure KPIs, Act — correct underperformance

17. Case Studies and Group Discussions

• Case studies from strategic planning successes and failures in Middle East oil and gas, diversification, and private sector development contexts including organizations that developed strong strategies but failed at execution, organizations that used PESTLE to identify GCC Vision-driven opportunities, and organizations that applied BSC to drive measurable strategic performance improvement — and the importance of strategic planning competency in organizational leadership

• Group discussion on strategic planning challenges in regional environments including adapting global strategic frameworks to GCC market dynamics, managing strategy execution in organizations with hierarchical decision-making structures, and aligning organizational strategy with national Vision 2030 and economic diversification priorities across Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Qatar

• Integrated strategic planning workshop — teams complete a full strategic planning exercise for a presented organizational scenario: PESTLE scan, Five Forces analysis, SWOT, TOWS strategy options, mission and vision statement, BSC with strategy map, OKR set, and strategic initiative charter — presented for facilitator and peer review