ORGANIC GROWTH EXECUTIVE EDUCATION PROGRAMS AT THE KELLOGG SCHOOL
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Hello everyone. I want to share with our community insight on two Kellogg School executive education programs focusing on growth that incorporate much of what we discuss in our blog. The classes -- Driving Top Line Growth (DTLOG) and Implementing Organic Growth Strategies (IOGS). --are designed to integrate the total challenge of driving top line driven earnings growth. They are designed to be independent, standalone classes as well as offering the complete story when taken in any sequence. The Kellogg School offers special incentives for taking the courses within one calendar year and/or if company teams attend (which we highly recommend)

The market validated Market Driven Growth (MDG) process is the design skeleton for the classes:

DTLOG centers on the Leadership Framing and Business Builder components as well as Leadership Resourcing at a business level. IOGS starts with Leadership Resourcing at a project level and focuses on the Concept Validation and Execution process components.


The underpinning of both classes is the focus on market tested tools and methodologies that can be deployed immediately on returning to your jobs. To facilitate the learning as well as allowing you to achieve real time business results, both classes allocate time to work on what we call the Growth Initiative Journal. You will apply the concepts presented to your real business challenges. We leverage the incredible intellectual capital of the best Kellogg School faculty with the experience of business people (outside speakers and me).

The current course is entitled Driving Organic Top Line Growth which many of you have taken.

http://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/execed/programs/LEAD17/index.htm

The “center of gravity” of the course is innovating across the entire business design:

The course material includes:

CUSTOMER SEGMENTATION AND VALUE PROPOSITION -- Professor Mohan Sawhney offers deep insights into the underpinning of this model.

MAKING BUSINESS DECISIONS - Professor Vicki Medvec discusses the basic issues of making critical business decisions that underpins all this work while highlighting the dangerous traps to avoid.


We also discuss in great detail the challenges that medium to large companies face in developing these concepts and implementing them at a strategic level using a series of highly interactive cases and supporting lectures:

RESOURCING CRITICAL BUSINESSES TO WIN
Portfolio processes are an essential part of the growth effort – you must free the resources needed to drive the critical growth businesses while still meeting your short term commitments. We deploy an exciting case on the challenge of deploying resources across the major businesses of a corporation using tools developed to accomplish this goal in real business situations.

DEPLOYING A NEW BUSINESS DESIGN
We discuss the use of the Innovation Radar to think though all the issues required to implement a new business system at a strategic level. The case is based on a real business challenge of bringing a disruptive offering to a market with well entrenched players.

MANAGING GROWTH INITIATIVES IN A LARGE COMPANY
We use the case of IBM who faced this challenge and developed an incredibly successful organizational system. The case is rich in the most fundamental issues of managing new businesses. In this context, Professor Wolcott discusses the different corporate models of accomplishing sustained growth engines based on his extensive research and I discuss the critical challenge of managing businesses in highly uncertain business environments—Managing Business Risk.


The new class is entitled Implementing Organic Growth Strategies.
http://execed.kellogg.northwestern.edu/programs/LEAD20/index.htm

The “center of gravity” for the course is developing the “Staircase to Growth”

We cover all the issues that should be considered in taking your business from where it is to where you want it to go – the new business design ( we will dedicate a session on ensuring you have the Business Design fully developed)

The content covers:

RESOURCING THE PROJECTS TO WIN – an interactive case study on a powerful set of portfolio tools and approaches at the project level – what projects do we stop to afford the budgetary head room required to resource critical growth projects while meeting short term numbers?

BUILDING THE STAIRCASE—a combination of lecture and a case study that bring the Discovery Driven Planning (DDP) process to life. DDP is a market tested tool that successfully enables businesses to execute the riskiest part of the Staircase: how do you begin to scale while there is still substantial uncertainty?

BUILDING THE CAPABILITY PLATFORM – Professor Edward Zajac will discuss forming and managing strategic alliances fill your capability gaps.

SECURING THE MARKET POSITION – Professor Thomas Conley will review how to secure the new market position via lecture and a case study deploying all forms of intellectual property. He will emphasize how to incorporate the planning early in the Staircase process.

THE ROLE OF LEADERSHIP IN INNOVATION- Professor Mohan Sawhney will lecture on this all important topic and will be supported by a case study of a company that grew via a dramatic change in their strategy.

IMPLEMENTING NETWORK-CENTRIC INNOVATION -- Professor Mohan Sawhney will discuss this all important trend that is beginning to impact all businesses.

Please visit the listed web sites for further details.