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Management Forum

MBA Strategic Thinking for Pharma and Biopharma Professionals Training Course

Strategic thinking training course for pharma and biopharma professionals navigating industry pressures. Build vision, influence stakeholders, and implement winning strategies using proven MBA methodologies and practical tools.

★★★★★ "All good! I learn quite some insights. As a researcher I was unsure if I would understand the conten... more (8)"

21-22 September 2026 »
from £999

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Course overview

Working in the highly competitive pharmaceutical industry, where change is constant and pressure is relentless, is arguably one of the most demanding managerial challenges in any sector today. This MBA strategic thinking workshop has been crafted to empower you to rise above these challenges by equipping you to see the bigger picture in every aspect of your role.

Across two highly-interactive days, you will work with practical strategic thinking tools taught on MBAs and learn how to apply them directly to your day-to-day responsibilities. The workshop will elevate your ability to guide the direction of your teams, develop strategies to address key pharma and biopharma business problems, create a compelling vision for the future and embed strategic thinking within your organisation.

You will discover new ways of thinking, making choices and turning them into action by using ‘Helicopter’ or ‘Strategic Thinking’, ensuring that what you learn can be implemented immediately in the workplace.

The course immerses you in a range of focus areas within the pharmaceutical industry using MBA strategic business cases, exploring what MBA ‘strategy’ and ‘strategic thinking’ really mean and why they are vital in the pharma and biopharma environment, how artificial intelligence innovations are being used and developed across the sector, how to build strategic plans for your teams, group and organisation, how to apply these concepts to pharma case studies, your own challenges and both departmental and individual situations, and how to use the MBA strategic thinking tool-kit with confidence and impact.

This training course is part of our collection of Leadership & Management Training Courses which focus on leadership, innovation, strategy, communication, finance, problem solving and conflict management, to name a few key areas.

Benefits of attending

Gain the ability to see the bigger picture in your role and apply MBA-level strategic thinking immediately in the workplace
Learn practical strategic tools taught on MBAs to guide team direction, shape future vision and address key pharma and biopharma business challenges
Enhance your decision-making by adopting new ways of thinking and implementing choices through effective ‘Helicopter’ or ‘Strategic Thinking’
Understand how strategic principles apply to real pharmaceutical industry scenarios through MBA strategic business cases and practical application
Discuss the impact of emerging innovations such as artificial intelligence and how they influence strategy across pharma and biopharma organisations

Who should attend?

This course is ideal for all those in the pharmaceutical industry who make strategic choices and who recognise that they could rise to future challenges by becoming more strategic, more behaviourally skilled, and more creative.

It is designed for managers who are eager to deliver strategy with greater ease and confidence, and who want to evaluate its effectiveness whether their focus is technical or commercial.

This course is particularly relevant to heads of teams and departments, those responsible for leading a project, and anyone in a role that requires influencing other areas of their organisation, especially within a matrix management environment.

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This course will cover:

Day 1
Day 2

Introduction and objectives

What is strategy and strategic thinking?

Helicopter thinking
The importance of strategy for the pharmaceutical industry
Artificial Intelligence (AI) being used in the pharma industry
The Strategy Process and tool strategic kit used on MBAs

Environmental analysis

Strategy tools
Competitive analysis
Case study in the pharmaceutical industry
Critical thinking model and application

Generating and evaluating strategic options

Creativity for generating options
Evaluating strategic options
Pharma case study continued

Strategy implementation

Strategic project implementation
Leadership
Change management (pharma case study)

Behavioural

Effective and strategic communication (pharma case study)
Managing stakeholders and influencing agendas
Behaving strategically

Evaluation

Monitoring implementation
Performance drivers and indicators
Problem diagnosis

Application

Business plan structure
How to apply the strategic tools following the course

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Laura Brown
Independent Pharmaceutical Consultant

Dr Laura Brown MBA is an independent Pharmaceutical Training and Management Consultant, and visiting lecturer at Cranfield School of Management, a leading European business school. Laura has worked in the pharmaceutical industry for 25 years. She has facilitated strategy development for a number of teams in the pharmaceutical industry.

Laura has also co-authored several books on strategy and related areas including “Be Your Own Strategy Consultant”, “Value-Based HR Strategy”, “Strategic Project Management” and “Pharmaceutical Project Management”.

More details

NEW higher discounts for multiple bookings - bring your colleagues to make your training budget go further:

30% off the 2nd delegate*
40% off the 3rd delegate*
50% off the 4th delegate*

Please contact us for pricing if you are interested in booking 5 or more delegates

21-22 September 2026

Live online

09:30-16:30 UK (London) (UTC+01)
10:30-17:30 Paris (UTC+02)
04:30-11:30 New York (UTC-04)
Course code 16125

GBP 999 1,199
EUR 1,399 1,679
USD 1,607 1,919

Until 17 Aug

2 days live online training
Browser-based, no download usually required
See presenters and interact with fellow attendees
Download documentation and certification of completion
Fair transfer and cancellation policy

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for 7 days, no obligation

* Early booking discounts may not be combined with other discounts or offers. As such, the discounts for 2nd/3rd/4th delegates are based on the full price; and apply only when booking multiple delegates on the same date.

Reviews of IPI's MBA Strategic Thinking for Pharma and Biopharma Professionals training course

All good! I learn quite some insights. As a researcher I was unsure if I would understand the content of the course entirely, but I did not have any problem; plus, I learned new tools and techniques that I will definitely implement. 5* - I would recommend.

Feb 24 2025

Clara Vázquez García Germany
Immunology Dept., Max Delbrück Center

Oct 30 2025

The speaker has comprehensive knowledge and effectively shared the knowledge with participants.

Katarzyna (Kasia) Wegner Ireland
Head of Global APID, Ipsen Manufacturing Ireland Ltd

Oct 30 2025

The strategic thinking training was highly valuable and well-executed. It offered a balanced mix of theory, practical tools, and reflection. The sessions were thoughtfully structured, and Laura’s expertise made the content engaging and relevant. I came away with a clearer understanding of strategic frameworks and a renewed confidence in applying them to complex business challenges. I would definitely recommend this training to professionals looking to enhance their strategic mindset.

Bérengère Duhamel France
Head of Business Insights, MedinCell

Oct 30 2025

Very good prepared content/ppt. The speaker has comprehensive knowledge and effectively shared the knowledge with participants.

Katarzyna (Kasia) Wegner Ireland
Head of Global APID, Ipsen Manufacturing Ireland Ltd

Oct 30 2025

I feel incredibly blessed to have been on this webinar with such nice colleagues from other companies. There was an incredible nice tone throughout the whole webinar which was great and made the sessions more enjoyable. I have been thinking about pursuing an MBA for quite some time now and was looking for a bit of insight. I have an idea now following this webinar. There was no doubt that speaker has incredible amount of knowledge and was keen to share examples from own carrier. Really nice with the breakout sessions allowing one to use and apply some learnings.

Nermin Ipek Denmark
Regulatory Affairs Team Leader, Novo Nordisk

Feb 24 2025

Very knowledgeable [speaker, who] brought the course to life by dipping into her own experiences of some scenarios which made the course very relatable.

Derek Lilley United Kingdom
National Account Manager, Colonis Pharma Ltd