Corporate Level Strategy

How a firm is managed will have a direct impact on how it gains, maintains, or loses its position in the marketplace. The strategies used often mean the difference between success and failure, particularly in today’s global economy. It is the goal of management to ensure that value is returned to the company for it efforts. Hitt (2015), Chapter 6, teaches the elements and workings of corporate level management. It explores how corporate level management executes it role to position the firm for a competitive advantage. This report discusses the features of corporate level management as taught by Hitt (2015) in Chapter 6. It uses as the basis for discussion an article by Winter and Jerrold (2011) on how the bear claw drywall repair clip was

The corporate-level strategy is the process by which companies choose their strategic positions. Frequently, these are new strategic positions taken. The expectation if that they will help increase the firm’s value. Corporate level strategy differs from the business level strategy that is concerned with such issues as lowering cost, differentiation of product, and how to focus on a market segment, for example. The corporate-level strategy is generally narrow in scope. It is most often concerned with only two key issues. One issue is what product businesses and markets the firm should compete. The other issue of concern for the corporate strategy is how that business should be managed by the corporate headquarters. The overall corporate strategy is carried out by selecting and managing groups from different businesses who are competing in different product markets (Hitt, 2015). Bringing the bear claw clip to market is illustrative of several principles of corporate

Alliances help firms strengthen their competitive position by enhancing market power (Kale and Singh 2009).” It is the role of corporation strategy to be diverse and international in its think unless it violates a core value or strongly held ideology (Hitt, 2015).

Hitt (2015) teaches that a corporate-level strategy is expected to help the firm earn above-average returns by creating value. It is expected that the returned value will exceed what those returns would be without the strategy. In other words, the strength of a viable corporate-level strategy is seen in a higher yield return; the results matter. Therefore, the corporate strategy must be capable of driven a high-value result. In this article, implementing the corporation strategy to secure a patent and to engage a low-cost manufacturer held true to this principle. Furthermore, Hitt (2015) argues that the intangible resources within the firm often form the basis for core competencies feeding a competitive advantage. Hitt (2015) further asserts that intellectual know-how is a core competency. In the case of the bear-claw, it was critical to success. The inventor, John, “knew he had come up with something special (Winter and Jerrold, p. 44,