Top Free Strategic Management Process courses in 2024 [Updated]

Before we look into the different courses and certifications available in the market, let’s understand the definition and process related to strategic management and understand what actually it is.

Definition:

Strategic management can be characterized as the craftsmanship and study of defining, actualizing, and assessing cross-practical choices that empower an association to accomplish its destinations, and strategic management has beneath two processes included.

Strategic Management Process: the executives‘ procedure is a technique by which administrators imagine and actualize a system that can prompt a feasible upper hand.
Strategic Planning Process is a precise or risen method of performing vital arranging in the association through beginning appraisal, careful investigation, methodology plan, its usage, and assessment.

Let’s watch a video to understand what is strategy.

What is that strategic planning process?

The technique of strategic planning records what steps the executives/directors should take to make a total system and how to actualize that methodology effectively in the organization. it may include from 7 to about 30 stages and will in general be increasingly formal in entrenched associations.

The manners in which that system is made and acknowledged contrast. subsequently, there are various models of the procedure. the models shift between organizations relying on:

Organization’s way of life.
Leadership style.
The experience the firm has in making fruitful methodologies.

Components of strategic planning process:

Here are numerous parts of the procedure which are spread all through vital arranging stages. regularly, the key arranging process has 4 basic stages: Vital investigation, Methodology detailing, Execution, and Checking (David, Johnson, Scholes and Whittington, Rothaermel, Thompson, and Martin). For a more clear understanding, this article speaks to 5 phases of key arranging process:

Initial assessment
Situation analysis
Strategy formulation
Implementation of Strategy
Strategy monitoring

Different strategic management models:

1. David’s strategy management model:

Stages

Strategy formulation
Implementation of Strategy
Strategy evaluation

Steps

Develop vision and mission
External environment examination
Internal environment examination
Establish long-term destinations
Generate, evaluate and choose strategies
Implement techniques
Measure and assess execution

2. Rothaermel’s the analysis-formulation-implementation (AFI) strategy framework

Stages:

Analysis
Formulation
Implementation

Steps

Initial analysis
An external and internal investigation
Business or corporate technique detailing
Implementation

3. Thompson’s and Martin’s Strategic Management Framework

Stages

Where are we?
Where are we going?
How are we getting there?
How are we doing?

Steps

Situation appraisal: Audit of corporate targets
Situation appraisal
Clarification of goals
Corporate and serious techniques
Strategic choices
Implementation
Monitor progress

The difference between the strategic management process and strategic planning:

Strategic management and strategic planning terms mean the equivalent. The thing that matters is that the last one is progressively utilized in the business world while the previous is utilized in the scholastic condition.
According to David, Strategic planning is now and then mistaken for procedure detailing, on the grounds that key arrangement is built in this stage.

We just understood the brief outline or the overview of “What’s strategic management and planning”, “What’s the distinction?” and we’ve additionally observed the “Diverse strategic models”.

Forgoing with our main topic, let’s see what are the different courses and the certification available in the market, and let’s also see how many free courses we can make use of or take advantage of our benefit.

1# EDX :

Syllabus:

Week 1: Introduction to strategic management
In Week 2: Analysing the external environment
In Week 3: Analysing the internal environment
Week 4: Competitive positioning
Week 5: Managing the multi-business firm

The above is the course outline and the course duration lengths from 3 – 5 hours per week and lasts for 5 weeks duration. The course is absolutely free of cost and if you want to gain the certification, there’s a charge of $150 and you may have to complete the exam. The entire course and the certification are validated and verified by IIM Bangalore.

Link: https://www.edx.org/course/strategic-management#

2# Alison:

All Alison courses are absolutely free of cost and it has a variety of stages and levels of courses. definitely a strategic management course also has a diploma course which is indeed a gift and makes utilize of this benefit.

The total diploma course varies from 10 – 15 hours duration. the entire course and certification are published and verified by NPTEL, Mumbai.

Link: https://alison.com/course/diploma-in-strategic-management-revised

3# Coursera:

There are 4 different modules covered in this course:

Strategic management
Strategy formulation
Strategy implementation
Strategic management – capstone project

In this course — the first of a three-course specialization customized explicitly for the period of creativity and innovation — you will prepare for the difficulties of strategy formulation and execution in 21st-century business.

link: https://www.coursera.org/specializations/strategic-management#courses

4# Saylor Academy:

This course is comprised of the following units:

U#1: Introduction to strategy
U#2: Strategic planning
U#3: Creating competitive advantage
U#4: Corporate strategy
U#5: 21st-century strategy

Course learning outcomes:

Upon fruitful consummation of this course, you will be able to:

Define strategy, talk about the members in the strategic management process, and analyze various sorts of industry structures;
Select and apply suitable strategic management tools to analyze internal and external elements facing organizations;
Define and classify sorts of competitive advantage and explain associated best practices for creating and maintaining advantages;
Explain the most usually utilized corporate strategies and analyze alternatives for creating long haul esteem;
Apply modern/present strategic management techniques and pick the best alternatives in the face of rapidly changing technology; and
Synthesize strategic management theory and concepts to explain competitive advantage in the time of globalization.

This is a profound plunge course that involves 62-hour span and understudies will get a free certificate of completion from Saylor. In order to get the proctor sponsored certificate, students should pay a nominal amount of $25.

link: https://learn.saylor.org/course/view.php?id=54

5# Open2Study or OpenEdu:

Topics covered

The strategic management processes
The external environment
Organizational resources and competitive advantage
Strategic leadership and strategic direction
Corporate goals and objectives
Strategy analysis and choice
Strategic implementation
Strategic control and restructuring

This course is an exceptionally for broad 14 weeks and is completely for nothing out of pocket.

link: https://www.open.edu.au/subjects/university-of-tasmania-strategic-management-tas-jnb519

6# Free Video Lectures:

Syllabus:

Introduction
Board of directors (BODs) and top management
Environmental analysis
Case study 1
Strategy formulation and analysis
Case study 2
Strategy implementation
Case study iii.
Evaluation and sis
Other strategic issues SMES and NPOS

Link: https://freevideolectures.com/course/3014/strategic-management

7# Udemy:

This is a brisk introductory course into the Strategic Management and Planning.

Syllabus:

Strategic Analysis Introduction
Understand the Competitive Market
Industry Structure Analysis
Firm Capability Analysis
Competitive Dynamic Analysis
Determine Competitive Positioning
Determine Firm Scope

In this course, we’ll explore the underlying theory and frameworks that provide the foundations of a successful business strategy. Managers, entrepreneurs, social entrepreneurs, analysts, and consultants all may find value in mastering these fundamentals.

A 7-hour free course is designed by a World Class Faculty and is definitely a must look for course.

Link: https://www.udemy.com/course/foundations-of-business-strategy/

8# Master Class Management:

As we’ve seen some online classes and certifications, let’s divert our concentration towards a couple of Textual based online learning. Master Class Management is a very discreet and detailed course for Strategic Management, which gives a lot of explanation and understanding of the Strategic Management and Planning process and application of the process.

Syllabus:

How to:

Be a Great Manager through Strong Leadership

Manage and Organize your Department to Meet the Goals

Manage your Employees & Build a Strong Team

Hire & Retain the Right People

Deal with Conflict, Problems, Difficult Employees & Firing

Delegate, Manage your Time, Solve Problems & Make the Right Decisions

Get Your Point Across through the Art of Business Communications;

and,

Business Basics Part I – Business Types, Ethics& Law, Economics, Finance & Accounting

Business Basics Part II – Operations Management, Customer Service, IS & HR

And Business Basics Part III – Marketing & Sales

Although this is an online Textual based learning, it provides an opportunity to complete the certification. Moreover, this is not just a course for Strategic Management, but in terms, it helps in the overall Business Management and Corporate Strategies, which is really useful and free of cost.

Link: https://www.masterclassmanagement.com/Table-of-Contents-1x.html

9# MIT Open Courseware:

This course has two modules or I would say Course ware.

Strategic Management I and
Strategic Management II

Syllabus:

Strategic Management I:

Introduction and Overview of Strategic Management
Business Strategy
Technology and Industry Transformation
Corporate Strategy
Aggregate and Granular Metrics
Integration

Strategic Management II:

Course Overview
Customer Segmentation and Customer Value Proposition
Group Presentations and “Customer Segmentation and Customer Value Proposition” Assignment 1: Customer Segmentation and Customer Value Proposition
The Firm as a Bundle of Competencies
Group Presentations and “The Firm as a Bundle of Competencies” Assignment 2: Bundle of Competencies
The Mission of the Firm and the Craft of the Strategic Agenda
Group Presentations and “Mission and Strategic Agenda” Assignment 3: Mission and Strategic Agenda
Operational Effectiveness
Group Presentations and “Operational Effectiveness” Assignment 4: Operational Effectiveness
Innovation
Group Presentations and “Innovation” Assignment 5: Innovation
Aggregate and Granular Metrics and Financial Evaluation
Group Presentations: Aggregate and Granular Metrics and Financial Evaluation
Final Wrap-up

Link 1: https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/sloan-school-of-management/15-902-strategic-management-i-fall-2006/index.htm

Link 2: https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/sloan-school-of-management/15-904-strategic-management-ii-fall-2005/index.htm

Throughout the course, Prof. Arnoldo Hax will discuss the appropriate methodologies, concepts, and tools pertinent to strategic analysis and will illustrate their use by discussing many applications in real-life settings, drawn from his own personal experiences.

10# Open Learning World:

18 hours of detailing about Strategic Planning and Management, we found this one course which helps students to get a better understanding of Strategic Management thoroughly. Upon completing this course, one will definitely benefit:

Describe what business strategy is all about
Describe the options available in the business strategy
Understand various business strategies
Understand how to apply them in practice

Link: http://www.openlearningworld.com/innerpages/Business%20Strategies.htm

Summary:

Strategic management process is a continuous technique. There are 3 ranges in this system: strategy formulation, approach implementation, and assessment, and manipulation.

Strategy management is also regarded as a collection of steps. Therefore, the strategic- management manner can first-rate be studied and applied using the model. A evaluates of the essential strategic management models indicates that they all encompass the subsequent steps: appearing an environmental analysis, establishing organizational direction, formulating organizational method, implementing organizational strategy, comparing and controlling strategy.

The strategic management technique, on the whole, involves top management, a board of directors, and planning staff. In its very last form, a strategic decision is molded from the streams of inputs, decisions, and actions.

All groups engage in the strategic control technique. The achievement of a company is normally structured upon the strategic control and organizational talents of the managers.

Many studies show both financial and nonfinancial advantages which may be derived from a strategic-control technique to choice making.

Moreover, the concept of strategic control is still regarding and could hold to go through change. Therefore, knowledge and the following and complete process of strategic management may be useful for practicing managers to gain businesses’ objectives.

THE STRATEGY-MAKING PROCESS:

A method is an action that a business enterprise takes to gain one or extra of its goals.
A business enterprise has an aggressive gain over its rivals whilst it’s far extra worthwhile than the average for all corporations in its industry. It has a sustained competitive gain while it may keep above-average profitability over a number of years. In widespread, an enterprise with an aggressive benefit will grow its earnings greater rapidly than will rivals.
General Managers are liable for the overall performance of the organization or for certainly one of its major self-contained divisions. Their overriding strategic situation is for the health of the total company beneath their direction.
Functional managers are responsible for a selected business characteristic or operation. Although they lack well-known management responsibilities, they play a very critical strategic role.
Formal strategic planning models pressure that a business enterprise’s approach is the outcome of a rational making plan manner. The important additives of the strategic control technique are defining the task, imaginative and prescient, and predominant desires of the corporation; analyzing the outside and inner environments of the corporation; deciding on strategies that align or match an agency’s strengths and weaknesses with external environmental possibilities and threats, and adopting organizational structures and manipulate structures to put into effect the employer’s chosen method.
Strategy can emerge from deep within an organization within the absence of formal plans, as lower-level managers respond to unpredicted situations.
Strategic planning regularly fails because executives do now not plan for uncertainty and because ivory tower planners lose contact with operating realities.
The in shape technique to strategic making plans has been criticized for focusing too much on the diploma of in shape among existing sources and modern possibilities, and not enough on building new resources and capabilities to create and exploit destiny opportunities.
Strategic motive refers to an obsession with winning—with attaining an objective that stretches the enterprise and requires it to build new resources and abilities.
In spite of systematic planning, organizations may adopt poor techniques if their decision-making strategies are vulnerable due to the fact individual cognitive biases are allowed to intrude in the selection-making technique.
Devil’s advocacy, dialectic inquiry, and the out of doors view are techniques for boosting the effectiveness of strategic decision making.
Good leaders of the approach-making system have a number of key attributes: vision, eloquence, and consistency; commitment; being properly informed; a willingness to delegate and empower; political astuteness; and emotional intelligence.

Frequently Asked Questions:

What makes for a powerful strategic plan ?

The brief answer: a business enterprise’s information and reaction to the future. A slightly longer answer could be that a strategic plan ought to consist of:
The purpose of the corporation is flexible enough to don’t forget numerous contingencies; The assets to fulfil the plan and make systematic adjustments to the agency; The fulfilment of quick-term, intermediate and long-term goals as a means to long-time period survival and growth; A description of the pastimes and involvement of these have an effect on and are influenced by using the employer, and a manner of obtaining their agreement; A manner to measure the success of the plan, and the fulfilment of the company as a whole.

What’s the distinction between a vision and venture of an agency?

An imaginative and prescient is a few desired future states; a mission describes the reason of the organisation.

Does our organization really need a imaginative and prescient?

No. More than that, a vision may be counter-productive, and here is the cause why. When an corporation focuses on one desired future, the regularly do not plan for while the future is less than perfect. In addition, the future won’t be perfect, or bad, however just distinctive that what you may expect. As a result, developing a vision not often prepares your organization for the future.

What are scenarios?

Instead of developing a vision, businesses need to expand alternative variations of the future, called eventualities.

How do you broaden scenarios?

There are plenty of ways to expand these scenarios and can range of their complexity and quantification. A simple way is to expand “pleasant case- worst case situations, but this technique rarely encourages revolutionary thinking, and seldom takes under consideration disruptive technologies and financial activities. A fuller description of how to expand scenarios is in our new book, Nailing Strategy Jelly to Your Business Tree, to be had at Amazon.

How are situations parts of strategic planning?

Scenarios are one of the first things a company need to create when they start to expand their strategic plan. Otherwise, how can the enterprise broaden a plan if they do not have a clearer expertise of the environment they’ll confront in some years? Depending at the scenario, an organisation may need to extensively trade itself and reshape its centre abilities.

What is a centre competency, anyway?

A core competency is a fundamental capability of an organization that performs
To world-class requirements or
Significantly higher than any modern-day or might-be competitors.

What is SWOT?

SWOT stands for strengths, weakness, possibilities and threats. It’s a laundry list of factors to look for whilst comparing your employer’s middle skills with the scenarios you expand.

How will we involve personnel in growing the strategic plan?

Some companies get input from personnel on present day issues and concerns as a part of assessing their current situation. Others consist of employees in getting reactions to already-determined on strategic plans, even as others actively involve employees in developing the plan itself. There is not any one proper solution: It relies upon on your circumstances

How can we deal with resistance to alternate?

The extra involvement by means of stakeholders, the lesser the resistance to change. These stakeholders can consist of owners, managers, customers, personnel, and vendors.