Corporate strategy is developed to ensure the achievement of general (strategic) goals for the future development of the enterprise. It includes the structuring of strategic actions that ensure the achievement of the enterprise's goals, according to management levels and functional areas of its activity.

The strategy represents a set of management decisions and actions to allocate enterprise resources and achieve long-term competitive advantages in target markets. In the process of developing a strategy, the following are clarified: a market position that will ensure the achievement of the overall development goals of the enterprise, the necessary strategies for achieving and maintaining this position, taking into account the provision of competitive advantages and the planned efficiency of business activities.

Strategy Chain- identification and systematic display of the main strategic problems of enterprise development and corresponding programs of specific actions to achieve the desired result in the long term.

The significance of such problems varies depending on the opportunities and threats of the external environment, as well as the strengths and weaknesses of the enterprise in comparison with its competitors. Therefore, to determine a strategy, it is very important to identify critical problems, the solution of which determines the achievement of the enterprise’s development goals in the short and long term.

The process of forming an enterprise development strategy is carried out in stages: the formation of a basic (also called general) enterprise strategy, the formation of a competition strategy (strategies), the formation of functional and operational (current) strategies.

The formation of a general development strategy involves solving two main tasks: choosing alternatives regarding the overall development of the enterprise (growth of its capital), as well as making a decision on integration and (or) diversification of activities. When making a decision on diversification, the main business units (structural divisions) of the enterprise responsible for the development of a particular business are determined, and a decision is made on how to distribute resources between them.

The formation of a competition strategy involves determining the development of the main directions of business activity (specific business) of the enterprise. These strategies, called business strategy, define specific actions (strategies) to occupy and maintain a certain position of the enterprise in the target market (markets) by creating and strengthening its competitive advantages, taking advantage of new opportunities and protecting against threats determined by the external environment. A key element of a business strategy is the development of the strengths of the enterprise and the possible compensation (reduction) of its weaknesses. A diversified enterprise (corporation) develops business strategies for each business unit (division).

Functional strategies are developed for each functional area of ​​the enterprise. They are aimed at developing and strengthening the strengths of the enterprise in relation to competitors and reducing its weaknesses. Examples of such strategies are: R&D strategy, marketing strategy, innovation, financial, production, personnel strategy and others.

Strategy development is carried out in the following sequence:

Development of a general enterprise development strategy (selection of a basic alternative) and decision-making on integration and (or) diversification of the enterprise.

Selecting the geographic region in which implementation is expected.

Definition of one of the basic competition strategies: cost leadership, differentiation or market niche in relation to a specific type of product (service).

Determining the market share (market position) that is expected to be occupied in a particular business.

Definition of the product-market relationship (market penetration, market development, product development, or diversification) that should be the basis of the marketing concept.

Determination of the product (product range), pricing policy and price.

Choosing a strategy for occupying and retaining the market during the development of an enterprise: competition or market expansion.

Determine the qualifications and practical experience needed to beat the competition.

Determining the need and possibility of cooperation to achieve the enterprise’s market position and implement the chosen strategy.

A strategy is a generalized model of actions necessary to achieve set goals. Goals are the key results that an enterprise strives for in its activities. By setting certain goals, management formulates the main guidelines on which all activities of the enterprise and its team should be focused.

To work effectively, managers set specific, measurable, relevant, stimulating, visible goals for the organization for a certain period of time. Developing effective goals strengthens incentives, sets clear guidelines for activity, and creates a clear picture of expected results.

Typical goals include achieving the share of a given enterprise in sales markets, growing business volume, its profitability, profitability and other characteristics.

The importance of developing a strategy that allows a company to survive the competition in the long term is extremely high. In conditions of fierce competition and a rapidly changing market situation, it is very important not only to focus on the internal state of affairs of the company, but also to develop a long-term strategy. In the past, many firms were able to operate successfully by daily solving internal problems associated with increasing the efficiency of resource use in current activities. Currently, a strategy that ensures the company's adaptation to a rapidly changing environment is extremely important.

For example, the strategy of Japanese firms is characterized by the following:

· orientation to constant changes both in the external environment and within the company;

· orientation to place in this environment;

· lack of a deterministic course;

· taking into account and using all opportunities for survival, strengthening one’s role in a changing world, not only at the current moment, but also for the long term;

· highlighting the intellectual potential of the company's employees and constantly developing technologies as the main factor.

With this strategy, characterized by flexibility, the ability to adapt, and the desire to be on the crest of changes, the need for the ability to win one’s place in the market is objectively reflected.

However, there is no single strategy. Business theory and practice have developed many strategic approaches to doing business. This diversity is due to the specific conditions in which business is carried out, a combination of external and internal factors, trends in the relevant industry, the nature of the business goals and a number of other factors.

All types of strategies found in the business world can be grouped into three groups:

· offensive or breakthrough strategy;

· defensive or survival strategy;

· strategy for reducing and changing types of business.

Each of them has many options depending on the specific operating conditions of the company. There may also be multi-purpose strategies that combine elements of each of the groups.

It is clear that the more attractive is an offensive strategy, or a breakthrough strategy, which pursues the goal of gaining a certain market share, and often taking a leading position in a new market or in a new industry. An offensive strategy is usually based on the implementation of a specific innovation and involves an entrepreneurial approach. There are quite a lot of variants of this strategy in world business practice.

For example, business specialist P. Drucker identifies four entrepreneurial strategies:

· “Run in first and deliver a massive blow.”

· "Attack quickly and unexpectedly."

· Search and capture of an “ecological niche”.

· Changes in the economic characteristics of a product, market or industry.

All of these strategies are offensive in nature, as their name suggests, and each has its own variations.

Offensive strategies are based, as a rule, on scientific discoveries and inventions, designed to occupy a leading position in the market or industry. However, they require significant financial costs and have a high degree of risk, but if successful, they provide high results.

A defensive strategy, or survival strategy, involves the company maintaining its existing market share and maintaining its position in the market. Such a strategy is chosen if the firm’s market position is satisfactory or it does not have enough funds to carry out an active offensive strategy; the firm is afraid to carry out the latter due to unwanted retaliatory measures from strong competitors or punitive measures from the government. However, this type of strategy is quite dangerous and requires the closest attention on the part of the company implementing it to issues of scientific and technological progress and the actions of competing firms. The company may be on the verge of collapse and will be forced to leave the market, since inventions of competitors that go unnoticed in time will lead to a reduction in their production costs and undermine the position of the defending company.

The strategy of downsizing and changing business types is used in situations in which a company needs to regroup forces after a long period of growth or due to the need to increase efficiency, when there are recessions and dramatic changes in the economy, such as structural adjustment, etc.

In practice, enterprises can simultaneously implement not one, but several strategies. This is especially common among diversified companies.

A group of strategies under the general name growth strategy is widely used in practice. It involves changing the product and/or market.

When using a strategy of deep market penetration, the company does everything to win the best position in a given market with a given product.

The market development strategy is to find new markets for already produced goods.

The product development strategy involves growth by entering a developed market with a new product.

The diversification strategy involves entering a new market with a new product.

Another group of strategies is associated with the fact that the company expands by adding new structures. These are called integrated growth strategies.

A firm can pursue integrated growth either through acquisitions or through expansion from within. There may be two options here.

A reverse vertical integration strategy aims to allow growth to occur through the acquisition of supply companies or the creation of supply subsidiaries.

The strategy of forward vertical integration involves the growth of the company through the acquisition of structures located between the company and the end consumer.

All approaches to developing an organization's strategy come down to theoretical analysis combined with the intuition of developers, who should primarily be the subjects detailing and implementing the strategy. It is also important that a strategy can never be thought out and calculated to the end, and its adjustment as external and internal conditions change is a necessary procedure.

From the above it follows that there is no universal strategy development method suitable for all occasions, but experience suggests several possible directions for development.

Harvard Business School is considered the leader in the development of strategy formation procedures. K. Andrews, M. Porter, G. Hamel and K. Prahalad developed the main approaches1 to the formation of strategies, the main provisions of which are given in Table 1.

Table 1. Approaches to developing strategies

K. Andrews proposed a strategy based on the correspondence between existing market opportunities and the capabilities of the organization at a given level of risks (economic strategy). Approaches to developing business strategy based on the competitive position of the organization, and competitive strategies themselves, were developed by M. Porter, and the concept of core competencies belongs to K. Prahalad and G. Hamel.

SWOT analysis of the external and internal parameters of an organization, which has now become an elementary truth for managers, allows:

· identify opportunities and threats;

· build a SWOT analysis matrix;

· select goods and markets in which goods will be sold;

· build an economic strategy by identifying the available resources necessary for its implementation.

Analysis of the five forces of competition model makes it possible to determine the strengths and weaknesses of an organization in the market and identify areas in which strategic changes (in accordance with the forecast) can provide maximum results for business development. According to Porter, it is necessary:

· determine an advantageous position in the market that will provide the best protection against the five forces of competition;

· make a forecast of the likely profitability potential of the industry;

· develop measures (as strategic moves) aimed at taking the most advantageous position in the market.

Core competencies as the organization’s ability to do something unique that provides a leadership position among competitors formed the basis for developing a strategy within the framework of the following procedures:

· determination of the unique properties of the organization and its final product;

· assessment of collective skills (total system competence) of the organization’s employees;

· focusing the organization's attention on core competencies that form the basis of the strategy;

· ensuring the non-reproducibility of the organization’s core competencies;

· development of leadership strategy.

The preceding analysis sets the stage for developing strategic steps to improve the performance of a diversified company. The main conclusion about what to do depends on the conclusions regarding the entire set of activities in the business portfolio, which can be made by answering several key questions.

Does the business portfolio have enough business units operating in highly attractive industries?

Does the business portfolio contain too many end-of-life units or question mark companies?

Is there a disproportion between the number of business units in the maturity and decline stages, and is it so great that it could lead to a slowdown in corporate growth?

Does the firm have enough cash cows to finance the stars and emerging winners?

Can the company's core activities be relied upon to generate guaranteed profits and/or cash flow?

Is the business portfolio susceptible to seasonal or crisis fluctuations?

Does the portfolio of business activities contain activities that the company does not need?

Is a firm saddled with too many business units in an average/weak competitive position?

Will the structure of the business portfolio position the company well in the future?

The answers to the questions indicate whether corporate strategy makers should consider divesting certain activities, making new acquisitions, or restructuring the business portfolio.

Business activity criterion

A good criterion for the strategic and financial attractiveness of a diversified company’s business portfolio is the ability to achieve the company’s goals with the existing set of activities. In this case, the corporate strategy does not require significant changes. However, if there is a possibility that some goals will not be achieved, corporate strategy developers can take some actions to eliminate such discrepancies.

1. Change the strategic plans of some (or all) business units of the business portfolio. This includes renewed corporate efforts to improve the performance of existing business units. Corporate managers can put pressure on divisional managers to achieve better performance results. However, pursuing short-term goals to improve the performance of business units while overzealous in solving this problem can damage the potential for improvement in the long term. Forgoing the costs of maintaining a business's competitive position over the long term in order to improve short-term financial results is a risky strategy. In any case, there is a limit to increasing the productivity of business units to achieve their goals.

2. Add new business units to the portfolio of business activities. Growth in business activity through the acquisition of new companies and/or through the creation of new business units by the corporation itself leads to the emergence of additional questions related to strategy. Expanding a corporate portfolio means carefully studying the following points: 1) what types of activities to acquire (related or unrelated); 2) what should be the size of the acquisition; 3) how the new division will fit into the existing structure of the corporation; 4) what specific features should be paid attention to when acquiring a company; 5) whether it is possible to finance the acquired business units without reducing the investments required to cover the needs of existing business units. However, adding new business units is one of the main strategic options that diversified companies often use to avoid poor financial performance.

3. Abandonment of weak or unprofitable business units. The most likely candidates for disposal are business units that have weak competitive positions or operate in relatively unattractive industries. Funds generated by divesting weak or unprofitable divisions can, of course, be used to fund new acquisitions, strategic initiatives in remaining divisions, or pay down debt.

4. Forming alliances as an attempt to change the conditions that are causing poor performance. In some cases, alliances with domestic or foreign firms, trade associations, suppliers, customers, contact groups1 can help improve unfavorable development prospects. The creation or support of any political group can become a fairly powerful lobbying tool when solving export problems, taxation issues and regulation of business activities.

5. Reconsider the goals of the corporation (focus on more modest performance results). Unfavorable market conditions or an impending downturn in one or more key business units may make the company's goals unattainable. Excessive ambition when setting goals can also lead to this. Reducing the gap between desired and actual performance may require a review of corporate goals to bring them into line with the status quo.

Such a revision of goals is usually the last option, which is resorted to when all other actions have not led to the desired result.

6. Contact group - any group that has a real or potential interest in the organization or influences its ability to achieve its goals (for example, local authorities). - Note. scientific ed.

Finding additional diversification opportunities

Firms pursuing a non-core diversification strategy pursue those activities that provide the best financial results, no matter what industry they are in.

One of the main questions when developing a corporate strategy for a diversified company is: “Whether to pursue a diversification strategy in the future and, if so, how to choose the right industry and business.” For firms using a non-core diversification strategy, the question of in what direction to further diversify remains open: the search for candidates for

the acquisition is based more on financial criteria rather than industry or strategic ones.

When deciding whether to include non-core activities in the business portfolio, several points are taken into account, in particular: whether new business units (new acquisitions) are vital to improving the performance of the corporation as a whole; whether the corporation should pursue the opportunity to acquire one or more firms, since this would prevent other companies from attempting to purchase those firms; whether the time has come for such acquisitions (corporate management may be completely overwhelmed with concerns about the existing business portfolio).

Firms pursuing a core diversification strategy seek attractive industries with a high degree of strategic fit.

As for the core diversification strategy, the goal of searching for new industries is to identify those whose value chains correspond to the value chains of one or more business units included in the business activity portfolio. Internal connection (kinship)1 may concern: 1) a product or the research and development process; 2) opportunities for joint production or assembly; 3) marketing activities, distribution channels or brand sharing; 4) common consumers (i.e., intersection of market segments); 5) joint after-sales service opportunities; 6) know-how in the field of management - in other words, any area where there may be a correspondence between the market, production, and management.

In this case, speaking about the internal connections between different business units and their relatedness, the author means the similarity of certain functions or operations performed. - Note. scientific ed.

Once strategically relevant activities have been identified outside a diversified company's business portfolio of related business units, corporate strategy developers must identify business units with greater potential for competitive advantage (through cost reduction, skills transfer, etc.). ) and business units with little benefit from strategic fit. The magnitude of the potential for competitive advantage depends on whether the benefits of strategic fit are sufficient from a competitive perspective; how much you will have to spend to take advantage of these benefits; How difficult it will be to coordinate or merge internal connections between business units. Often, careful analysis shows that although business units have much in common and there are actual and potential internal connections between them, only a small part of these connections are strategically important for creating a significant competitive advantage.

Corporation Resource Allocation

To achieve better results from the business units that make up the business portfolio of a diversified company, corporate managers need to effectively allocate available resources. They must shift resources from areas of low opportunity to areas of high opportunity. Getting rid of marginal1 activities is one of the best ways to free up unproductively used assets for transfer to other departments. Additional funds from cash cow companies and harvesting divisions also increase the wealth of the corporation. The following possibilities exist for allocating resources: 1) financing existing areas of activity in order to strengthen and expand them; 2) acquisition of companies to seize positions in new industries; 3) financing of venture companies focused on long-term research; 4) payment of long-term debts; 5) increase in dividends; 6) repurchase of company shares. The first three opportunities are strategic, the last three are financial. Ideally, the firm should have sufficient funds to serve both strategic and financial intentions. If not, then strategic intentions are considered a priority, except in special circumstances.

Conventionally, the process of developing a company’s corporate strategy

• -. Setting strategic goals;
• -. Selection of business areas;
• -. Assessment of the prospects of business areas;
• -. Formation of the company’s business portfolio and development of development alternatives;
• -. Determining the powers of the management company (corporate management center);
• -. Formalization of the developed strategy.

Let's look at each stage in more detail:

1. Setting strategic goals. At the first stage, the goals of the owners and top management of the company are determined, as well as the boundaries of the markets within which these goals will be achieved. The company's goals may be to increase sales, assets, market share, etc. However, the company's comprehensive goal is to increase its value (capitalization). Defining a goal largely depends on the ambitions of management and the situation in which the company finds itself. Some companies set themselves the goal of “maintaining market share,” while others are more ambitious: a 10-fold increase in the company’s value in five years.

Another important point of the stage is determining the space to achieve the goal. The boundaries within which the search for potential opportunities for the development of the company will take place are set, that is, in essence, the areas of activity of the company are determined. These boundaries are set based on the shareholders' vision of the future of their business.

The best way to implement the first stage is a brainstorming session, in which the company's owners and top managers jointly participate. At this stage, third-party consultants can only be involved as coordinators of the work performed. At this stage, there is no need for an in-depth analysis of industries and existing markets. The main task is to structure the knowledge of the market situation and existing market prospects that the owners and management of the company have, and to develop a unified decision regarding the company’s goals and scope of activity. At the same time, in the course of subsequent steps, preliminary goals based on the results of the marketing and financial analysis can be clarified and adjusted both in terms of timing and meaning.

2. Selection of business areas. At this stage, it is necessary to draw up a list of priority types of business that are within the accepted scope of the company. In other words, the scope of activity is decomposed to the level of market segments that may be of interest to the company. For example, if deep forest processing is chosen as the field of activity, then among the market segments (business directions) we can distinguish such as the production of tile materials, plywood, etc.

Each of the identified market segments should be characterized in the following information sections:

• - factors that determine market behavior and have a significant impact on supply volume. Among them can be both widespread (purchasing power of the population, dollar exchange rate, etc.) and more specialized (availability of substitute goods);
• - analysis of the successful experience of competitors and identification of key success factors. For example, the company took a leading position in the market thanks to effective branding and the fact that competitors relied on mass appeal and were forced to give up part of the market. In this case, the key success factor is a well-formed brand. Depending on the market, key success factors may also include production technology, product quality, active advertising campaign and others. Such an analysis will allow you to narrow the number of market segments under consideration from several hundred to a dozen of the most attractive business areas. The main sources of information necessary for identifying business areas and their analysis are company experts, industry specialists, as well as analysis of the experience of international companies and the development of the situation in similar foreign markets.
• 3. Assessing the prospects of business areas. During the third stage, for each of the market segments selected at the previous stage, an analysis of the market situation is carried out and development forecasts are made. For each business area, you need to answer the following questions:
  • - what are the capacity, average growth rate and main driving factors of the market?;
  • - what is the concentration of players in this market?;
  • - what niches exist in the market for the company?;
  • - what is the average return on sales of the main players in this market?;
  • - what investments need to be made in order to enter and occupy an average market share?;

how all the above market parameters will change over the course of two to three years.

Most of the issues listed fall within the competence of the company's marketing department. If one does not exist, then the research can be performed by third-party consultants.

4. Formation of a business portfolio and development of development alternatives.

The task of the fourth stage is to form a set of potentially interesting areas for the company’s future business portfolio. To do this, within the framework of a set of business areas, the company determines its development priorities, as a rule, by assessing the attractiveness of each of the areas relative to each other. In practice, the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) matrix and similar tools are widely used for this purpose.

According to the matrix, the markets of Europe and the USA are assessed as promising. The following characteristics are used as the main criteria for analyzing markets: profitability of sales in the domestic market, stage of market development, level of competition in the market, competitiveness of the company’s products, financial and other restrictions imposed by the logistics of the product. For each market, cash flows are planned in detail, and based on their analysis, a decision is made on the advisability of entering it. In addition to the priority business direction, several other options for areas of activity are also selected, which are slightly inferior to it in terms of growth rate and market share.

Typically, from the entire set of business areas, two or three alternatives to the company’s business portfolio are compiled, for which a detailed financial model is then built, which takes into account seasonality, cost structure, changes in cost and capital structure, and a number of other factors that describe each business area separately. and the business portfolio as a whole. Based on the results of financial modeling and the strategic goals of the company's development, one is selected from two or three previously identified alternatives - the target alternative for forming the company's business portfolio.

5. Determination of the powers of the management company. The purpose of the fifth stage is to determine the role of the corporate center and the degree of independence of individual business units - structural divisions of the company responsible for the development of one of the business areas included in the company's portfolio.

In practice, the decision on the role of the corporate center and the degree of independence of business units is made by the company's management. So, if top management wants to minimize its own interference in the operating activities of business units and control only the financial result, and at the same time, the business areas in the portfolio are quite diverse, the company should adhere to the financial holding model. This model is characterized by complete independence of business units and a limited role of the corporate center, which consists in purchasing attractive and selling unattractive business areas.

6. Formalization of strategy. An important element of the corporate governance of an organization is the establishment in internal documents of the procedure for developing, approving and, if necessary, clarifying (adjusting) the strategy for the development of its activities. The results of the work done to develop the strategy must be consolidated in the appropriate document “Enterprise Strategy”. As a rule, two versions of this document are created: for internal use and for third-party investors. Their differences lie in the level of detail. The most detailed document is prepared for internal use, in which strategic tasks for which they are responsible are defined for key employees of the company (usually top managers). The document provided to investors contains only the main provisions of the adopted strategy (business directions, goals, stages of development, etc.). Kurlykova A.V. Strategic management at the enterprise. - Saarbrücken: LAP LAMBERT Academic Publishing, 2011. - 215 p.

The concept of “Corporate strategy” has rapidly burst into all spheres of our lives, not leaving without attention not only large holdings, groups of companies and strategic alliances, but also small firms, individual entrepreneurs, top managers and ordinary employees.
Corporate strategy is a decision-making pattern that defines and reveals the objectives and goals of the company, sets its basic policies and plans for achieving its goals, determines the area of ​​business in which the company's main activities are concentrated, the type of economic and human organization that the company adheres to or is inclined towards. corporation and the nature of the economic and non-economic achievements it intends to offer to shareholders, employees, customers and society at large.
The strategic pattern remains effective over a long period of time and significantly influences the company's activities. It defines the core character or image of a company, its "face", its personality as employees and the general public know it, and the corporation's position in the industry and market. Ultimately, the choice of immediate and subsequent goals, the size and nature of investments, and the forms of use of available resources depend on the strategic pattern.
The relevance of the chosen topic is that the basis for the successful development of any company operating in a modern highly competitive market environment is the creation of an effective strategic management system, which includes the development of a corporate strategy, the introduction of mechanisms for its implementation and monitoring of achieved results.
Strategy development becomes a necessary condition for sustainable growth, allowing a company to adequately assess its position in the market, understand its competitive advantages and disadvantages, identify potential opportunities and threats in the external environment, and, in accordance with them, determine development guidelines and priorities.
Thus, strategic management becomes the key to the company’s success, is the basis of its long-term competitiveness and sustainable growth, and allows, by effectively using available resources, to adequately and timely respond to the challenges of the external environment.
The purpose of this course work is to determine the essence and study the features of the corporate strategy of any enterprise.
To achieve this goal, the following tasks are solved in this work:

Identifying the essence and role of corporate strategy;
Study and analysis of levels of strategic management;
Analysis of the enterprise's corporate strategy;
Determining the strengths and weaknesses of the enterprise strategy for their subsequent analysis and processing.

CHAPTER 1. ESSENCE AND ROLE OF CORPORATE STRATEGY

1.1. The essence of corporate strategy

The essence of strategic management is to determine what an enterprise must do now in order to achieve desired results in the future, based on the expected behavior of the environment. At the same time, the actions of the enterprise are determined and carried out in the present (nearest) time, providing it with a certain future. From this we can define the concept of strategic management.
Strategic management is the process of determining the goals of an enterprise and their changes, the resources necessary to achieve them, and the policies aimed at acquiring and using these resources.
One of the main stages of strategic management is strategy development.
Strategy can be viewed as a system of comprehensive control, as a framework for innovation, as political planning, as a study of the future, as a scenario analysis, as a system of management practices, as an idea that gives an advantage in the competitive struggle.
A carefully developed strategy helps a firm take advantage of market inefficiencies that exist due to imperfect competitive conditions and therefore can play a significant role in maximizing profits. In such a situation, following a strategy has two vital purposes.
One of them is related to the external positioning of the company in relation to its competitors in the industry. Correctly using the company's strengths and weaknesses, adequately responding to market threats and opportunities, an effective strategy can create a competitive advantage that brings the company profits above the industry average. Therefore, understanding the environment in which a corporation competes is very important when formulating any strategy.
The second goal of the strategy is the internal coordination of all company activities and investments. The strategy involves choosing a position in the product market without taking into account the efficiency with which this choice was made. Once a firm's market position is determined, all of its activities (from product research and development to product marketing) must be consistent with that position and with each other. Investments should be made in the same way: it is necessary that they reinforce each other and, accumulating, lead over time to the emergence of new and more significant competitive advantages.
There are many definitions of corporate strategy, but the most comprehensive is the following. Corporate strategy is a decision-making pattern that defines and reveals the objectives and goals of the company, sets its basic policies and plans for achieving its goals, determines the area of ​​business in which the company's main activities are concentrated, the type of economic and human organization that the company adheres to or is inclined towards. corporation and the nature of the economic and non-economic achievements it intends to offer to shareholders, employees, customers and society at large.
The strategic pattern remains effective over a long period of time and significantly influences the company's activities. It defines the core character or image of a company, its "face", its personality as employees and the general public know it, and the corporation's position in the industry and market. Ultimately, the choice of immediate and subsequent goals, the size and nature of investments, and the forms of use of available resources depend on the strategic pattern.
This strategy is created by senior managers. They have primary responsibility for analyzing communications and recommendations coming from lower management levels. Managers of key production facilities can also take part in developing the company's strategy, especially if it concerns the production they head. Thus, the essence of corporate strategy comes down to two questions: what areas of activity will be carried out in the company, and how the corporate head office will manage all these areas.

1.2. The role and place of corporate strategy in the hierarchy of organizational strategies.

Successful companies are companies that focus their efforts on strategic areas. To satisfy customer needs, an enterprise must follow an overall organizational strategy. A good strategy helps you maintain and strengthen your position in the target market for a long time, consistently satisfying consumer needs better than competitors.
A company's strategy is a way to navigate its market segment, including relative to competitors. This is a plan of measures drawn up by an organization to gain sustainable superiority over its competitors.
The strategy answers the following questions:
- What are the sourcessustainable competitiveness companies?
- How does the company positions relative to competitors to achieve sustainable competitive advantage?
- What are the main strategic priorities of the company?
So, in general, the role of corporate strategy is that it is a guide to concerted actions that lead the enterprise to success in the market by outperforming competitors in meeting customer needs.
When starting to develop a strategy, it is necessary to clearly determine at what level the planning will be carried out - the list and sequence of actions for developing the strategy depend on this. In order for a business to be able to maximize its economic value, it must be taken into account that there are four inextricably linked levels of strategies, the analysis of which is necessary to achieve the set goals.
The four hierarchical levels of a firm's strategy are presented in Figure 1.

Rice. 1. Strategic pyramid: K – corporate strategy; D – business strategies; F – functional strategies; O – operational strategies.

Corporate strategy is the first level; it is a strategy for the company and its areas of activity as a whole. It defines the organization as a whole, the behavior of its divisions or business units, product lines, the combination of which allows us to perceive the company as an entity, and answers the question: what business is the corporation engaged in? Strategic activities at the corporate level include, for example, the acquisition of new businesses, expansion or contraction of existing ones, and the creation of joint ventures.
The corporate level of management is represented by the chief executive officer (CEO, corporate president, etc.), the board of directors, and other senior personnel who make strategic decisions for the entire organization. Typically, the responsibilities of these executives include: defining the purpose, mission and goals of the organization, identifying key areas of activity, allocating resources to each activity, and formulating strategies that cover corporate activities.
Corporate strategy also includes issues of the financial and organizational structure of the enterprise as a whole. Strategic objectives at the corporate level could be, for example, the following: opening a new enterprise abroad or creating offshore production in a country with cheap labor.
In other words, corporate strategy decides what business the firm should be in and considers a wide range of business opportunities.
Business strategy is the second level, often characterized as competitive or business strategy. It focuses on the activities and approaches that are associated with management aimed at ensuring successful performance in one specific area of ​​business. The essence of business strategy is to show how to achieve a strong long-term competitive position. Business strategy aims to establish and strengthen the company's long-term competitive position in the market.
In a company, the enterprise level consists of the heads of individual business units included in the organization, as well as the personnel supporting them. The main role of these managers is to process general information about the direction and intentions coming from the corporate level into specific strategies for group and individual activities.
Typical strategic questions at this level might look like this:

Should the company's products match the competitor's product range?
How much should the plant and equipment be modernized?
How will the proposed activities be financed?
Should retained earnings be kept for future investments?
Should the organization strive to be a technology leader?

CHAPTER 2. PRINCIPLES OF DEVELOPING CORPORATE STRATEGY.

2.1 Features of the process of developing a corporate strategy.

the enterprise has an accurate goal-setting system

the desired image of the future of the company is communicated in writing

employee initiative is encouraged;
there is a clear distribution of powers and

actions to achieve diversification;
steps to improve performance in those industries where

investment policy;
finding ways to obtain a synergistic effect among

related business units and transforming it into

competitive advantage.

the company's existing activities offer little opportunity for growth or profitability;
competitors' positions are very strong or the underlying market is in decline;
the new business can achieve synergies;
the company has sufficient financial resources to invest in various areas of business.

few corporate centers are small in size, so their operation does not require large expenditures; most of them are expensive to operate and consume a significant portion of the profits generated by manufacturing firms;
most corporate centers do not add enough value to cover their costs;
Regardless of the amount they cost, many corporate centers destroy more value than they create; Even if people in the centers worked for free, firms would be better off without them.

What business areas should the company operate in?
How to find your own way of creating company value that is different from others?
How to organize and structure efforts to achieve your goals?

regional and global economies of scale;
economic effect of the brand;
the ability of some competitors to find cost-effective ways of doing business that may extend beyond national borders;
convergence of consumer tastes;
the trend of expanding markets and reducing import barriers;
use of expensive technologies and know-how in various fields and regions.

2.2. Stages of developing a corporate strategy

Conventionally, the process of developing a company’s corporate strategy can be divided into six stages:

Setting strategic goals;
Selection of business areas;
Assessing the prospects of business areas;
Formation of the company’s business portfolio and development of development alternatives;
Determining the powers of the management company (corporate management center);
Formalization of the developed strategy.

factors that determine market behavior and have a significant impact on supply volume. Among them can be both widespread (purchasing power of the population, dollar exchange rate, etc.) and more specialized (availability of substitute goods);
analysis of the successful experience of competitors and identification of key success factors. For example, the company took a leading position in the market thanks to effective branding and the fact that competitors relied on mass appeal and were forced to give up part of the market. In this case, the key success factor is a well-formed brand. Depending on the market, key success factors may also include production technology, product quality, active advertising campaign and others. Such an analysis will allow you to narrow the number of market segments under consideration from several hundred to a dozen of the most attractive business areas. The main sources of information necessary to identify business areas and analyze them are company experts, industry specialists, as well as analysis of the experience of international companies and the development of the situation in similar foreign markets.
etc.............