Business units are those units in the company that are strategically planned and budgeted and are usually controlled by a responsible management that reports directly to the company management. Depending on the terminology, they are also called business areas, divisions, sectors or strategic profit centers. They exist wherever the company structure is not defined purely according to functions or processes. Business units can be, for example, individual product groups, brands, customer segments, countries, regional units such as branches, technology areas or sales channels, depending on the company’s business division.

The management of a business unit is usually closest to the business and therefore has the best information about customers, the market, competition, trends, technology, sales and distribution logic and much more. Equipped with the guidelines of normative management (such as vision, mission, values, top objectives) and the portfolio of the entire company, the management of the business units can now develop the strategy for their own area of ​​responsibility. In a multi-stage process, which in practice today can take a maximum of 2 – 3 months, the best possible business unit strategy should then be proposed to the top management for decision.

Since this always involves an internal battle for resource allocation, the fate of a business unit is often decided by the presentation of a convincing strategy.

Our recommendations: A convincing business unit strategy must be able to be explained on a single page in order to be presented to the company’s top management in 15 minutes and then discussed in depth and plausibly defended in a further 30 – 45 minutes. When answering the question “What do we want to be in the future and what results do we want to achieve, how and with which use of resources?” the utmost precision and personal credibility are required. Learn how to do this.

Management Seminar

Seminars on the Business Unit Strategy

You can find the best strategy seminars below. Since 1985, our business school group has been offering first-class continuing education courses on all relevant topics for securing the future.

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Consulting services:
St.Gallen Consulting Group has extensive and long-standing experience in the field of strategy consulting.
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