Business Strategy

In this week’s seminar we discussed business strategy and the multiple functioning levels within any said business. These levels, starting with the highest, are Enterprise, Organisational, Business, Functional, Operational and lastly, You. Considering this model within a publishing business; the ‘Enterprise’ is either the media in which it operates or a larger conglomerate, the ‘Organisational’ level is as it suggests the organisation, the ‘Business’ level could be a publishing houses’ smaller imprint that operates as a separate business, the ‘Functional’ level is any department within that business, the ‘Operational’ level could be any current operations within that department and ‘You’ represents the individuals and their contributing skills.

We then considered where business strategy fits within a business plan cycle. This begins with ‘Vision’ – a sensible and appealing picture of the future. Following this we create a ‘Strategy’ – logic about how the vision is achieved. Then we ‘Plan’ the strategy with specific steps and timetables. Lastly, these plans are converted into financial projections and goals, otherwise known as the ‘Budget’. Finally we thought about how a strategy is formed, perhaps through PEST and SWOT analysis.