Corporate-level strategy: Management and value creation in multi-business companies: Management and value creation in multi-business companies

Author: Michael Gilder
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-01-01
Features: Corporate-Level Strategy equips senior managers and planners with a set of proven strategic principles and clear guidance to successfully manage diversified, multi-business companies. By citing their experiences from companies such as Emerson in the U.S., 3M, General Electric, Canon in Japan, BTR, Shell, and Unilever in Europe, as well as other renowned multi-business companies worldwide, the authors demonstrate that developing a clear corporate-level strategy aimed at achieving parental advantage is fundamental to the successful management of multi-business companies. They explain how and why corporate strategy differs from business-level strategy, why parent companies often inadvertently destroy value, and what constitutes a successful, value-creating corporate strategy. They reveal some of the fundamental paradoxes encountered by parent companies in their efforts to create value and illustrate methods to overcome these paradoxes. This book is a seminal work of research with significant and far-reaching impact on corporate strategy thinking. This pioneering work on corporate strategy is the result of a decade of consulting and research conducted by Gilder, Campbell, and Alexander in North America, Europe, and Japan. Gilder, Campbell, and Alexander focused on how parent companies create or destroy value for the various businesses they comprise. Based on the concept of parental advantage, which aims to be the best parent company for its subsidiaries, they propose a new approach to managing multi-business companies. Multi-business companies worldwide face fundamental questions about what businesses they should own and how to structure and influence them. For many companies, divestment and restructuring may seem like reasonable solutions. However, the authors of this book point out that the crux of the problem may not lie in size or diversification. More commonly, the fatal flaw is the lack of a corporate strategy that can add value to the businesses—not the scope and span of the businesses themselves. Corporate-Level Strategy equips senior managers and planners with a set of proven strategic principles and clear guidance to successfully manage diversified, multi-business companies. By citing their experiences from companies such as Emerson in the U.S., 3M, General Electric, Canon in Japan, BTR, Shell, and Unilever in Europe, as well as other renowned multi-business companies worldwide, the authors demonstrate that developing a clear corporate-level strategy aimed at achieving parental advantage is fundamental to the successful management of multi-business companies. They explain how and why corporate strategy differs from business-level strategy, why parent companies often inadvertently destroy value, and what constitutes a successful, value-creating corporate strategy. They reveal some of the fundamental paradoxes encountered by parent companies in their efforts to create value and illustrate methods to overcome these paradoxes. To assist in the planning process, the authors provide managers with a framework to evaluate and rebuild their corporate-level strategy, along with a series of tools, checklists, and worked examples to help planners apply the concepts presented in each chapter of the book. Corporate-Level Strategy offers new perspectives and solutions for multi-business companies worldwide, making it an indispensable work for senior managers and planners.