Corporate Strategy Introduction

1. INTRODUCING STRATEGIC
1. INTRODUCTION
Why “Corporate strategy”:

It’s about strategy & strategic decisions in all types of organization

It includes all levels of strategy
Corporate strategy = strategic management = business policy = organizational strategy
2. WHAT IS STRATEGY?
2.1 Characteristics of strategic decisions
Strategy is the direction and scope of an organization over the long term, which achieves
advantage in a changing environment through its configuration of resources and competences
with the aim of fulfilling stakeholder expectations
- Long term direction: what sort of company it should be?
- Full scope of an organization’s activities
- Competitive advantage: Allows to create market value and performing
- Strategy fit with the environment: Company must meets the needs of the market
- Resources & Competences: strategy must exploit the capability of its resources to
provide competitive advantage
- Coherent with the values & expectations of stakeholders: values can have a huge
influence on the strategy development of the organization
Therefore, strategic decisions imply:
- Complexity of the business
- Uncertainty: strategy is about the future, we can’t be sure about the future!
- Operational decisions are linked to strategy: operational decisions must be in line with
the strategy. It’s at the operational level that real strategic advantage can be achieved.
- Integration: require an integrated approach
- Relationships and network outside the organization are important in strategy
(suppliers, customers, gov. regulators, banks, investors…)
- Changes in the organization: changing the business plan is difficult because of the
organizational culture and habits.
2
2.2 Levels of strategy
Strategic decisions are made at a number of levels in organization => 3 different levels of
strategy:
a) Corporate level strategy is concerned with:
- the overall scope of an organization
- how value will be added to the different parts... [continues]

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