Strategic planning refers to an organization’s process of planning out and implementing its strategies. Peer into this article to know what it takes to build a career in strategic planning.

Strategic Planning Courses

Strategic planning to an organization is what fuel is to a bike. A company can have human resources, financial resources or a state-of-the-art office, but it never really moves forward unless there is present a plan and a purpose. An organization will have to ask itself three questions before setting shop. The three questions are, what do we do, whom do we do it for and how do we excel. Finding justifiable answers for these questions forms the core of what strategic planning really is. It is the formal consideration of the respective organization’s plan of action. Strategic planning and strategic planners are simply indispensable to a company. This in turn has increased the popularity of courses in strategic planning. It is the duty of the individuals behind the strategies of an organization to choose the right strategy and implement the same. It is their duty to analyze competition and also adapt according to the demands of the stage in the organization’s growth. While a career in strategic planning can be extremely interesting, it can also be challenging and demanding, because as a strategic planner, the success of the company will depend on the decisions you take. Read on to know more about what it takes to be eligible for a course in strategic planning, the career prospects and the institutes offering courses in the same.
 
Career In Strategic Planning  

Eligibility
In order to be eligible for a course in strategic planning, an individual will have to be done with his/her 10+2 or an equivalent and also be a graduate. Undergraduate programs in strategic planning are as good as inexistent. This only leaves individuals desiring to have a successful career in enterprise resource planning or strategic planning with the option of doing a Masters in the same. The best thing about strategic planning courses is that individuals desiring to do a Masters in the same don’t necessarily have to be management graduates. There are also institutes and business schools that offer short-term courses in strategic planning. Most institutes offering courses of these sorts require individuals to be graduates and not necessarily in a particular discipline. It is also possible for an individual to get a doctoral degree in strategic planning for which the individual should be done with a Masters program in the same. 

Details Of The Course
Courses in strategy planning are all about familiarizing students with what it takes to make and implement effective strategies. Strategy planning courses will indubitably subject a student to an introduction in strategy, strategy planning and the structure of the organization. Students will be taught to model the strategy planning process according to the objectives of the company. Time and energy will be spent on dishing out expertise on what a company is all about and how it functions within a particular economy and environment. Courses will also comprise know-how on the internal analysis of the company and how best to make choices between two or more feasible strategies. Ultimately, a course in strategy planning will focus on arming an individual with the ability to implement strategies, evaluate the success of strategies and adapt to changes in the volatile business environment. 

Specialization
A career in strategic planning will see an individual assisting an organization in the process of planning, implementing and reviewing its strategies. A strategic planner’s role comprises duties that include helping an organization gather, analyze, organize information and also to put to effective use the same. With a profile like this and such important functions to fulfill, the role of a strategic planner is absolutely indispensable to a company, be it a government one or a non-government one. However, it must be mentioned here that strategic planning jobs as indispensible as they are to a company are not easy to land. Companies usually hire the services of strategic planners who have had previous strategic consulting experience or mid-career personnel who are familiar with the industry they operate in. Companies also often zero in on the brightest students from MBA programs in universities of repute. So, this only means that to land a plum role as a strategic planner, you will simply have to be the best in the business. 

Some Of The Institutes Offering Courses In Strategic Planning
  • Edinburgh Business School, United Kingdom
  • Symbiosis Institute of Operations Management, India
  • Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, India
  • University of California, Irvine: Graduate School of Management , United States of America
  • Indian Institute of Information Technology & Management, Gwalior, India


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