Programme structure 

• Building effective teams
• Learning styles and team roles
• Developing group ground rules
• Preparation for open book exams
• How to prepare for a case study.

The Business Environment

• Business challenges in the new economy
• Globalisation, its effect on business strategy and the world economy
• Structural change and long-term growth in the SA economy
• Monitoring trends in the economy: understanding macroeconomics indicators and its impact on business performance
• Market demand and supply analysis
• Competitiveness and productivity

Innovation & Entrepreneurship

• Becoming survivalists in a changing environment
• Developing creative solutions and innovative value-adds
• Recognising and nurturing creativity in staff
• Sustaining a culture of innovation
• Implementing new concepts in the workplace
• Introducing effective change management
• Creating new ventures (Intrapreneurship & Entrepreneurship)

• The fundamental concepts of project management
• The role of project management in the organisation
• The application of best practice in project management and the inter-relationship between project processes, process groups and knowledge areas
• The impact of human behaviour on project management and the role of the project manager
• Managing project teams
• The theory behind methods and techniques used in project management and their application to problems
• The essential steps in the decision making process and some techniques to help with the process

• Accounting terminology
• Internal reporting
• The impact and importance of working capital
• The different costing methods and their impact on managerial decision-making
• How different organisations apply the concepts of budgeting
• Financial Accounting
• Financial statement preparation and analysis
• Interpretation of reports in management decision-making
• Valuation of intangible assets and their applications for predicting future performance of an organisation
• Limitations of reporting systems and accounting data

(Note: An Accounting Preparation module will precede the Accounting module)

Leadership and People Management

• People Management in the South African context
• Labour productivity, education and training
• AIDS management in the workplace
• Leadership and Management
• Motivational styles and techniques
• Managing diversity and change
• The value of diversified workers

Financial Management

• The corporate and the individual’s perspective of financial management
• Operational finance and its challenges for today’s managers
• Financial statements and financial statement analysis and limitations of financial reports
• The impact and importance of financial structuring
• The use of financial information in managerial decision-making
• Integrating investment decision-making
• The current value of money

Marketing

• The role played by marketing in the organisation
• Themes around market segmentation, the marketing mix and the requirements to create a market-focused organisation
• Analysis of the marketing environment as an aid to strategic decision-making
• The role brands play in a strategic context, and how to measure and manage for brand health for both tangible and intangible products
• Promotion and the tools used to communicate the firm’s value proposition
• Pricing strategies aligned to the marketing mix
• Defining and building market orientation with employee participation
• The concept of relationship building and what it means for organisations and their customers

Operations Management

• Delivering world-class service in the South African environment
• The use of strategic information and planning to secure market advantage
• The principles of business planning
• Customer partnering and its use in business
• Value chain management and the effect on customer service
• Supply chain management - optimising supplier performance and forming supplier partnerships
• Process design implementation and management
• Enterprise resource management
• Philosophies and techniques of quality management

(Note: A company visit forms part of the Operations Management module - compulsory for all students).

Information and Knowledge Management

• Information as a management resource
• The roles of the CEO and the CIO in the information age
• Evolution from information to knowledge to competitive advantage
• The nature and role of IT outsourcing
• Operational issues involved in e-Business strategy
• How to maximise the potential of e-Business.

Strategy

• Positioning the company in the marketplace
• Achieving sustainable competitiveness
• Strategic management’s impact on the profitability and success of the firm
• The impact of critical evaluation
• Conceptual tools forming the framework for strategic analysis, planning and management
• Understanding the organisation in the industry environment and the national, regional and global context
• Understanding strategic choices and strategic leadership

                (Note: The Strategy module will be followed by a Strategy Simulation session - compulsory for all delegates).

• Students from each syndicate select a realistic application project that they will be able to implement in their workplace
• The syndicate groups undertake a quality, in-depth, integrated study of the selected business problem area or opportunity
• The action learning project (ALP) provides an opportunity to practically ground the various facets learnt on the PMD
• The areas of the ALP that are evaluated are: project application, research methodology, originality of reports, and the problem-solving techniques employed.