Strategic Management | 3 Levels of Strategy That a Large Organization Must Develop

List and discuss the three levels of strategy that a large organization must develop. 

Answer: 

a.     Corporate strategy—this strategy seeks to determine what businesses a company should be in or wants to be in. Corporate strategy determines the direction that the organization is going and the roles that each business unit in the organization will plan in pursuing that direction.

b.     Business strategy—this strategy seeks to determine how an organization should compete in each of its businesses. For a small organization in only one line of business or the large organization that has not diversified into different products or markets, the business strategy typically overlaps with the organization’s corporate strategy. For organizations with multiple businesses, however, each division will have its own strategy that defines the products or services it will offer and the customers it wants to reach.

c.      Functional strategy—this strategy seeks to determine how to support the business strategy. For organizations that have traditional functional departments such as manufacturing, marketing, human resources, research and development, and finance, these strategies need to support the business strategy.

Source: Management, 11e (Robbins/Coulter)