Strategic Business Planning Course

• Analyze a company’s internal and external environment

• Set clear strategic goals based on data and context

• Choose among competing investments or growth initiatives

• Allocate limited resources (capital, time, talent)

• Manage execution risks and unintended consequences

• Respond to shifts in the market and customer demand

• Present and defend their strategy to key stakeholders

• Adapt their plan based on results, feedback, and new constraints

• Build alignment across departments or business units

• Reflect on how strategy evolves over time in real business settings

By the end of the simulation, participants will:

• Understand how strategic plans are built from internal and external analysis

• Set SMART objectives and align actions to them

• Make resource allocation decisions under constraints

• Conduct scenario planning and evaluate risks

• Develop strategic agility and decision iteration

• Coordinate across functions and align teams

• Forecast business impact with logic and discipline

• Use storytelling to gain stakeholder buy-in

• Respond to external pressure with clarity and confidence

• Reflect on the iterative nature of strategy execution

The course’s flexible structure ensures that these objectives can be calibrated to match the depth, duration, and focus areas of each program.

1. Receive Market Context and Company Brief Each round begins with an overview of the company’s financial health, market position, and upcoming challenges. Participants are tasked with aligning business goals to the situation at hand.

2. Analyze Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats Participants explore internal data (culture, financials, capabilities) and external forces (competition, macro trends) to decide where to focus.

3. Set Strategy and Make Decisions They create strategic priorities and decide how to allocate resources—across product lines, geographies, R&D, marketing, hiring, and more.

4. Review Feedback and Outcomes Based on their decisions, the course generates performance metrics, market reactions, and stakeholder sentiment.

5. Justify and Communicate Plans Participants are required to explain their logic and defend choices to a virtual board, senior executives, or investors.

6. Adapt Strategy in New Rounds As new disruptions arise, participants must revisit and revise their plans to keep the business on track.

• Is this suitable for MBA or undergrad students? Yes, it works at both levels. The course complexity can be adjusted for different learner groups.

• Can the course be used in corporate settings? Absolutely. It’s ideal for leadership development, internal strategy teams, or functional heads.

• Do participants need prior strategy experience? No. The course is guided and introduces strategic concepts along the way.

• Can I customize the industry context? Yes. The base scenarios can be adapted for tech, manufacturing, retail, healthcare, and more.

• How long does it take to run? It can be run in a 2 - 4 hour session, a multi-day program, or a full-course format.

• Can teams be assigned roles (e.g. CMO, COO)? Yes. Teams can take on executive roles or work together as a strategy unit.

• Does it include financial forecasting? Yes. Participants build rough forecasts and track impact of decisions across key metrics.

• What formats are available? The course works in person, virtually, or hybrid - with options for both individual and group play.

• Is soft skill development included? Yes. Communication, leadership, stakeholder management, and teamwork are all core to the experience.

• How is success measured? Based on performance against goals, quality of justification, responsiveness to change, and strategic coherence.

• Strategic clarity and prioritization

• Resource allocation logic

• Responsiveness to changing business context

• Communication effectiveness and stakeholder persuasion

• Quality of performance outcomes (growth, ROI, risk balance)

• Consistency and adaptability across course rounds

• Team collaboration (for group courses)

• Final strategic presentation or executive memo

• Reflection on process and learning

• Ability to think long-term while delivering short-term results

Additionally, you can also add a built-in peer and self-assessment tool to see how participants rate themselves. This flexibility allows the simulation to be easily integrated by professors as graded courses at universities.