Corporate Level Strategy

The challenges faced by diversified corporations—firms that operate in more than one industry or market—have changed over the years. In this new edition, Olivier Furrer helps students of corporate strategy to consider the impact of critical changes in resources, businesses and headquarters roles on the firm’s ability for establishing and sustaining corporate advantage. New to this edition are stimulating pedagogical features and additional material such as a new chapter on the theoretical foundations of multibusiness firms, along with a host of new examples from across the world. A companion website supplements the book, providing PowerPoint slides, a test bank of questions, and lists of suggested case studies.

Advance praise for Corporate-Level Strategy. "At last a book that cuts through all the corporate jargon and academic generalizations to answer the question 'Does the corporate parent create or destroy value for the organization?' The authors suggest a simple yet compelling framework for making this determination. Must reading for students and practitioners alike." -Robert Cizik Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Cooper Industries "In an era when the role of corporate-level management is quite justifiably being questioned and challenged, it is refreshing to find a book that clearly shows how parent companies can add rather than destroy value in their businesses. As we would expect of these world class authorities, Goold, Campbell, and Alexander have leveraged their fascinating research findings into an eminently readable and highly practical book." -Chris Bartlett Professor Harvard Business School "A vital and deeply researched contribution to thinking about corporate strategy." -Gary Hamel London Business School "I am very impressed by the extensive work on which this book is based, and by the concept of parenting advantage that it puts forward." -Yasutaka Obayashi Senior General Manager, Corporate Strategy Canon "Great companies grow, they don't just cut. With breakups and restructuring done, corporate parenting is coming back. Goold, Campbell, and Alexander have produced a comprehensive and intelligent book which should become a standard guide on the subject." -Tom Hout Vice President The Boston Consulting Group "A perceptive and valuable insight into an often underestimated area of strategy. This book clearly demonstrates the importance of parenting to the longer term development and prosperity of multibusiness companies." -Alan R. Jackson Chief Executive, BTR "I am glad someone has so well and so fully shed light on this important body of thinking." -Sigurd Reinton Director, McKinsey & Company, 1981-1988

A revised edition of the bestselling classic This book covers strategy for organisations that operate more than one business, a situation commonly referred to as group-level or corporate-level strategy. Corporate-level strategy addresses four types of decisions that only corporate-level managers can make: which businesses or markets to enter, how much to invest in each business, how to select and guide the managers of these businesses, and which activities to centralise at the corporate level. This book gives managers and executive students all the tools they need to make and review effective corporate strategy across a range of organisations.

Businesses need strategies that determine the direction of functioning and further development. If a company deals with several multifaceted businesses, each of them subsequently requires their own strategy. The issue of strategy creation and realization is a key factor that must receive the closest possible attention. In order to assure victory and be thoroughly prepared for various directions and situations that may arise, companies create their own unique strategies. This book is primarily aimed at suggesting the necessary repertoire of knowledge and skills for strategy creating with the help of the TASGRAM integrated system – Thinking, Analyzing, Strategy, Goals, Risks, Actions, and Monitoring. The main outcome of TASGRAM is a combined strategic table: business strategy, corporate strategy, goals, risks, actions, and monitoring. Each element in TASGRAM has a concrete goal and it helps users become more focused. Creating Business and Corporate Strategy: An Integrated Strategic System offers a new tool for company strategy creation, showcasing various cases and examples based on theory and practice. Unlike the existing tools, the suggested system of strategy creation is simpler and definite. Its main purpose is to help create and further develop the created strategy, making this book especially valuable to researchers, academics, practitioners, and students in the fields of strategy, leadership, and management.

Strategic Management (2020) is a 325-page open educational resource designed as an introduction to the key topics and themes of strategic management. The open textbook is intended for a senior capstone course in an undergraduate business program and suitable for a wide range of undergraduate business students including those majoring in marketing, management, business administration, accounting, finance, real estate, business information technology, and hospitality and tourism. The text presents examples of familiar companies and personalities to illustrate the different strategies used by today's firms and how they go about implementing those strategies. It includes case studies, end of section key takeaways, exercises, and links to external videos, and an end-of-book glossary. The text is ideal for courses which focus on how organizations operate at the strategic level to be successful. Students will learn how to conduct case analyses, measure organizational performance, and conduct external and internal analyses.

This textbook offers a personal perspective on the broad and complex topic of corporate strategy. The book is structured to follow the journey of systematic corporate strategy development and implementation. “Corporate Strategy” presents frameworks and concepts for strategy development that have proven to be useful in corporate practice. The book covers the fundamental questions of daily strategy work and illustrates them with examples from real companies. It addresses all key elements of corporate strategy in a clear and systematic way: • Corporate ambition and capabilities • Corporate portfolio analysis • Corporate growth and portfolio strategy • Managing and transforming the corporate profile • Corporate parenting strategy and organization • Corporate financial strategy • Corporate strategy process The book serves not only as a practice-oriented textbook for students and teachers of corporate strategy, it also functions as a sophisticated handbook for practitioners who are responsible for developing and implementing effective corporate strategies.

Many companies are not single businesses but a collection of businesses with one or more levels of corporate management. Written for managers, advisors and students aspiring to these roles, this book is a guide to decision-making in the domain of corporate strategy. It arms readers with research-based tools needed to make good corporate strategy decisions and to assess the soundness of the corporate strategy decisions of others. Readers will learn how to do the analysis for answering questions such as 'Should we pursue an alliance or an acquisition to grow?', 'How much should we integrate this acquisition?' and 'Should we divest this business?'. The book draws on the authors' wealth of research and teaching experience at INSEAD, London Business School and University College London. A range of learning aids, including easy-to-comprehend examples, decision templates and FAQs, are provided in the book and on a rich companion website.

In Corporate Level Strategy, Furrer guides the reader in developing the ability to consider the impact of change and other important environmental forces on the opportunities for establishing and sustaining competitive advantage in diversified corporations as a whole.