Business Strategy Essentials Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Foundation to Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends New and aspiring managers, Business unit managers and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 16 Nov 2026 Course code SD-SP-060

Before you join: Participants should have basic workplace experience and familiarity with their organisation's products, services, customers or stakeholders.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Business strategy fails when leaders confuse ambition with a plan, collect market information without drawing conclusions, or approve initiatives without deciding what will stop. Teams then face competing priorities, weak investment cases, unclear accountabilities and performance measures that report activity rather than strategic progress. This course gives participants a disciplined way to diagnose strategic issues, make choices and translate those choices into coordinated action.

Participants examine the full strategic planning cycle: defining the strategic question, analysing the external environment and competitive position, assessing internal capabilities, identifying customer value, generating options and selecting a defensible course of action. The course uses PESTLE, Porter's Five Forces, VRIO, Value Chain Analysis, SWOT, Ansoff Matrix, Business Model Canvas, Strategy Maps, Balanced Scorecard and OKRs. Participants learn to build evidence-based strategic choices, test assumptions, assess risks, allocate resources and establish governance for delivery.

Teaching combines concise instructor briefings with sector-based cases, group analysis, decision simulations and structured application planning. Cases reflect situations common to banks, public agencies, NGOs, manufacturers and service organisations, such as responding to a new entrant, redesigning a service portfolio, prioritising investment or preparing a corporate planning cycle. Participants leave with a strategy-on-a-page, strategic issue analysis, option appraisal, implementation roadmap and personal application plan that can be adapted to a current business unit, programme or organisation.

The course suits managers who contribute to strategy but have not had formal training in strategic planning, as well as experienced specialists moving into roles with broader commercial, operational or leadership responsibility.

What you will be able to do

  • Diagnose strategic issues using external, competitive, customer and internal analysis
  • Apply PESTLE and Porter's Five Forces to assess market attractiveness
  • Evaluate organisational resources and capabilities using VRIO and Value Chain Analysis
  • Construct customer segments and value propositions using Jobs to Be Done
  • Generate strategic options using Ansoff Matrix, Business Model Canvas and portfolio methods
  • Select strategic priorities using decision criteria, financial cases and risk assessment
  • Translate strategic choices into objectives, measures, initiatives and accountabilities
  • Produce a strategy-on-a-page and implementation roadmap for a live business issue

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Frame strategic problems before proposing solutions or projects
  • Challenge unsupported assumptions in market, customer and investment discussions
  • Present strategic recommendations with clear trade-offs and decision criteria
  • Link team objectives and projects to measurable strategic outcomes
  • Build credible planning documents for management and board discussions

For your organisation

  • Improves consistency in strategic analysis across business units and functions
  • Reduces low-value initiatives through explicit prioritisation and trade-offs
  • Strengthens investment proposals with assumptions, risks and sensitivity testing
  • Connects strategic objectives to measures, owners and delivery milestones
  • Creates clearer governance for reviewing progress and changing direction

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can define a strategic planning question and establish the scope, stakeholders and decision context.

  • Strategic management cycle: diagnosis, choice, execution, review and renewal
  • Corporate, business and functional strategy distinguished through decision scope
  • Mission, vision, values and purpose tested for strategic usefulness
  • Stakeholder mapping identifies power, interest, legitimacy and engagement priorities
  • Define strategic questions before collecting market and performance evidence
  • Strategic planning calendar links governance meetings, decisions and operating rhythms

Participants can assess external forces, industry structure and competitor behaviour affecting strategic choices.

  • PESTLE analysis separates material external forces from background trends
  • Scenario planning frames plausible futures, signposts, assumptions and contingencies
  • Industry boundaries defined using customer needs, substitutes and value chains
  • Porter's Five Forces assesses structural sources of industry profitability
  • Competitor profiles compare objectives, capabilities, positioning, signals and likely moves
  • Identify regulatory, technological and demographic shifts affecting strategic assumptions

Participants can identify the capabilities, performance gaps and strategic assets that shape feasible choices.

  • Value Chain Analysis locates cost drivers, differentiation activities and bottlenecks
  • VRIO evaluates resources for value, rarity, imitability and organisational support
  • Core capabilities distinguished from threshold capabilities and outsourced activities
  • Benchmarking compares operating metrics against relevant competitors and peer groups
  • Diagnose performance gaps using financial, customer, process and people evidence
  • SWOT converts evidence into prioritised strategic issues rather than inventory lists

Participants can define attractive customer segments and formulate a clear value proposition.

  • Segment markets by needs, behaviours, economics and service requirements
  • Jobs to Be Done clarifies customer progress, pain points and alternatives
  • Customer journey mapping exposes moments of truth, friction and unmet demand
  • Estimate segment attractiveness using growth, margin, access and competitive intensity
  • Value Proposition Canvas tests customer gains, pains and offered benefits
  • Positioning statements specify target customers, category, difference and reasons-to-believe

Participants can generate and compare credible strategic options for growth, service and operating models.

  • Generate strategic options through Ansoff Matrix, adjacencies and capability extensions
  • Business Model Canvas connects customers, value, operations, partners and economics
  • Make-or-buy analysis compares strategic control, cost, risk and capability implications
  • Portfolio matrices assess investment priorities across products, services and units
  • Partnership, acquisition and organic growth evaluated against strategic intent
  • Option screening uses strategic fit, feasibility, acceptability and stakeholder impact

Participants can recommend a strategic choice supported by evidence, financial logic and risk assessment.

  • Decision criteria translate ambition into explicit trade-offs and selection rules
  • Weighted decision matrices compare options without concealing critical assumptions
  • Financial cases test revenue, cost, investment, payback and sensitivity
  • Realistic assumptions documented with sources, owners, confidence levels and review dates
  • Risk registers distinguish strategic uncertainties from operational delivery risks
  • Board papers present recommendation, evidence, alternatives, risks and required decisions

Participants can convert strategic choices into objectives, measures, initiatives and operating model changes.

  • Strategic objectives expressed through outcome measures, not activity statements
  • Strategy maps connect financial, customer, process and capability objectives
  • Balanced Scorecard selects leading indicators, lagging indicators, targets and owners
  • OKRs translate strategic priorities into measurable quarterly commitments
  • Initiative roadmaps sequence dependencies, milestones, resources and decision gates
  • Operating model changes define accountabilities, processes, technology and governance

Participants can align resources, manage strategic dependencies and track intended benefits.

  • Resource allocation aligns budgets, talent, assets and management attention
  • Capacity planning tests whether delivery commitments exceed available capability
  • Strategic risk appetite sets boundaries for investment, growth and exposure
  • Dependency mapping identifies single points of failure across critical initiatives
  • Change impact assessment identifies affected roles, processes, systems and customers
  • Benefits realisation plans assign measures, baselines, owners and review cycles

Participants can establish governance and review routines that keep strategy responsive and accountable.

  • Strategy governance defines decision rights, escalation routes and review forums
  • RACI matrices clarify accountability for initiatives, decisions and deliverables
  • Quarterly business reviews examine results, assumptions, risks and corrective actions
  • Performance dashboards combine leading indicators, outcome measures and exception thresholds
  • After-action reviews capture evidence, lessons, decisions and follow-up actions
  • Strategic refresh triggers distinguish adaptation from reactive plan rewriting

Participants can assemble a concise strategy package and define next actions for workplace application.

  • Strategy-on-a-page condenses ambition, choices, measures, initiatives and risks
  • Draft a planning brief with scope, evidence needs, governance and timeline
  • Prioritise next-quarter actions using impact, urgency, ownership and dependencies
  • Stakeholder communication plans tailor messages, channels, timing and feedback loops
  • Personal application plans identify decisions, conversations and documents to improve
  • Peer review tests strategic logic, clarity, evidence and implementation realism

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. Strategic planning question template
  2. External and internal analysis workbook
  3. Strategic option appraisal matrix
  4. Strategy-on-a-page template
  5. Strategic initiative roadmap
  6. Strategy governance checklist

Who should attend

  • New and aspiring managers — need a disciplined method for contributing to strategic decisions
  • Business unit managers — need to turn corporate direction into local priorities and plans
  • Strategy and planning analysts — need practical frameworks for evidence-based recommendations
  • Programme and project managers — need to align delivery portfolios with strategic objectives
  • Functional heads — need to present investment priorities, trade-offs and resource needs clearly
  • Public sector and NGO managers — need to connect mission, stakeholder needs and measurable outcomes

Skills and tools covered

Strategic issue diagnosisCompetitive analysisOption appraisalStrategic choicePerformance measurementStrategy execution

Tools and standards

PESTLE Analysis, Porter's Five Forces, VRIO Framework, Balanced Scorecard

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course combines short instructor briefings with guided analysis of realistic strategy cases. Participants apply named frameworks to market evidence, customer needs, capability assessments and investment choices. Group work tests competing strategic options and exposes assumptions, trade-offs and risks. Decision simulations show how executives assess recommendations under limited resources and uncertainty. Participants then apply the methods to a current organisational issue, producing planning materials that can be refined with colleagues after the course. Facilitated discussion compares approaches across sectors without treating one model as universally suitable.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have basic workplace experience and familiarity with their organisation's products, services, customers or stakeholders. They should be comfortable reading simple business information such as budgets, operational reports or performance dashboards. Experience of planning, project delivery, team management or business analysis is useful but not essential. No prior strategy qualification, MBA, finance specialism or advanced spreadsheet skills are required. Participants do not need authority to approve strategy; the course is suitable for those preparing analysis and recommendations for senior decision-makers.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

Basic workplace experience and familiarity with your organisation's services, customers or stakeholders are sufficient. You do not need an MBA, strategy qualification or advanced finance knowledge.

Bring a current strategic issue, business challenge or planning document if you can do so within your organisation's confidentiality requirements. A laptop is useful for capturing notes and adapting the templates, but it is not mandatory.

It is designed for managers, analysts, functional leaders, programme managers and professionals who contribute to planning or strategic decisions. It is particularly useful for people moving from operational responsibility into broader business roles.

This course focuses on deciding what the organisation should prioritise and why, before work is planned in detail. Project management concentrates on delivering defined scope, while operational planning focuses on routine execution and resource coordination.

You can use the analysis templates to frame a business issue, assess options and prepare a recommendation for management. The strategy-on-a-page and roadmap can support team planning, budget discussions or a formal planning cycle.

The course provides about 32.5 contact hours, normally delivered from 08:30 to 16:30 each day. Time is divided across ten connected modules covering diagnosis, choice, execution, governance and workplace application, with breaks scheduled by the instructor.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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