Strategic Management - The Strategy Hierarchy

The Strategy Hierarchy

Most corporations have multiple levels of management. Strategic management can occur at corporate, business, functional and operational levels.

Corporate strategy answers the questions, "which businesses should we be in?" and "how does being in these businesses create synergy and/or add to the competitive advantage of the corporation as a whole?"

Business strategy is the corporate strategy of single firm or a strategic business unit (SBU) in a diversified corporation.

Functional strategies are specific to a functional area, such as marketing, product development, human resources, finance, legal, supply-chain and information technology. The emphasis is on short and medium term plans. Functional strategies are derived from and must comply with broader corporate strategies.

Defining an operational strategy was encouraged by Peter Drucker. It deals with operational activities such as scheduling criteria.

Read more about this topic:  Strategic Management

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