Course Overview

In an era of worldwide economic instability, the survival and competitiveness of manufacturing companies depend on their practices and capabilities to adapt to external environments, which are attributed to changes in customer preferences, government regulations, technology and competitors. This strategic alignment of internal resources and external market requirements enables not only survival, but also competitiveness. Manufacturing strategies determine the deployment of resources to build capabilities for creating and sustaining costs and product advantages in order to maintain a high level of profitability and strong market position. This reflects the ability to successfully define their scope, to manage and coordinate the core functions and operations within the enterprise as well as relationships with suppliers and customers, and to respond to market demand. All too often, in the daily pressure of achieving short-term financial results, managers lose sight of long-term goals. This TWIMS Masterclass is key to ensuring that companies remain on track to reach these goals is the existence of a clear and focused business strategy. In today’s world, where nothing is predictable and unfamiliar competitors emerge from unexpected directions at the worst possible time, a company should think of itself as a collection of evolving capabilities, not just as a collection of products and businesses, which provide the flexibility needed to embark in new directions. Corporate strategy must provide a framework for guiding the selection, development, and exploitation of these capabilities. Since many of the capabilities with the greatest competitive value reside in a company’s manufacturing organization, corporate strategy must become much more explicit about, and reliant on, manufacturing considerations than in the past.

Course Highlights

• Which industries, markets and segments should I enter or exit?
• Which advantage should I develop or build on?
• How can I create value for customers in a better way than competitors?
• How can we align sustainability demands and opportunities with our competitive strategy?
• How can I assess the challenges and seize the opportunities of digital disruption?
• Should I change our supply chain or ecosystem strategy, and how?
• How will my strategic decisions impact shareholder value and demands from other stakeholders?

Learning Outcomes

• Improve strategic thinking with state-of-the-art  models and tools.
• Sharpen competitive insight and skills to  achieve sustainable and profitable growth for  your manufacturing business.

The course participants will receive a TWIMS Competitive Strategies for Manufacturers Masterclass Attendance certificate.

Who Should Attend

Senior manufacturing managers and executives and public-sector executives with manufacturing portfolios. The Masterclass will be taught at a post-graduate level.

Course Facilitator

Theuns Pelser

The masterclass is facilitated by the strategist Professor Theuns Pelser. With a career spanning more than thirty years in academia and corporate South Africa, Theuns is the Executive Director at the Toyota Wessels Institute for Manufacturing Studies (TWIMS). He is the managing director of Teleios Advisory Services (TAS) a consulting firm and director at Super-Cube, a leadership development provider. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce (BCom), a BCom Honours, a Masters of Commerce (MCom) and a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Strategic Management from Potchefstroom University. He is the author of more than 100 academic peer-reviewed research publications and supervisor of over 50 masters and doctoral students. As an editorial member of the Global Innovative Forefront Talent Management (GIFT) and the South African Journal of Business Management (SAJBM), he has a deep desire for the educational upliftment and betterment of the manufacturing society.

Course Cost

The Masterclass costs R4 260 per participant. This is fully inclusive of all refreshments, teas and includes lunch over one day, as well as stationery. The cost excludes accommodation.

Venue and Accommodation

The Masterclass is run at the TWIMS campus, 74 Everton Road, Kloof. The day starts at 8:30 and concludes at 16:30. Accommodation is available on-site at an additional cost. Please visit the TWIMS website (www.twimsafrica.com) for further details.