Strategy for Management Consultants & Business Analysts (Udemy.com)

What is the aim of this course?

Strategy is one of the most dreaded subjects in any business. There are so many conflicting frameworks that it is difficult to decide what to choose. In this course, you will learn a framework that will help you formulate and execute the strategy for your businesses on the level of top consulting firms, e.g., McKinsey, BCG, Bain, PwC, and EY. You will also see how others are implementing their strategic choices.   

This course will help you drastically improve your knowledge and skills in creating as well as executing a strategy for your business (or your customers’ businesses). It is designed for people who want to become management consultants, business analysts, or work on creating and implementing a strategy within the business. In the course, you will learn 3 main things:   

1. What strategic choices do you have, and how do you choose the optimal one?   

2. How to calculate the impact of the chosen strategy or tactic?   

3. How to implement the strategy and how others are doing it?

The course is based on my 15 years of experience as a consultant in top consulting firms and as a Board Member responsible for strategy, improvement, and turn-arounds in the biggest companies in the Retail, FMCG, SMG, and B2B sectors that I worked for. I have carried out or supervised over 90 different performance improvements and strategic projects in different industries that generated a total of 2 billion in additional EBITDA. On many occasions, I had to not only formulate the strategy but also make sure that it was implemented. On the basis of what you will find in this course, I have trained in person over 100 consultants, business analysts, and managers who are now CEOs, Board Members, Operational  Directors, COOs, Investment Directors, Directors in Consulting Firms, etc. On top of that, my courses on Udemy were already taken by more than 330 000 students, including people working in EY, McKinsey, Walmart, Booz Allen Hamilton, Adidas, Naspers, Alvarez & Marsal, PwC, Dell, Walgreens, Orange, and many others.

I teach through cases, so most of the lectures are case studies showing some business problems solved in Excel. In this way, you get a lot of practical insight into how to calculate the impact of strategic changes or how to decide which strategic option is useful. These skills will come in handy during consulting projects. To every lecture, you will find attached  (in additional resources) the Excel files shown in the lecture, so as part of this course, you will also get a library of ready-made analyses that can, with certain modifications, be applied by you in your work.   

Why have I decided to create this course?   

Most consultants and business analysts are a bit lost during strategic projects. On one hand, you have a business you don’t quite understand, as it is new to you. On the other hand, you have a multitude of frameworks that are conflicting with each other and quite often not practical enough. To make matters worse, the customer - the business you are working for has problems understanding what you are trying to convey with your thick presentations and thousands of Excel files.   

Therefore, I have gathered all my experience into one framework that is easy to follow not only for you but also for your customers. I believe in the power of data. That is why I will also show you how to prove, using hard data and calculations in Excel, that a certain strategic choice is good or bad.  In order to make certain strategies easier to understand, I have also added plenty of examples of businesses using specific strategies.   

To sum it up, I believe that if you want to find a way to grow a business, you have to become an expert in formulating and executing a proper strategy for this business.  This course has all the materials you need to become one. That is why I highly recommend this course not only to consultants or business analysts who have to advise their customers but also to owners and founders of businesses, as well as board members.   

In what way will you benefit from this course?   

The course is a practical, step-by-step guide loaded with tons of examples, analyses, tricks, and hints that will significantly improve the speed with which you formulate a strategy. There is little theory – mainly examples, a lot of tips from my own experience, as well as other notable examples worth mentioning. Our intention is that, thanks to the course, you will know:   

1. What strategic choices do you have, and how do you choose the optimal one?  

2. How to calculate the impact of the chosen strategy or tactic?   

3. How to implement the strategy and how others are doing it?  

4. What are the consequences of a specific strategic choice for your business?   

You can also ask me any questions either through the discussion field or by messaging me directly.   

How is the course organized?  

The course is divided into the following sections:   

• Introduction. We begin with a little intro into the course as well as some general info on production   

• Do what you do, but better. In the second section, I will discuss the basic things you can do to improve its profitability without much growth or expansion. This strategic direction is the best for people who are satisfied with the current size of their business   

• Expand your business. In this section, I will show you different ways in which you can grow your business or your customers’ businesses in size. This strategic choice is perfect for those businesses that have a winning business model and a lot of room to grow. As always, there will be loads of case studies, practical knowledge of how to do in practice the necessary calculations in Excels   

• Go niche. In the 4th section, I will show you how you can protect your business by going into a niche. I will devote a lot of time to the Blue Ocean Strategy and Low-Cost Strategy – 2 very powerful strategic concepts that have been disrupting many markets   

• Transform. In the 5th section, I will show you how you can transform your business from your current vulnerable position into a better place with better margins and more room to grow.