Introduction
Corporate management can be simply defined as a management the most complex type of business organization--- a corporation. It includes making and facilitating activities for the corporation such as corporate planning, corporate strategic planning, and evaluation and control of corporate plans. It also includes handling the entire levels of management from top to bottom and it also encompasses the entire management processes in the corporation. This is also the most complex among the other types of management because it would require a vision not only locally but globally as well. It also deals not only with issues in the local and global market but other issues such as ethical, environmental and even the political ones as well.
Why is it needed?
Having greater power is directly proportional to having greater responsibility. In this world where almost everything is under the system of capitalism, corporations are the most powerful among the other forms of business organizations. They hold most of the needs of the people, which is why they have become dependent on them. So for a corporation to last and to make sure that they are doing their responsibilities, corporate management is needed. Corporate management not only seeks to organize the corporation and to make sure that it is still profitable and functional but to also deal with responsibilities, changes, and issues that affect them as well.
Scope of corporate management
Among the other forms of business organizations such as sole proprietorships, general partnerships, and limited liability company, corporations have a bigger scope of management. Other forms of business organizations have a management scope which includes: maintenance of the efficiency and effectiveness of the organizational structure, maintenance of the smooth flow of business operations, market research and penetration, competitor handling, and profitability. In corporate management, the scope also includes corporate social responsibility (including ethics, values, and social audit), strategic enablers (information technology, research and development, knowledge management, and innovations), network externalities, competitive scenario for dynamic and global markets, competitive scenario for domestic and global markets, and code of conduct including audit committee, governance committee and etc.
Different Approaches
Corporate management has four different approaches. These are top down approach, bottom up approach, hybrid approach, and team approach. In top down approach, the decisions made for the corporation is dependent upon the top management (usually the CEOs and the officers of the corporation) and as instructed by the top management, the implementation is done by those in the middle or lower level management. The bottom up approach is quite different from the latter because the source of information will be coming from the lower level management and is reached up to the top management. The importance of this approach is that among the different levels, the lower level management has more exposure to the realities and current situation that would affect the performance of the entire corporation. So any updates and issues should be carried by the lower management up to the top management. The hybrid approach is a combination of both the top down and bottom up approaches. This is usually used in decentralized companies. The team approach involves a lateral communication approach between the top managers. For example, the chief executive may collaborate with senior managers in preparing corporate plans.
