Corporate Strategy: The Quest for Parenting Advantage

Which businesses belong in a parent’s portfolio?

by

and

Marcus Alexander

by

and

Marcus Alexander

From the Magazine (March–April 1995)

As they craft corporate-level strategy, most chief executives today fail to address two crucial questions: What businesses should this company, rather than rival companies, own and why? And what organizational structure, management processes, and philosophy will foster superior performance from its businesses?

A version of this article appeared in the March–April 1995 issue of Harvard Business Review.

Andrew Campbell is a director of the Ashridge Strategic Management Centre in England. He is a co-author, with Marcus Alexander, of Strategy at the Corporate Level (Jossey Bass, 2014).
MG

Michael Goold is a founding director of the Ashridge Strategic Management Centre and a coauthor of “Do You Have a Well-Designed Organization?” (HBR, March 2002).
MA

Marcus Alexander is an adjunct professor of strategic and international management at London Business School, a director of the Ashridge Strategic Management Centre in London, and a coauthor, with Andrew Campbell, of “What’s Wrong with Strategy?” (HBR November–December 1997).

Corporate Strategy: The Quest for Parenting Advantage

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