Definitive Business Plan, Second Edition, The

Strategies for department managers

For the sake of argument, call the strategies outlined above business strategies. Once you have decided on a business strategy, the next logical step is expand it by developing a series of departmental strategies – one for each functional area – research and development, production, marketing, and so on. This gives the next level of detail. For example, if your business strategy is to increase market share, your marketing strategy could include a strategy for attacking your competitors.

Marketing people – who generally want to wrest control of the whole shooting match – will protest that most of the strategies already outlined are themselves marketing strategies. This is true, but in an operating context I think ...