1. A business level strategy definition can be summarized as a detailed outline
which incorporates a company’s policies, goals, and actions with the focus on
being how to deliver value to customers while maintaining a competitive
advantage.
Your business level strategy will determine your position in your industry as
well as the direction of your profits. It will also affect the efficiency of how you
are able to serve your customer base. The best approach will integrate
several types of business level strategy, which are listed below. But first, in
order to determine how you will implement these strategies, you have to
figure out a few things:
•What is it that your target customers value the most? (I.e., cost savings,
brand prestige, product quality, etc.)
•Are you targeting a broad-range or niche market?
•What are your resources?
•What differentiates you from the competition?
•Does your business have the capability to lead and sustain itself in the
marketplace in terms of product quality and competitive pricing?
2. Major components of a business
strategy
Business objective
Your business objective or mission statement identifies a
gap in the market that your business hopes to address.
Any business strategy you set out to implement should
always link back to this vision. Think of a business strategy
as an action plan with detailed instructions on how those
responsible should achieve the organisational goal.
Core values
According to the organisation's core values, your business
strategy should communicate clear guidelines on what
people should and should not do. Articulating these values
on paper encourages coworkers to hold themselves
accountable to the organisation's standards
3. 3. SWOT analysis
SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. This
analysis is integral to your business strategy, as it represents a snapshot of the
company's current situation. Identifying these four key areas prepares you for
challenges you may encounter along the way. It shows what strengths you can
use to your advantage and exposes weaknesses you need to address.
4. Operational tactics
A business strategy needs to transform a vision and plan into action. Once you
identify your resources through a SWOT analysis, you can then allocate them
accordingly. Operational tactics prioritize what needs to get done now and what
can wait for later. It helps you manage your time and resources efficiently.
5. Measurement
To evaluate your business strategy's effectiveness, you need to incorporate a
means of tracking your performance. A business strategy works best when you
divide your objective into smaller targets that you can measure regularly. For
example, you can measure your output through smaller financial milestones.
4. Types of business level
strategy
Cost Leadership
If there's one thing that most businesses have in
common, it’s that they are competing in the market
price-wise. Not only do they want to appeal to a wide
range of potential customers, but they also want to
have the capacity to sustain a margin on above-
average returns. In essence, the Cost leadership
Strategy aims to put your business at the forefront of
the market in terms of pricing.
To achieve this, there are a few things you can do:
Increase your profits by reducing operational costs
Only charge industry-average prices
Charge lower prices than your competitors
5. Differentiation
The second-most important of all business
strategy examples - be different.
This is fundamental in how a business can
position itself as an industry-leader in its
market. This approach also supports
quality over cost. For example, designer goods
and reputable customer service. This could
even include designer goods at affordable
prices, which integrates cost leadership.
Differentiation also applies to those with a
narrower market, like people who purchase
organic produce only, despite higher prices.
6. Focused Differentiation
Focused Differentiation implies a smaller target customer base.
The upside with this strategy is a greater capacity for the
business to serve their customers with maximum efficiency. This
strategy could also be referred to as a “unique” or “niche-
focused” strategy.
The competition with the Focused Differentiation approach is
the ability to supply the particular customer base in question
with more unique and advantageous features. The main
components of this strategy include:
The selection of a profitable market subset
A focus on the areas in which the competition shows weakness
A focus on where product substitution is most difficult
A great example of this would be the Rolls Royce. These cars
have withstood the unwavering tests of time with their focus on
status, quality, and engineering superiority. They are but a
subset of the global auto market, however their premium worth
and demand remains steady.
7. Focused Low-Cost
Much like the Focused Differentiation Strategy, the Focused
Low-Cost Strategy also aims to corner a small segment of the
market. This works best when a business cannot focus on a
more generalized cost leadership strategy in that it can’t afford
to offer multiple products and/or services at low prices.
So, what do they do?
They focus on one niche or unique feature and work to offer
said niche or feature at the lowest cost possible to their targeted
market segment. Of course, if there’s heavy competition within
this niche, you’ll have to make sure that you can keep your
costs at the lowest while also offering at the highest volume.
This strategy requires strong marketing to your target customer
base as well as the capacity to produce at a high-volume.
8. Functional Level Strategy
Functional Level Strategy can be defined as the day to
day strategy which is formulated to assist in the execution
of corporate and business level strategies. These
strategies are framed as per the guidelines given by the
top level m
Functional Level Strategy is concerned with operational
level decision making, called tactical decisions, for
various functional areas such as production, marketing,
research and development, finance, personnel and so
forth.
As these decisions are taken within the framework of
business strategy, strategists provide proper direction and
suggestions to the functional level managers relating to
the plans and policies to be opted by the business, for
successful implementation.
anagement.
9. Functional Areas of Business
There are several functional areas of business
which require strategic decision making,
discussed as under:
10. Marketing Strategy:
Marketing involves all the activities concerned with
the identification of customer needs and making
efforts to satisfy those needs with the product and
services they require, in return for consideration. The
most important part of a marketing strategy is the
marketing mix, which covers all the steps a firm can
take to increase the demand for its product. It
includes product, price, place, promotion, people,
process and physical evidence.For implementing a
marketing strategy, first of all, the company’s
situation is analysed thoroughly by SWOT analysis.
It has three main elements, i.e. planning,
implementation and control.
11. Financial Strategy
: All the areas of financial management, i.e.
planning, acquiring, utilizing and controlling
the financial resources of the company are
covered under a financial strategy. This
includes raising capital, creating budgets,
sources and application of funds,
investments to be made, assets to be
acquired, working capital management,
dividend payment, calculating the net worth
of the business and so forth.
12. Human Resource Strategy
: Human resource strategy covers how an
organization works for the development of
employees and provides them with the
opportunities and working conditions so
that they will contribute to the organization
as well. This also means to select the best
employee for performing a particular task
or job. It strategizes all the HR activities
like recruitment, development, motivation,
retention of employees, and industrial
relations.
13. Production Strategy
: A firm’s production strategy focuses on the overall
manufacturing system, operational planning and control,
logistics and supply chain management. The primary
objective of the production strategy is to enhance the
quality, increase the quantity and reduce the overall cost
of production.
Research and Development Strategy:
The research and development strategy focuses on
innovating and developing new products and improving
the old one, so as to implement an effective strategy and
lead the market. Product development, concentric
diversification and market penetration are such business
strategies which require the introduction of new products
and significant changes in the old one.
For implementing strategies, there are three Research
and Development approaches: