Strategic Leadership

This course will assist and guide you in understanding the concept of strategic leadership, what it entails, and the process that effective strategic leadership requires. The course focuses not only on strategic leadership, but also on aspects supporting and enhancing this process. Consequently, additional matters such as strategic decision-making and competitive advantage will also be covered. Finally, the course closes with consideration of gaining access to the international market, and how to design a strategy to enable this move.

Dr Deon van der Merwe holds a D.Litt. et Phil. in Psychology. He started his career in higher education in 1989 as a student counsellor, at the previous Rand Afrikaans University, now known as the University of Johannesburg. As he had a passion for teaching and learning, he soon became involved in the field of academic development (AD), initially in student academic development. Recently, Dr Van der Merwe became involved in private higher education, where he also acted as academic head, and academic director, of various private higher education institutions. He currently also consults as education development specialist to various institutions.

Dr Van der Merwe has lectured in various fields of expertise, starting in the field of psychology. He ultimately extended his field of expertise into that of organisational development. This specifically included the field of organisational psychology, business management, strategic management, international business management, project management, and human resource management. He has also acted as research supervisor for numerous Masters’ dissertations and Doctoral theses.

BASIC REQUIREMENTSTo successfully access and complete this course, you will be required to have a registered email account, access to a computer/laptop/tablet and stable internet connection. You will be required to be familiar with using a computer as you may need to be able to read and download documents in Adobe PDF Reader, view Microsoft PowerPoint presentations, and read and create documents in Microsoft Word.

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTSOur online short learning programmes may require additional software applications. These additional software applications requirements will be communicated to you in this information pack and/or on the website course page. UNi4 Online does not provide any additional software applications required for online short learning programmes.

Please note: Google, YouTube and Vimeo may be used in our online course delivery. If any of these services are blocked in your jurisdiction, you may have difficult in accessing our course content.

Our online short learning programmes are broken into self-paced manageable modules designed to be interactive and engaging:

• The programme is available to be viewed on smart devices and includes mobile, tablets and personal computers.
• Relevant case studies, articles and recommended reading are part of supplementary resources available.
• Apply and evaluate what you have learned in each module with the self-grading quizzes and assignment submissions.
• View a range of introductory course videos by your Subject Matter Expert.
• Scheduled live webinars are included with the Online Academic Tutor.
• Network, collaborate and interact with your fellow participants and Online Academic Tutor via the discussion forum.

Upon successful completion of this online short learning programme, you will be awarded with a UNi4 Online Certificate of Completion.

Your dedicated Online Academic Tutor (OAT) will provide you with necessary guidance, offer advice and answer questions on course content, to help you achieve academic success.

• MODULE 0 | Orientation Week 1
  Navigating the Virtual Learning Environment
• MODULE 1 | Strategic Management: An Introduction Week 2
  Learn about strategic management concepts and leadership
• MODULE 2 | The Strategic Planning Process Week 3
  Understand the strategic objectives, goals, and strategy as it applies to business environments
• MODULE 3 | Analysing Internal and External Environments Week 4
  Examine business environments using SWOT analysis
• MODULE 4 | Strategic Decision Making Week 5
  Develop an understanding of factors affecting decision making and learn about decision-making tools

• MODULE 5 | Strategy Formulation Week 6
  Define goal setting and formulation of an organisational strategy
• MODULE 6 | Strategy Implementation and Control Week 7
  Learn about control systems and control at various levels of the organisation
• MODULE 7 | Strategy and Competitive Advantage Week 8
  Learn the role of, and business model for, strategic and competitive advantage
• MODULE 8 | Developing an International Business Strategy Week 9
  Explain globalisation, the international markets and how to formulate an international business model
• MODULE 9 | Wrap-up Week 10
  Synthesise your learning journey experience