Business Studies

This week focuses on strategic choice and evaluation.

• Discuss the differences and relationships between a business-level strategy and a corporate-level strategy.
• Use examples from a company you are familiar with to illustrate these differences and relationships.

ANSWER

Corporate and Business Strategies

Difference between Corporate and Business Strategies

Every company has a well-planned business strategy with the aim of remaining relevant in the competitive market. Strategies are an integrated and central concept of the external business to achieve certain objectives of the organization. A corporate strategy typically answers the question of what businesses the company should be working in (Wadström, 2019). The strategy helps in giving directions and guidelines to the business towards achieving its long-term goals. Organizations analyze the scope of their activities and develop corporate strategies that are aligned with their objectives. For the corporate strategy to be successful, it considers the nature of the business, the surrounding business environment and the level of competition it faces.

On the other hand, the main purpose of a business strategy is to analyze the various ways in which a business can succeed in a particular business unit. According to Wadström (2019), this is a common strategy as most organizations have different units spread across the country in the environment in which they operate. A specific business unit may be different from the overall object of the organization, with the unit serving a precise purpose of its existence.

Amazon is a good example of a company that exhibits business strategy. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the company initiated a move to improve customer retention as a business strategy. With many shops closed, the company gained even more customers. It also enhanced its customer service by hiring more employees who were allowed to work from home, taking advantage of a gap foreseen by the company. The company also embraced the corporate strategy by figuring that the company should improve and promote online shopping with the constant emergence of improved and modified technology.

References

Wadström, P. (2019). Aligning corporate and business strategy: managing the balance. Journal of Business Strategy.