Harmony, Mood and Turbulence in Corporate Evolution
Neil M. Kay- General Business, Management and Accounting
This paper sets out an approach to analysing corporate strategy that treats the firm as a system that develops according to certain design rules or principles. Harmony, or consistency and balance in systems design, is seen as a broad principle underlying corporate development that joins together apparently disparate specialised, related, and conglomerate strategies at a fundamental level. It is argued that the evidence is consistent with the view of the corporation as being governed by harmony seeking objectives.
The approach is also applied to the evolution of specific strategy types. It is concluded that the nature and scale of conglomerates may be strongly influenced by the route through which they evolve, and that they may be a more persistent phenomenon than some authorities give credit for. Also, implications of the nature of corporate environments are discussed in terms of their potential influence on patterns of strategy design and development.