A revised edition of the bestselling classic This book covers strategy for organisations that operate more than one business, a situation commonly referred to as group-level or corporate-level strategy. Corporate-level strategy addresses four types of decisions that only corporate-level managers can make: which businesses or markets to enter, how much to invest in each business, how to select and guide the managers of these businesses, and which activities to centralise at the corporate level. This book gives managers and executive students all the tools they need to make and review effective corporate strategy across a range of organisations.

A revised edition of the bestselling classicThis book covers strategy for organisations that operate more than one business, a situation commonly referred to as group-level or corporate-level strategy. Corporate-level strategy addresses four types of decisions that only corporate-level managers can make: which businesses or markets to enter, how much to invest in each business, how to select and guide the managers of these businesses, and which activities to centralise at the corporate level. This book gives managers and executive students all the tools they need to make and review effective corporate strategy across a range of organisations.

Preface viiAcknowledgements xiPart I - Introduction and History 1Chapter 1 Strategy for the Corporate Level: Summary of the Main Messages 3Chapter 2 Some History: From Boston Box to Three Logics that Drive Corporate Action 31Part II - Portfolio Strategy: Where to Invest and What to Avoid 73Chapter 3 How to Find Good Businesses and Avoid Bad Businesses 75The Business Attractiveness matrix 83Chapter 4 How to Make Businesses More Successful 99The Heartland matrix 104Chapter 5 How to Buy Low and Sell High 117Fair Value matrix 133Chapter 6 Making Decisions about Where to Invest and What to Avoid 139Part III - Ways of Adding and Subtracting Value From Corporate Headquarters 157Chapter 7 Ten Sources of Value from Direct Influence 159Chapter 8 Nine Sources of Value from Coordinating across Business Divisions 181Chapter 9 Eight Ways Headquarters can Destroy Value 199Chapter 10 How to Identify Sources of Added Value for Your Company 219Part IV - Management Strategy: How to Structure, How Much to Centralise and How to Grow the Business Divisions 237Chapter 11 Structuring the Organisation into Businesses and Divisions 239Chapter 12 Corporate-level Strategy in Integrated Companies - The Apple Example 259Chapter 13 How Much to Centralise: Designing Corporate Headquarters 279Chapter 14 Developing New Capabilities at Corporate Headquarters 303Chapter 15 Encouraging Synergy and Cooperation across Business Divisions 321Part V - Retrospective 331Chapter 16 Lessons from 20 Years of Consulting Experience 333Appendix The Links between International Strategy and Corporate-level Strategy 347Index 379