22 Functional Strategy Examples: Apple, Coca-Cola, Nike

Business giants like Coca-Cola, Apple, Nike, and others implement a functional strategy. It is an essential part of strategic management aimed at improving a company’s performance and ecosystem. Keep reading to uncover all the details about the functional-level strategy and get the best examples!

🔝 Top 10 Functional Strategy Examples

1. Sony Strategy: Management & Planning
2. Airbus Operations Management Analysis
3. Marketing Relationship with Other Functional Areas
4. Advertising and Marketing Strategy in Social Media
5. Corporate Functional Management in Organization
6. "PowerAde": Marketing Strategy
7. Prior’s Ice Creams: Effective Marketing Strategy
8. TCL: Functionality, Value and Opportunity
9. IKEA’s Internationalization Strategy: Review and Analysis
10. Impact of CoronaVirus on the Aviation Sector: Emirates Airline

🤔 What Is Functional Strategy?

A functional business strategy (functional-level strategy) is a tool used mainly by big corporations to optimize processes in each department. The name “functional” relates to particular functions performed by different departments.

To use this method more effectively, strategic management specialists combine it with business- and corporate-level strategies. The three-tier strategy model is the following:

1. Corporate level – fundamental questions about the company (strategic intent, business type, etc.).
2. Business level – means and ways for achieving success (numerous business strategies).
3. Functional level – ways to improve corporate and business strategies (marketing, HR, etc.)

In this article, we will focus on functional strategies. They are especially relevant for material management, production or manufacturing, and other operations.

What Is Functional Strategy in Business?

Functional level strategy is assigned to one or several areas (departments) of a business. It sets objectives for various company departments and ensures that each department works towards its goals.

Each head of the department or department manager takes part in developing and implementing functional strategies. Based on the strategy, managers assign tasks to employees and teams within their departments. Therefore, the functional strategy most often focuses on enhancing daily activities.

What Companies Have Functional Strategy?

All world-known corporations or even businesses with several departments have functional strategies. Of course, everyone has different functional strategies regarding methods and goals. In a big company, the strategic management department deals with functional strategy. A smaller business assigns this task to the marketing department or a particular marketer.

Learning how business strategies work is much easier when you have good examples. Such corporations as Starbucks, Walmart, Apple, and Coca-Cola implement strategies worth your attention.

🚀 Functional Level Strategy Examples

Let’s imagine Company A, manufacturing toys for children focused on three objectives in its business strategy: transparency, quality, and sustainability. Here is a short version of a functional-level strategy with examples:

🥤 Functional Strategy Examples of Companies

Now it’s time to look at several world-famous companies’ business strategies. We will compare their functional strategies within marketing departments:

Apple

As a tech giant, Apple focuses on high quality and style rather than product diversity. Here’s what Apple’s marketing functional objectives are:

1. Precise market segmentation and targeting in promotion and advertising.
2. Focus on superiority over competitors and the uniqueness of their products.
3. Ensuring comfortable customer experience in all distribution channels.

Coca-Cola

Coca-Cola is also an interesting example as it adapts to each market it operates in. It spends around 4 billion dollars on marketing and advertising annually.

1. Focus on internet marketing rather than other communication channels.
2. Consistency of the brand image and visual representation in local markets for maintaining brand recognition.
3. Consistent research of competitors’ marketing and advertising initiatives.

Nike

Nike has a long brand history and is one of the leaders in the sportswear industry. It uses intense marketing with big marketing budgets to implement its goals:

1. Maintaining and expanding a base of loyal customers.
2. Ensuring strong brand recognition.
3. Increasing online promotion and sales.

📝 Functional Strategy Research Paper Examples

1. Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Authority: Strategic Financial Management
   Business essay sample: The essay concludes that the three key success criteria for GMF and RA when evaluating financial strategies would include sustainability, feasibility and acceptability.
2. Marketing Strategy for an Innovative Product
   Business essay sample: The former will include medical organizations (hospitals, clinics, centers), insurance companies, the military, and individual doctors.
3. Cost Reduction Strategy in Supply Chain Management
   Business essay sample: This paper explores cost reduction strategies across the supply chain by synthesizing literature from professional journals and comparing the authors' perspectives on cost reduction.
4. A Good Performance Management Strategy Elements
   Business essay sample: Various elements, including agreement, measurements, feedback, positive reinforcement, and dialogue, comprise a good performance management strategy.
5. Functional and Dysfunctional Conflicts in Institutional Change
   Business essay sample: Assessing the cause of skirmishes within companies and the role of functional and dysfunctional conflicts is instrumental in recommending appropriate resolutions.
6. Hyatt Hotel Corporation's Analysis and Environment Evaluation
   Business essay sample: Hyatt Hotels company has experienced rapid growth and success to become one of the models of excellence in the high-end hotels and resorts niche.
7. Marketing Essentials: Definition of Marketing
   Business essay sample: Marketing is one of the functions that is why it is significant for firms to pay much attention to their relationships with the environment.
8. Emirates Airlines: Strategy Formulation, Execution, and Governance
   Business essay sample: This paper discusses how Emirates formulated its corporate strategy and how often they re-evaluate, Emirates’ mission, vision, and core values.
9. Aspects of Amazon INC. Strategy
   Business essay sample: The paper discusses that Amazon’s sustainable growth and profitability can be attributed to its cost-leadership and differentiation focus.
10. Fishcare Company Rationalize the R&D Work and the Cross-Functional
    Business essay sample: For a long period, fish has been viewed as food. It is a rich source of protein. However, due to innovative minds, people came to realize that fish could also be a pet.
11. The Human Resource Information System: Strategy to Seek and Sustain Buy-In
    Business essay sample: In this paper, the focus is to develop a strategy to seek and sustain buy-in and support for an Human resource information system within an organization.
12. Case Analysis of the Target Corporation
    Business essay sample: This paper analyzes Target’s business from external and internal perspectives, including the factors affecting the operation of the retail network.