Corporate strategy defines the company and allocates resources among the various SBUs. We started the course by discussing how corporate sets the vision and the goals for the SBUs. Now that we have an understanding of business strategy, we can discuss in more detail how corporate supports those plans. But corporate can also take on other approaches, such as acquiring companies, forming partnerships, or developing new business areas. In this module, we will consider the strategic alternatives that corporate strategies can take on.

Another decision for corporate strategists is to determine the level of diversification. Companies diversify in order to grow and hopefully achieve greater profitability.  By going after markets the organization is not currently in, the company is trying to develop new lines of business.  In this module we will discuss diversification as well as mergers and acquisitions.

A corporate strategy is meaningless without leadership in both creating the plan and in its implementation. In this module we will cover several challenges in developing and implementing strategy and then the leadership approaches one can take to overcome those challenges. The leadership style we suggest is one of leader as coach, who empowers the employees so as to create a learning organization. This is most apt in an environment of change and unanticipated risks, as forecasting the future is nigh impossible.