Discuss the three levels of planning and the strategy associated with each level. Provide a business example of each strategy.

What will be an ideal response?

Answer:
1. Corporate-level plan: the organizations missions and goals, overall strategy, and structure.
EX: GE's goal - to be first in market share in every industry they compete in
1.A. Corporate-level strategy: a plan of action that indicates which industries and national markets an organization intends to compete in.
EX: GE sold NBC Universal to Comcast (nations largest cable operator) in 2009
2. Business-level plan: long term divisional goals that help division meet corporate goals.
EX: GE Lighting Division goal - go from #2 to #1
2.A. Business-level strategy: a plan that indicates how a division intends to compete against its rivals in an industry.
EX: GE focused on ways to reduce costs in all departments to lower prices and gain market share from Phillips
3. Functional-level plan: functional goals that the managers of each function will pursue to help their division attain its business-level goals
EX: GE - manufacturing in lighting division: reduce production cost by 20% over next 3 years
3.A. Functional-level strategy: plan of action that managers of individual functions can take to add value to an organization's goods and services
EX: GE - manufacturing in lighting division: investing in state of the art European production facilities