In the business world, from start-ups to industry leaders, developing a sound corporate strategy is crucial to consistently meeting goals and achieving long-term success. Corporate strategy at its core concerns itself with the entirety of a business, where decisions are made in regard to its overall growth and direction. Ultimately, corporate strategy strives to create value, develop a unique marketing advantage, and seize maximum market share.
What is corporate strategy?
When clearly defined, a corporate strategy will work to establish the overall value of a business, setstrategic goalsand motivate employees to achieve them. It is acontinuous processthat should be carefully tailored to respond appropriately to changing conditions in the marketplace. Several components are involved in developing a comprehensive corporate strategy. The four most widely accepted key components of corporate strategy are visioning, objective setting, resource allocation, and prioritization.
What is a corporate strategist?
Those professionals who aspire to set forth strategies to enhance and strengthen the businesses they help lead can learn the contextual principles needed to distinguish themselves with Ottawa University’s online Master in Business Administrationdegree. The curriculum of OU’s MBA will help you gain the real-world education and skills you need to impact your organization’s corporate strategy in a leadership or expert role.Our 100 % online MBA degree provides working adults maximum flexibility withonline business classes that incorporates personal values and professional ethics. Furthermore, Ottawa’s business administration graduate degree features aStrategic Innovation Concentrationasone of eight concentrations that can be selected to tailor your MBA for future corporate strategizing.
What are the levels of corporate strategy?
There are 3 common levels of corporate strategy. These include:
- corporate strategy level
- business strategy level
- functional strategy level
An effective corporate strategy is founded upon honest self-evaluation, which is derived by asking key questions about your business – what is the current state of your company, where do you want your company to be in the next three to five years, how does your company get there, and what people, resources and finances are best capable of helping your company arrive there?
What are the key components of corporate strategy?
Then, it is time to carry out the aforementioned corporate strategy components, which are detailed below:
1. Visioning
Setting the high-level direction of the organization – namely the vision, mission and potentially corporate values – is the overriding purpose of the visioning component. Visioning for your company’s future has become an increasingly important element of corporate leadership. Companies should plan 3 to 5 years into the future and involve as many key personnel in the visioning process to foster a higher level of commitment and teamwork. In creating a corporate vision statement, the primary goal should be to respond to how leadership sees the company evolving in the future.
2. Objective Setting
Developing the visioning aspects created and turning them into a series of high-level objectives for the company, typically spanning 3-5 years in length, is the basis for objective setting. Strategic objectives are the big-picture goals for the company: they describe what the company will do to try to fulfill its mission. Having strategic objectives in place allows a company to measure its progress. Clearly communicating these objectives to personnel ensures that everyone is focused on the highest-priority tasks and is operating under the same assumptions about the company's future.
3. Resource Allocation
This corporate strategy component refers to the decisions which concern the most efficient allocation of human and capital resources in the context of stated goals and objectives.Resource allocation involves planning, managing and assigning resources in a form that helps to reach a company’s strategic goals. In an effort to maximize the value of the entire firm, leaders must determine how to allocate these resources to the various businesses or business units to make the whole greater than the sum of the parts.
4. Prioritization or Strategic Tradeoffs
Prioritization – or identifying strategic tradeoffs – is one of the most challenging aspects of corporate strategy at its core. Since it’s not always possible to take advantage of all feasible opportunities, and because business decisions almost always entail a degree of risk, companies need to take these factors into account in arriving at the optimal strategic mix. It’s important for companies to balance the strategic tradeoffs between risk and return and ensure that the desired levels of risk management and return generation are being pursued.
Strategic Innovation
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This program is specifically designed to provide knowledge needed to thrive in start-ups or well-established organizations. It holds esteemed accreditation from the Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP), showing the high levels of business teaching within this degree. U.S. News & World Report has ranked Ottawa University's online programs near the top of the best colleges in the institution’s adult markets of Kansas City, Phoenix, and Milwaukee.
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