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 Discussing in details the Three Levels of Strategy

Strategy is such an important factor in the success of any business organization. The best

products and services can still be a failure without a proper business strategy. In order for a

business to achieve its vision and objectives it needs a strategy (Nag et al., 2007). Strategy helps

an organization to rightfully maximize and apply its resources in profitable areas. Nevertheless,

‘strategy ‘can imply many things. It could refer to long-term course of a business or the day-to-

day organizational systems and how they are set-up to maximize and achieve business success.

The following are the three levels of strategy.

Corporate Strategy

This is the first level of strategy. Before an organization can be define its strategy more

specifically, an outline of general strategy is required that will be the foundation for everything

else that the organization will be doing (Ghemawat, 2002). Corporate strategy is essentially

meant to outline what ventures the organization will engage in, the plan to enter and win in

chosen markets. Corporate strategy,

- sketch out an organizations overall general strategy

- identify markets the business will operate in

- Plans how the business will enter specific markets

Business Strategy

This is a step down from the corporate strategy level. That is to say the strategies outlined at

this level are more specific as opposed to corporate level strategies that are general. And in most

cases they relate to smaller business operations within the organization (Ghemawat, 2002). In

other words, they are usually unique to each department and subdivisions within the

organization. This strategy outlines the following;

 - Define definite tactics and strategies for each market the organization is involved in

- Describes how each business department will execute the planned tactics

Functional Strategy

This level is also called the Market Level Strategy, mainly refers to the day-to-day operations

of the business which will keep it as a going concern in the proper direction (Laszlo, 2011). Even

though many business organizations fail as they do not have overarching corporate strategy,

many others do not succeed as they do not develop plans on how to carry out their day-to-day

activities. Overally, functional strategy defines;

- The day to day activities that are needed to execute corporate and business strategies

- Defines relationships required between departments, units and teams

- How operational goals will be achieved, and the way they will be monitored.

Conclusion

In summary, it is important for each level of strategy to be synchronized both from top to

bottom across the organization. In itself strategy will not define the organization’s success. It is

the execution strategy at all levels of the organization that can guarantee success.
 References

Nag R.; Hambrick, D. C.; Chen, M.-J (2007). "What is strategic management, really? Inductive

derivation of a consensus definition of the field, Strategic Management Journal, 28 (9):

935–955

Ghemawat, Pankaj (2002). Competition and Business Strategy in Historical

Perspective, Business History Review, 76 (1): 37–74

Laszlo, C. & Zhexembayeva, N. (2011), Embedded Sustainability: The Next Big Competitive

Advantage Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press