Business Strategy and Financial Performance

Content Overview

The programme content is delivered over 7 weeks requiring you to work on multiple levels. Each week develops one part of
the strategy and finance framework, addressing overall the three following topics:

The big picture

perspective

Strategic thinking involves linking individual decisions and actions to the overarching organisational objective of enhanced, sustainable performance.

Understand the key external forces that create opportunities and threats for a business by transforming the industry value chain, patterns of demand and competitive pressures
Explore the challenge of strategically positioning a business to create and sustain competitive advantage in a dynamic market
Meet the challenge of strategy execution by learning to align an organisation’s key activities and resources with its desired position in the market.

The value approach to managing a business

Effective strategic thinking capabilities are grounded in having a fundamental understanding of what drives financial performance, in terms of the ability of a business to create and capture value.

Understand why it’s important for a business to create value for society by delivering products and services for which the customers’ willingness to pay exceeds the underlying resource costs
Learn how to make sure a business captures value by selecting attractive positions in the industry value chain and pursuing a distinctive value proposition
Develop decision-making skills to support sustainable value creation.

The financial perspective on strategy execution

The success of a strategy initiative can be measured by tracking key financial metrics. Sound strategic thinking abilities combine successful execution with superior financial performance.

Develop an understanding of key financial statements to appreciate how a company’s strategy affects the bottom line
Explore financial metrics in more detail, learning how to create and deliver value for the customer
Learn how different management choices influence financials, with a focus on how better decision-making leads to superior performance.

*For the weekly detailed content of the programme, please refer to the brochure.

Your Online Learning Journey

Throughout the programme, an INSEAD Learning Coach will be guiding you and helping you maximise the impact of your learning journey.

*Please note the programme may include a pause week(s).

Action Learning Project

Strategic thinking abilities and a grasp of key financial tools are critical to understanding the strategic agenda of any organisation in today’s shifting competitive landscape. Thinking critically and skilfully applying this understanding to your own business context will help you make powerful strategic recommendations and drive value for your organisation.

With this in mind, the Action Learning Project (ALP) will give you the opportunity to practise applying your learning to your own business context. The ALP will take you on a step-by- step journey to develop a big picture strategic view to tackle a business challenge. You will be able to identify concrete opportunities to enhance the strategy, improve organisational alignment and ultimately drive financial performance.

Typically the ALP involves a variation on one of the following:

You will apply the concepts from the programme to a strategic initiative that you are currently working on. You will be able to understand how it relates to your organisation’s strategic direction, and subsequently design a strategic plan for this initiative, to drive superior performance.
You will use the tools and frameworks from the programme to understand a client’s strategic agenda and propose how your organisation’s offerings will further enhance the value proposition and drive financial performance.

Working with the learning coach, you will design an ALP that is right for your personal learning objectives. For those attending the programme with colleagues from the same organisation, the learning coach can help you structure a more ambitious team ALP to collaborate and work on together.

The final ALP and peer review process normally takes between 10-12 days after the programme content finishes.

Typical Week on an INSEAD Online Programme

Each week of content follows a very clear path to facilitate learning for busy executives. The platform allows participants to learn at their own pace during each week, by viewing the content, completing assignments and engaging in discussions, taking on average 4-6 hours per week to complete.

*This is the recommended number of hours per week however please note that working on the Action Learning Project (ALP) may require up to two additional hours/week.