Mini MBA: Business Essentials, Cross-Functional Management and Business Planning – Dubai, 8–12 Mar 2027

Programme overview

Introduction:

Managers are often promoted for depth in one function and then asked to make decisions that touch strategy, customers, operations, people and money at once. Without a joined-up view, units optimise locally, trade-offs go unseen and plans fail to connect with the numbers. This Core Concept Mini MBA is a short executive programme, not a degree, that shows how a business works end to end. Participants run a company through a multi-round business simulation and leave with a One-Page Business Plan for their own unit or venture.

Course Objectives:

• Explain how strategy, marketing, operations, people and finance connect to create and capture value in an organisation
• Analyse a market position using competitive analysis and customer value tools to set clear strategic choices for a unit
• Align marketing, operations and people decisions with a chosen strategy and test them against capacity and cost
• Interpret a profit and loss statement and cash position at summary level to judge the financial effect of cross-functional decisions
• Make and defend business decisions under uncertainty using structured options, criteria and trade-off analysis
• Build a One-Page Business Plan that links goals, customers, operations, people, numbers and risks for a unit or venture

Target Audience:

• Managers who have recently taken charge of a unit or function and must work across other departments
• Mid-level managers responsible for results that depend on sales, delivery and cost together
• Technical and specialist managers moving into roles with wider business accountability
• Business unit and product managers who own targets, budgets and customer outcomes
• Project and programme managers who need to connect initiatives to commercial results

Course Outline:

Day 1: How a Business Works End to End

• Business System Map: Customers, Value Proposition, Resources and Profit Engine
• Value Creation and Value Capture Logic Across Functions
• Stakeholder Map: Owners, Customers, Employees, Suppliers and Society
• Cross-Functional Dependency Mapping for a Manager's Own Unit
• Business Simulation Briefing: Company Profile, Market and Round Rules

Day 2: Strategy, Markets and Customer Value

• Industry and Competitive Analysis for Unit-Level Strategic Choices
• Customer Segmentation and Target Market Selection
• Value Proposition Design and Positioning Statement
• Marketing Mix Decisions: Product, Price, Place and Promotion
• Simulation Round 1: Market Entry and Positioning Decisions

Day 3: Operations, People and Organisation

• Value Chain and Process View of Operations
• Capacity, Quality and Service Level Trade-Offs
• Organisation Design Basics: Structure, Roles and Decision Rights
• Workforce Planning and Capability Gaps Linked to Strategy
• Simulation Round 2: Operations and People Resource Allocation

Day 4: Money, Measures and Decisions Under Uncertainty

• Profit and Loss Statement at a Glance: Revenue, Margin and Overheads
• Profit Versus Cash: Working Capital Effects of Commercial Decisions
• Unit Economics and Contribution per Customer or Product
• Balanced Performance Dashboard Linking Customer, Process, People and Financial Measures
• Decision Matrix and Scenario Testing for Cross-Functional Trade-Offs

Day 5: Integrated Simulation and the One-Page Business Plan

• Simulation Round 3: Market Shock and Integrated Response
• Simulation Results Debrief: Linking Decisions to Financial Outcomes
• One-Page Business Plan Template: Goals, Customers, Operations, People and Numbers
• Business Plan Risk and Assumption Register
• One-Page Business Plan Pitch and Peer Challenge Panel

Skills You Will Gain:

• Business Acumen
• Cross-Functional Integration
• Competitive Positioning
• Customer Value Analysis
• Operations Trade-Off Judgement
• Profit and Loss Interpretation
• Structured Decision Making
• Business Planning

Why Attend This Course:

• Return to work with a One-Page Business Plan for your own unit or venture, tested in front of peers
• See the knock-on effects of a decision in one function on customers, capacity, people and profit before making it at work
• Take part in wider business discussions with a shared vocabulary for strategy, markets, operations and financial results
• Exchange practice with managers from other sectors and countries facing the same cross-functional pressures

Conclusion:

General managers add value by seeing the whole business, not only their own part of it. This short programme moves from the business system and value logic, through strategy and customer choices, to operations, people and organisation, and then to the profit, cash and measures that show whether decisions work. A multi-round business simulation ties the functions together, and the final day turns the lessons into a One-Page Business Plan that participants can use to steer and explain their unit's direction.