Level of strategies

When you are leading a strategic initiative for executing a corporate-level

strategy, you are creating a new business model

When you are leading a strategic initiative for executing a business-level strategy,

you are improving several or all of the nine elements of a business model
When you are leading a strategic initiative for executing a functional level
strategy, you are optimizing one or more of the nine elements of a
business model.

Corporate-Level Strategy
Corporate-level strategies address the entire strategic scope of the enterprise. This is the "big
picture" view of the organization and includes deciding in which product or service markets to
compete and in which geographic regions to operate. For multi-business firms, the resource
allocation processhow cash, staffing, equipment and other resources are distributedis
typically established at the corporate level.
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 mindshare
in 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
Business-level strategies are similar to corporate-strategies in that they focus on overall
performance. In contrast to corporate-level strategy, however, they focus on only one rather

than a portfolio of businesses. Business units represent individual entities oriented toward a
particular industry, product, or market. In large multi-product or multi-industry organizations,
individual business units may be combined to form strategic business units (SBUs).
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.

An example of functional-level strategy: In 2008, Swiss Life Group, a Zurichbased insurance company (ranked #373 on the Fortune Global 500 list) announced a
change in its Information Technology functional strategy priorities. The implications of
this was a decision to considerably scale back the number of IT projects in order to
reduce costs through re-prioritization. This was successful as shown in this November
2010 announcement,
Swiss Life increased its net profit in the first half of 2010 over the prior-year period
from CHF 139 million to CHF 269 million. This improvement is mainly attributable to
the significant operational progress made.

Mintzberg's 5 Ps for Strategy

The word "strategy" has been used implicitly in different ways even if it has traditionally been defined
in only one.
Mintzberg provides five definitions of strategy:

Plan

Ploy

Pattern

Position

Perspective.

lan
Strategy is a plan - some sort of consciously intended course of action, a guideline (or set
of guidelines) to deal with a situation. By this definition strategies have two essential
characteristics: they are made in advance of the actions to which they apply, and they
are developed consciously and purposefully.

Ploy
As plan, a strategy can be a ploy too, really just a specific manoeuvre intended to outwit
an opponent or competitor.

Pattern
If strategies can be intended (whether as general plans or specific ploys), they can also
be realized. In other words, defining strategy as plan is not sufficient; we also need a
definition that encompasses the resulting behavior: Strategy is a pattern - specifically, a
pattern in a stream of actions. Strategy is consistency in behaviour, whether or not
intended. The definitions of strategy as plan and pattern can be quite independent of
one another: plans may go unrealised, while patterns may appear without
preconception.

Plans are intended strategy, whereas patterns are realised strategy; from this we can
distinguish deliberate strategies, where intentions that existed previously were realised,
and emergent strategies where patterns developed in the absence of intentions, or
despite them.

Position
Strategy is a position - specifically a means of locating an organisation in an
"environment". By this definition strategy becomes the mediating force, or "match",
between organisation and environment, that is, between the internal and the external
context.

Perspective
Strategy is a perspective - its content consisting not just of a chosen position, but of an
ingrained way of perceiving the world. Strategy in this respect is to the organisation
what personality is to the individual. What is of key importance is that strategy is a
perspective shared by members of an organisation, through their intentions and / or by
their actions. In effect, when we talk of strategy in this context, we are entering the
realm of the collective mind - individuals united by common thinking and / or
behaviour.

Corporate Strategy
In business, corporate strategy refers to the overall strategy of an organization that is
made up of multiple business units, operating in multiple markets. It determines how
the corporation as a whole supports and enhances the value of the business units within
it; and it answers the question, "How do we structure the overall business, so that all of
its parts create more value together than they would individually?"
Corporations can do this by building strong internal competences, by sharing
technologies and resources between business units, by raising capital cost-effectively, by
developing and nurturing a strong corporate brand, and so on.

So, at this level of strategy, we're concerned with thinking about how the business units
within the corporation should fit together, and understanding how resources should be
deployed to create the greatest possible value.