Are you ready to transform your understanding of programme management?

If so, and you have several years’ commissioning experience behind you, this course will prove invaluable. In three intensive days you’ll work through how to:

• view a publishing programme, list or major product in the context of a company’s strategic objectives
• apply financial analysis at both company and product levels
• assess a changing market place and determine your response
• develop products to maximise profitability
• allocate, manage and motivate the team you need for product development, including its effective co-operation with other departments.

You’ll derive most benefit from this course if you have spent three or more years in a commissioning or developmental role. It provides a practical review of the techniques for building competitive marketing / developmental strategies in a typical corporate context.

The approach is a stimulating combination of presentations, exercises and discussion sessions, with the emphasis on delegate interaction.

You’ll leave with a wealth of new ideas and the confidence to take your products – and your career – to the next level.

Note: this course is an updated version of Publishing Programme Management.

Programme

Day one

• The elements of corporate strategy
• Company finance – understanding balance sheets, P&L accounts, cash flow and investment decisions

Day two

• Market and competitor analysis
• Tools for developing competitive marketing strategies
• Creating competitive advantage
• Product profitability and risk assessment

Day three

• Working relationships
• Team management
• Cross-departmental working
• Managing change

Who will benefit from this course?
Development Editors, Senior Commissioning Editors, Publishing Managers, Commissioning Editors, Senior Editors from any sector of educational, academic or trade reference publishing.

Your tutors
David Inglis has wide experience at executive level in the publishing and library sectors, including five years as Director of the British Library’s Digital Library Programme, procuring infrastructure, drafting digitisation policy and licensing major digital heritage content projects. As a publisher, David managed STM and educational subsidiaries of News International and Thomson International Publishing. The output of the latter included the first wave of online scholarly journals and innovative database products. He is now a consultant offering broad managerial experience in the information world with a focus on digital asset management.

Josie Dixon was Publishing Director for the Academic Division at Palgrave Macmillan until 2003, and before that worked for 11 years in commissioning and managerial roles at Cambridge University Press. She now works as a publishing consultant with a special interest in training, and has given workshops and lectures on the publishing industry internationally.

Kay Symons is a publishing consultant with 30 years' experience with some of the foremost educational publishers in the UK. She worked at Harcourt for 20 years, initially as humanities publishing director and eventually becoming MD of Heinemann Secondary and Vocational during a period of huge success from 1997-2004. She was then seconded to take an international executive MBA programme at Henley Management College. After that, she fulfilled a number of roles working on strategic projects, as Marketing Director and as Harcourt's first Customer Focus Director.

We also offer Journals Management, Developing and Managing Digital Products and, for relatively new commissioning editors, Commissioning and List Management.

Note that most of our open courses can also be run as in company events.

Send details of this course to a colleague.

Dates: 3-5 November 2008

Price: £1339+VAT (a number of discounts are available, including an early booking discount if you confirm your booking at least eight weeks ahead of the start date).

Venue and accommodation: The course takes place at Milton Hill Training Centre, just south of Oxford - ten minutes by taxi from Didcot Parkway station. Set in 53 acres of parkland, this Management Development Centre has a high standard of accommodation, food and training facilities, plus wheelchair access.

Make a provisional booking on Managing Publishing Strategy