The modern CFO is now finding themselves with a seat at the strategy development table.  It’s crucial that the CFO make a valuable contribution.  In this course, we will discuss strategic management and the role of the CFO in facilitating corporate strategy development. 

The CFO is used to working with frameworks and providing quantitative analysis to support decision making.  This course provides the CFO with a holistic understanding of the entire strategic development process and develops competency in using various strategic tools to help guide organizations toward making well-reasoned and executed strategic initiatives.

Learning Objectives
  • Establish a strategic management process at your organization
  • Facilitate the development and implementation of strategy at your organization
  • Play an important and leadership role in strategic planning and management of your organization
Last updated/reviewed: March 16, 2024
41 Reviews (117 ratings)

Reviews

3
Member's Profile
The course is an adequate survey of traditional strategy development and deployment concepts. Unfortunately, the material feels dated, best suited to a 1970's economy. It needs to be refreshed to reflect the technology and service economies that have come to characterize the US economy. Like others, I feel the pacing is rapid and superficial, without much depth. More specific and extended examples would help. Take out the slide showing Procter and Gamble in the orange juice business - they exited in 1993!

4
Wow, this course covers a tremendous amount of information across a large swath of conceptual frameworks. Mr. Cook does an outstanding job of trying to keep the a) pace upbeat, b) it at a high level and c) connected. I would like to see either more subset courses, given the 10 chapters of this course and more real world case studies so we can see how an application might look.

5
Member's Profile
Blair is a wonderful presenter and as he calls himself a"coach" worthy of your time to listen. Wish I could meet him, alas he is in Canada. The material is complicated but the clear and consice method to explain that Blair uses dumbs it down for a student like me that needs it broken down to understandable pieces. thanks Blair

5
Member's Profile
This is a fantastic overview - moves quickly and gives exposure to a lot of information giving you a framework to understand strategic thinking as a whole which you can leverage to educate yourself further on more narrow topics (outside of this course). Examples were very relevant and helpful.

4
Member's Profile
This course covers a lot of material and could be broken down into multiple courses with more detail. It would be great to have some real life examples of how these strategies were implemented at companies and either flourished or failed and why.

5
Member's Profile
Mr. Cook provides an astoundingly robust and comprehensive journey through strategy development and management in just two hours. His teaching style is second-to-none and the accompanying visual presentation is top-notch. Take this course!!

5
Member's Profile
Excel workbook is an extremely helpful toolkit to have from this course - practical and user friendly. Topics were detailed enough to give insight but not overwhelm. Really liked instructor’s presentation style and examples.

4
Anonymous Author
Good material, should really take more time for the amount of material involved. Would like to see some exercises along the way to go with the material. Felt like instructor was reading, and could lose the audience easily.

4
Member's Profile
A very good and thorough introduction to the concepts to be understood in the setting of strategy. The worksheet provided is a particularly helpful take-away for implementing the concepts presented in the course.

5
Anonymous Author
Excellent course on some basics of Strategic Management. Nice intro for newcomers in the workforce who have not grasped the importance of strategic placement in the market.

5
Anonymous Author
A lot of concepts and valuable for partnering with executive leadership in formulating strategy. This course provides the tools needed to drive the internal discussion.

5
Anonymous Author
After finishing this course, make sure you sit completely still for 15 minutes. Gaskets are cheap, but the cost of labor will push you into uncontrolled weeping.

4
Member's Profile
Great content - lots of material. Took many hours for note taking, I think should be at least 3-4 PD points once notes, review and exam was completed.

4
Member's Profile
Great insight. Appreciated the various models to use, and perspectives each provide towards management of strategy and the company. Thanks.

3
Anonymous Author
Gives good framework - but should break up the course and focus on various components of building strategy, implementation, and evaulation

4
Anonymous Author
Great overview of the strategic management cycle. Helped me to clarify the difference between mission, values, vision, and objectives.

5
Member's Profile
Great content and useful examples. Also, Blair has a great website that contains a lot of free content applicable to the course.

2
Member's Profile
Important subject. Too important to try to squeeze so much within the time frame. Could have added another 2 hours..

5
Anonymous Author
Good synthesis of lots of material and approaches and will really help me reinvigorate our strategic planning

3
Member's Profile
The Don't Stop till you get to the top...was too much. Once was fine but not at the end of each segment.

4
Member's Profile
The course coverage is excellent and provides a greater insight into successful strategic planning.

5
Anonymous Author
Very good course to understand strategic management and provides examples on how to evaluate them

5
Member's Profile
Wow! Very well done! Superb both the material and Mr. Cook! Excellently crafted and presented.

4
Member's Profile
Lots of good info and covered a lot of ground. Workbook provided at the end is helpful.

4
Member's Profile
The course covered the full spectrum of strategies and addressed each fully.

4
Anonymous Author
This is a great summary. Great content and depth of insight and information.

4
Anonymous Author
Nice way to put many different analysis together in one presentation .

5
Anonymous Author
It is a very informative class. I enjoy listening to the presenter's story!

2
Member's Profile
Not a fan. Course covered too much information in too superficial a manner.

4
Anonymous Author
Very good content. However, an awful lot of material in a 2 hour course

4
Anonymous Author
pretty interesting material, large amount of material for 2 hour course

5
Anonymous Author
we need stuff like these in Illumeo to answer our business problems

5
Anonymous Author
As a fairly new CFO, I found this course to be a great toolbox!

4
Anonymous Author
Great presenter, very passionate about topic and teaching.

3
Member's Profile
A good recap of basic concepts about strategic planning.

5
Member's Profile
Great course to give overview of strategy development.

4
Member's Profile
Lots of great content - moves quickly.

5
Member's Profile
Really great presenter. Thank you!

5
Anonymous Author
Excellent Course!

5
Member's Profile
Great course!

5
Anonymous Author
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Prerequisites
Course Complexity: Intermediate

Prerequisite: Exposure to corporate strategy

Advanced Preparation: None

 

  • It is assumed that the course participant has already developed competency in financial statement analysis, ratio analysis, cash flow analysis, and present value techniques.
  • The course is targeting experienced professionals that already have an established financial or accounting background.

 

Education Provider Information
Company: Illumeo, Inc., 75 East Santa Clara St., Suite 1215, San Jose, CA 95113
Contact: For more information regarding this course, including complaint and cancellation policies, please contact our offices at (408) 400- 3993 or send an e-mail to .
Instructor for this course
Course Syllabus
Introduction and Overview
The Elements
  Mission, Vision, Values, & Objectives12:09
Analysis: EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL
  Current Assessment and External Analysis18:16
  Current Assessment and Internal Analysis9:09
Strategy Development:
  Corporate Strategy Development16:17
  Business Strategy Development and Competitive Positioning7:12
  Functional Strategy Development16:17
Strategic Alternatives and Challenges
  Evaluation of Strategic Alternatives8:49
  Strategy Implementation Challenges9:38
Adaptation
  Monitoring Strategy Execution and Adapting to Circumstances 10:03
Continuous Play
  Corporate Finance and the CFO as facilitator for Strategic Management of the Company2:09:11
Supporting Materials
  Strategic Management Workbookxlsx
  Slides: The Strategic CFOPDF
  Strategic Mgt Glossary IndexPDF
REVIEW & TEST
  REVIEW QUESTIONSquiz
 FINAL EXAMexam