Strategic Decision Making – An Action-Reaction Sequence of Events

Join us in Riyadh for an engaging masterclass on Strategic Decision Making – An Action-Reaction Sequence of Events by Professor Paul Patton, the esteemed Course Director for Strategy & Competition with Manchester Business School, The University of Manchester.

Agenda:

7:00 – 7:30 PM: Networking and Registration

7:30 – 8:00 PM: Information session on MBA

8:00 – 8:45 PM: Masterclass by Prof. Paul Patton

8:45 – 9:00 PM: Get your questions answered

About the Masterclass:

Join Paul Patton, Course Director, Strategy & Competition, to explore and discuss some topical issues influencing current strategic decision making. We live in a strategic interdependent business world where the success of a player’s strategy often depends greatly on the strategies adopted by rival players. Hence, we need to understand the action-reaction sequence of events and the effective use of strategic-planning tools, such as war games (scenario planning) and game theory. This requires players to correctly define the key elements of the strategic game, especially the strategic options and objectives of rival players. In order to anticipate the moves of your rivals, you must understand how both their strategists and decision makers think enabling you to reverse-engineer rival moves and predict what they are likely to do; however, getting inside your competitor’s head is difficult; hence, we use war games or scenario planning.

The Masterclass will explore topics that will enable you to analyse strategic interactions among competitive players in various business environments and give you an:

1. …understanding of the action-reaction sequence of events in strategic decision making;
2. …understanding of War Games to develop and test strategies;
3. …understanding of Game Theory to analyse and model those strategic interactions.

Participants will have an opportunity to explore and discuss the above topics and relate to their own business strategy while using various business models and making strategic business decisions.

About Prof. Paul Patton:

Paul Patton is Course Director for Strategy & Competition with Manchester Business School. He has considerable experience in the education and training sector and has delivered workshops and Master Classes on behalf of the Manchester Business School for over 20 years in Manchester, Dubai, Singapore, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Hyderabad, Miami and Jamaica.

Paul specialises in Strategy & Competition covering topics as wide ranging as Disruptive Technologies, the Sharing Economy, War Games and Game Theory Strategy with particular focus on innovation, efficiencies, investment and profitability.

About the University of Manchester

The University of Manchester is a member of the prestigious Russell Group and is one of the UK’s largest single-site universities with more than 40,000 students on campus – including more than 10,000 international students.

The University is consistently ranked among the world’s elite institutions for graduate employability and world-class research across a diverse range of fields including cancer, advanced materials, global inequalities, energy and industrial biotechnology.

According to the QS World University Rankings 2025, The University of Manchester is ranked 34th Globally, 10th in Europe and 6th in the UK.

About The University of Manchester - Dubai

The University of Manchester – Dubai, located in Dubai Knowledge Park was established in 2006 and is the largest and fastest-growing in the University’s international network, comprising five hubs in key business cities around the world, including Dubai, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Manchester.

The University of Manchester – Dubai is Licensed by The Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research and all programmes are accredited by the Commission for Academic Accreditation.

The Branch offers a dynamic portfolio of blended learning part-time Master’s degrees for working professionals. These include its triple accredited Manchester Global MBA and Executive MBA programmes, MSc Financial Management, and an award-winning MA Educational Leadership in Practice. The University also has a range of short business courses for executives delivered in Manchester.

The Branch has supported over 3,600 Part-time students in the region and graduated more than 2,650 students. It also works in regional collaborations with a range of industry groups, professional bodies and companies, and supports a regional alumni association with more than 5,500 members in countries across the region.

Programmes offered in The University of Manchester - Dubai

Triple Accredited MBA programmes:

• Global MBA
• Global (Executive) MBA

Other Programmes:

• MSc Financial Management
• MA Educational Leadership in Practice
• Executive Education

Accreditation

Our MBA is triple-accredited by the AACSB, an accreditation body from the US, the EFMD from Europe and the Association of MBAs, making us a member of the elite group of less than 1% of business schools in the world with the triple accreditation.

Learn more: manchester.ac.ae

Licensed by The Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research and programmes are accredited by the Commission for Academic Accreditation.

Please note that entrance to the event is at the organiser's discretion.