TABLE OF CONTENTS It is important to recognize that strategy may be formulated at different levels of the organizational structure. Corporate level strategy is determined for the whole corporation. Take a firm that has several different divisions, it may develop strategies for the whole organization and each of the different divisions may be strategic business units (SBUs) each with their own strategy. In such instances the SBU strategies must be congruent and fit with the overall corporate objectives and corporate strategy.
Corporate strategy is concerned with questions such as: 'What type of businesses should the organization be in?', 'Which markets should the firm pursue?', 'What purchasing and supply chain strategies should be implemented throughout the corporation?', 'What infrastructure needs to be developed to support the whole of the organization to achieve its goals?'. Decisions about diversification and primary structures for the organization together with the contributions that the organization's portfolio of businesses should make to the whole are all corporate level strategy issues.
Business level strategy focuses attention on what the SBUs need to do to achieve their business level objectives within the corporate whole. Questions such as: 'How can the SBU compete in a particular market?', 'What products and services should be offered?', 'Where to locate SBUs?', 'How can the SBU finance its operations in line with overall corporate policies?', 'What supply chain structures are needed to achieve the SBU's strategic objectives?'.
Operational strategies tend to focus on products and markets and how...
