Category: Career Planning

Corporate Strategy at SAP

Corporate strategy at SAP oversees the corporate development team, as well as the partnerships team, and the portfolio team (that makes decisions pertaining to R&D resources allocation). The corporate strategy function at SAP sets the company targets for the next 5 years, and the break it down by portfolio. Based on the corporate strategy, they then decide (with the rest of the teams):

• What to build: If building in house is not the best viable option, they then decide;
• Who they can partner with: In the event that there are players out there that SAP can partner with and can get the value that they need;
• Who they can buy: if building in house and partnerships don’t make sense, SAP will look to acquire entities

If none of the above make sense, SAP will re-evaluate their desire to ‘play’ in the space the strategy outlined.

Typical Background for Corporate Dev. at SAP

Per John, the typical Corporate Dev. manager will have either a consulting experience, engineering experience, and/or an MBA. John emphasized the necessity of background in tech. Further, John did mention that there are people on his team with product management experience as well, that transitioned into corporate development.

Corporate Strategy at Chegg

The corporate strategy function in Chegg sets the vision for the company for the next 5 years. Then, the corporate strategy team ensures alignment across the company of that vision (working closely with leadership and other functions), as well as map the path to accomplish that vision, essentially setting the growth strategy

Corporate Development at Chegg

The corporate development side of the house works on executing the growth strategy set by the corporate strategy team. The corporate development team is responsible for M&A negotiations and the integration of acquired companies with the mothership (Chegg).

Takeaways

After sharing with Seong what I would want to do moving forward as the next step in my career (focusing more on strategic vision rather than on tactical execution), he suggested I focused my attention on corporate strategy (as opposed to development). Seong suggested that M&A procedures get really tactical really fast, and that might not yield the fulfillment I am looking for out of my next role.

Additionally, Seong suggested I try to find spots to shine a brighter light on my strategic accomplishments as a Product Manager (i.e. to prove that I can do the job). He also mentioned the fact that I may be a good addition to a strategy team, as what happens often is that if in the process of an M&A or other activity some product input is necessary, the strategy team has to either rely on other teams (which delays operations), or hire external consultants. Seong believes that might be a good avenue for me to pursue.