Business Strategy

• Author: Bert Spector
• Profession: Professor of Strategy at Northeastern University
• Pages: 17-27

Business Strategy 17

CHAPTER 2

BUSINESS STRATEGY

“Strategy” is a term you will hear reg ularly in your interaction with busi-

ness clients. By itself, strategy is not a legal concept. Rather, it is the big-

picture story of how a business will compete, grow, and make a profit. It

refers to the long-term position of the business. All transactions you may

undertake with a business client, from setting employment contracts to

negotiating mergers and acquisitions, will occur within the context of that

business’s strategy. Understanding what that strategy is and how it works

to enhance the performance of the company can be helpful.

The Basics of Business Strategy

At a basic level, all businesses must answer three questions about them-

selves: who, what, and how. The choices a business makes in each of these

questions make up the building blocks of its business strategy.1 The who

question identifies the business’s target market, the what expla ins the

product/service offer the business is making to the marketplace, and the

how identifies the firm’s business model, which is the way it delivers its

what to its wh o in an efficient, effective, and—ultimately—profitable way.

1. I am separating business strateg y from corporate strategy. The role

and strategic goals of the corporation will be dis cussed in Chapter 3.