Levels of Strategic Management??

1. Corporate Level Strategy: Corporate level strategy occupies the

highest level of strategic decision-making and covers actions dealing with the objective
of the firm, acquisition and allocation of resources and coordination of strategies of
various SBUs for optimal performance. Top management of the organization makes
such decisions. The nature of strategic decisions tends to be value-oriented, conceptual
and less concrete than decisions at the business or functional level.
2. Business-Level Strategy: Business-level strategy is applicable in those
organizations, which have different businesses-and each business is treated as
strategic business unit (SBU). The fundamental concept in SBU is to identify the
discrete independent product/market segments served by an organization. Since each
product/market segment has a distinct environment, a SBU is created for each such
segment. For example, Reliance Industries Limited operates in textile fabrics, yarns,
fibers, and a variety of petrochemical products. For each product group, the nature of
market in terms of customers, competition, and marketing channel differs.
3. Functional-Level Strategy: Functional strategy, as is suggested by the title, relates
to a single functional operation and the activities involved therein. Decisions at this level
within the organization are often described as tactical. Such decisions are guided and
constrained by some overall strategic considerations.

a.
Corporate strategythis strategy seeks to determine what businesses a company
should be in or wants to be in. Corporate strategy determines the direction that the
organization is going and the roles that each business unit in the organization will plan in
pursuing that direction.
b.
Business strategythis strategy seeks to determine how an organization should
compete in each of its businesses. For a small organization in only one line of business or
the large organization that has not diversified into different products or markets, the
business strategy typically overlaps with the organizations corporate strategy. For
organizations with multiple businesses, however, each division will have its own strategy
that defines the products or services it will offer and the customers it wants to reach.
c.
Functional strategythis strategy seeks to determine how to support the business
strategy. For organizations that have traditional functional departments such as
manufacturing, marketing, human resources, research and development, and finance, these
strategies need to support the business strategy.

Corporate-Level Strategy
This kind of strategy is concerned with market definition: what businesses and
markets do we want to be in? A strategic initiative might be launched to answer
that question, or more likely to realize the strategic intent of a new chosen business or
market.
The Red-Ocean-Blue-Ocean metaphor has been popular over the last few years. A red
ocean is a market where competitors bloody each other up fighting for market share. A
blue ocean is an emerging, growing business arena; potential competitors have not yet
identified it and the opportunity for success is large.
An example of corporate-level strategy: The February 2011 announcement an
alliance between Microsoft and Nokia Corp. The alliance involve Nokia will produce
phones running Windows Phone 7, a recognition that Nokias investment in its own
operating system has failed. The alliance gives Microsoft access to the worlds largest
phone maker and its huge mindsharein many developing nations a mobile phone is
known as a Nokia. The deal with Microsoft gives both Nokia and Microsoft a route to the
future in the smart-phone market.

Business-Level Strategy
This kind of strategy is concerned with succeeding in chosen markets.

An example of a business-level strategy was Dominos Pizza Turnaround which required

all areas of the organization to pull together to achieve a simple understandable
business goal: have a clear win against competitor in a taste test.

Functional-Level Strategy

This kind of strategy is concerned with making improvements to business

functions that support business and corporate strategy.
Functional strategy include IT strategy, marketing strategy, IT strategy, human
resources strategy, and operations. Typically, documents portraying functional strategy
will list estimates and plans for operating expenses, headcount, and continuous
improvement.
As implied by the graphic, functional-level strategy is the foundation that supports both
corporate-level strategy and business strategy. Many strategic initiatives are simply the
implementation of functional strategies, but often a strategic initiative straddles
numerous functions and businesses.