Strategy for the Corporate Level: Where to Invest, What to Cut Back and How to Grow Organisations with Multiple Divisions

All multi–business companies need a corporate–level strategy to provide a clear vision for managing current business and new investments. Strategy for the Corporate Level addresses both business and management strategy to help executives deal with major decisions relating to investment, acquisitions, market entry, supervision of management, and corporate centralization of activities.  Strategy for the Corporate Level uses three important logics to guide such decision–making: business logic, added value logic and capital markets logic. These key perspectives will enable executives to make more effective decisions about their business portfolio by providing a structure to approach each challenge. Grounded in academic literature and using real–life examples from industry, Andrew Campbell brings us the latest on corporate–level strategy. This book will help readers to understand and address their concerns about corporate–level strategy and provide a range of perspectives to help make important strategic decisions. This book is for executives with strategic responsibilities, as well as junior mangers and students looking to understand corporate–level strategy. It is of relevance to conglomerates, large focused companies and public sector organizations. Strategy for the Corporate Level comes complete with additional online resources, providing managers and students alike with all the tools they need to structure and review effective corporate strategy in organizations.

Andrew Campbell , BA, MA, MBA, is a Director of Ashridge Strategic Management Centre. He is programme director of Group Level Strategy, Making Successful Acquisitions, Advanced Organisation Design and Designing Operating Models. Before joining Ashridge, Andrew was a Fellow of the Centre for Business Strategy at London Business School. Prior to that, he spent six years with McKinsey & Co. Andrew has published numerous articles with the Harvard Business Review and authored many books including Corporate Level Strategy (Wiley, 1994) and Designing Effective Organizations (Jossey–Bass, 2002). Marcus Alexander , MA, MBA, is a Director of Ashridge Strategic Management Centre. Marcus has taught on a wide range of open and tailored programmes over the last 23 years at Ashridge. Prior to that, he had worked in Investment Banking, in strategy consulting, at the Boston Consulting Group in several countries, and as co–founder of a business that he subsequently sold to an Advertising group. His publications include Corporate–Level Strategy (Wiley, 1994) as well as many articles in the Harvard Business Review , California Management Review and Long Range Planning . Michael Goold , BPhil, MA, MBA, is a founding Director of Ashridge Strategic Management Centre. His research and consulting interests and expertise are concerned with corporate strategy and structure, especially in multi–business companies. Prior to establishing the Centre in 1987, he was a Senior Fellow at the London Business School. Michael has extensive consulting experience with senior management. From 1971 to 1983 he was a member of the Boston Consulting Group, and in 1978 was elected a Vice President and Director of the firm. Jo Whitehead , MA, MBA, PhD, is a Director of Ashridge Strategic Management Centre. Before joining Ashridge, Jo was a Vice President and Director of the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and acted as BCG’s Director of Energy Research and Marketing. Jo also worked as an Assistant Professor at London Business School, where he taught primarily on Executive Education programmes. Jo co–authored the book Think Again , with Andrew Campbell and Sydney Finkelstein (Harvard Business Press, 2009). His most recent book is What You Need to Know about Strategy (Capstone, 2011).