Strategic diversification can help companies build and sustain competitive advantage, grow profitably, and manage risk by competing across markets. In fact, today, companies that operate across industries, across countries, or both drive more than half of all economic activity. These firms need leaders who can confidently navigate a changing business landscape and the uncertain geopolitical environment. Designed to focus on multibusiness and multinational strategy, this program will allow you to explore the opportunities and challenges involved in diversifying horizontally, vertically, and geographically—while discovering new ways to find your company's best vector for growth.

This program is eligible for the Certificate of Management Excellence. Learn More

Summary

This program is eligible for the Certificate of Management Excellence. Learn More

Key Benefits

Whether you are expanding beyond a single market for the first time or evolving the strategy for a long-established multibusiness or multinational firm, this program prepares you to understand today's diversification dynamics and leverage your company's unique strengths as a platform for long-term success.

DetailsExpand All Collapse All

Design a strategy that creates and sustains value for your multibusiness or multinational company Design a strategy that creates and sustains value for your multibusiness or multinational company

Understand the critical requirements for crafting successful multibusiness or multinational strategies and differentiate them from single-market strategies
Analyze opportunities for growth as you explore how to diversify and optimize your corporate portfolio and geographic footprint
Make tough decisions about what you will and will not do, fine-tuning your strategy for maximum performance and agility

Implement a successful strategy across markets Implement a successful strategy across markets

Identify the requirements for successfully implementing your strategy across industries or countries
Design business processes to support your new strategy
Help your teams work together across businesses, geographies, and cultures

Overcome strategic and organizational challenges common in multibusiness or multinational companies Overcome strategic and organizational challenges common in multibusiness or multinational companies

Ensure that corporate headquarters adds value to the business or country operating units
Achieve the benefits of coordination while preserving operating unit independence
Recognize the sources of organizational inertia and effectively address them

Drive change while minimizing risk Drive change while minimizing risk

Explore diversification as a strategy for minimizing risk
Recognize how business conditions affect your strategic options and which changes can create advantage for you
Monitor conditions and make careful plans to manage the effects of events outside your control
Improve your organization’s ability to innovate, adapt, and manage complexity

Expand your personal and professional network Expand your personal and professional network

Extend your network by living and working with accomplished executives from various backgrounds, industries, and countries around the globe
Build relationships with a diverse group of peers who can provide wide-ranging insights into your business challenges and career decisions

Key Benefits

Details

Design a strategy that creates and sustains value for your multibusiness or multinational company

Understand the critical requirements for crafting successful multibusiness or multinational strategies and differentiate them from single-market strategies
Analyze opportunities for growth as you explore how to diversify and optimize your corporate portfolio and geographic footprint
Make tough decisions about what you will and will not do, fine-tuning your strategy for maximum performance and agility

Implement a successful strategy across markets

Identify the requirements for successfully implementing your strategy across industries or countries
Design business processes to support your new strategy
Help your teams work together across businesses, geographies, and cultures

Overcome strategic and organizational challenges common in multibusiness or multinational companies

Ensure that corporate headquarters adds value to the business or country operating units
Achieve the benefits of coordination while preserving operating unit independence
Recognize the sources of organizational inertia and effectively address them

Drive change while minimizing risk

Explore diversification as a strategy for minimizing risk
Recognize how business conditions affect your strategic options and which changes can create advantage for you
Monitor conditions and make careful plans to manage the effects of events outside your control
Improve your organization’s ability to innovate, adapt, and manage complexity

Expand your personal and professional network

Extend your network by living and working with accomplished executives from various backgrounds, industries, and countries around the globe
Build relationships with a diverse group of peers who can provide wide-ranging insights into your business challenges and career decisions

Who Should Attend

C-suite and other senior executives who design and disseminate strategy for any type of diversified or multinational company, including CEOs, chief strategy officers, country managers, or executives moving into these positions
Leaders in operating roles or staff functions with responsibility for managing and coordinating activities across businesses or across countries
Individuals in private equity firms who are involved in strategic decision-making for companies in the firm’s portfolio
Entrepreneurial leaders and strategists—in companies ranging from startups to family businesses to large firms—who are considering expanding horizontally, vertically, or geographically

This program emphasizes value creation across multiple businesses, operating units, or countries. Attendance by multiple company representatives—including both corporate and operating unit executives—will foster teamwork and amplify the program's impact.

Dive Deeper into the Experience

Inside the Classroom

See how exchange with faculty and peers yields new insights into critical business trends.

We Celebrate New Ways of Thinking. Are You Ready?

Thrive in a learning environment that welcomes diverse ideas and perspectives.

Discover more about business. And yourself.

Global perspectives > Leadership growth > Organizational impact.

Who Should Attend: C-suite and other senior executives who design and disseminate strategy for any type of diversified or multinational company, including CEOs, chief strategy officers, country managers, or executives moving into these positions

Leaders in operating roles or staff functions with responsibility for managing and coordinating activities across businesses or across countries

Individuals in private equity firms who are involved in strategic decision-making for companies in the firm’s portfolio

Entrepreneurial leaders and strategists—in companies ranging from startups to family businesses to large firms—who are considering expanding horizontally, vertically, or geographically

This program emphasizes value creation across multiple businesses, operating units, or countries. Attendance by multiple company representatives—including both corporate and operating unit executives—will foster teamwork and amplify the program's impact.

Dive Deeper into the Experience

Inside the Classroom

See how exchange with faculty and peers yields new insights into critical business trends.

Watch the Video Watch the Video

We Celebrate New Ways of Thinking. Are You Ready?

Thrive in a learning environment that welcomes diverse ideas and perspectives.

Watch the Video Watch the Video

Discover more about business. And yourself.

Global perspectives > Leadership growth > Organizational impact.

Watch the Video Watch the Video

Learning and Living at HBS

When you participate in an Executive Education program on the HBS campus, you enter an immersive experience where every aspect of the learning model has been carefully designed to facilitate your growth. Your learning will take place on your own, in your living group, and in the larger classroom, driven by the renowned HBS case method.

Learning and Living at HBS: When you participate in an Executive Education program on the HBS campus, you enter an immersive experience where every aspect of the learning model has been carefully designed to facilitate your growth. Your learning will take place on your own, in your living group, and in the larger classroom, driven by the renowned HBS case method.

Admissions Criteria and Process

We admit candidates to specific sessions on a rolling, space-available basis, and encourage you to apply as early as possible. Although most programs have no formal educational requirements, admission is a selective process based on your professional achievement and organizational responsibilities.

Admissions Criteria and Process

Answering Your Questions

Our Program Advising team can help you at any stage of the admissions process—starting with identifying the program that best addresses your learning and development goals. Contact a program advisor via email or call 1.800.427.5577 (outside the U.S., call +1.617.495.6555).

Application Submission

We recommend that you apply at least four weeks before the program start date. You may use our online form or download an application. HBS maintains all application information in strict confidentiality. We acknowledge receipt of applications via email. In the unlikely event that you do not receive an acknowledgment, please email us at exed_admissions@hbs.edu or call us at +1.617.495.6226.

Application Review

To optimize the learning experience and maximize the exchange of ideas, our Admissions Committee makes selections that balance each participant's experience, scope of current responsibilities, and type of organization. HBS seeks candidates who reflect a broad range of industries, functions, countries, and backgrounds. We review applications monthly and will contact you via email with the Admissions Committee's decision.

Fee, Payment, and Cancellations

The program fee covers tuition, books, case materials, accommodations, and most meals. No payment is necessary until you have been accepted. Payment is required prior to the program start date. If you need to cancel or defer participation, you must submit your request in writing more than 30 days before the start of the program to receive a full refund. Cancellations or deferrals received 14 to 30 days prior to the start of the program are subject to a fee of one-half of the program fee. Requests received within 14 days are subject to full payment.

What You Will Learn

Through a rich learning experience that includes faculty presentations, case studies, dynamic discussions, and small-group projects, you will examine how leaders in successful multibusiness and multinational firms have optimized their strategies.

What You Will Learn: Through a rich learning experience that includes faculty presentations, case studies, dynamic discussions, and small-group projects, you will examine how leaders in successful multibusiness and multinational firms have optimized their strategies.

Key TopicsExpand All Collapse All

Creating value across markets Creating value across markets

Leading the strategy development process in a multibusiness or multinational company
Employing diversification as a source of competitive advantage
Choosing the core around which you will build your diversification strategy
Identifying resources and distinctive competencies that will underpin your competitive advantage

Growing through horizontal diversification, vertical integration, or cross-border operations Growing through horizontal diversification, vertical integration, or cross-border operations

Identifying the underlying attractiveness of businesses and geographic markets
Allocating resources across the portfolio to maximize value creation
Understanding how acquisitions help to build and sustain competitive advantage
Making build, buy, or partner decisions
Designing country-level and business unit strategies that align with the overall corporate strategy
Creating new offerings and adapting existing offerings for new markets

Designing and evolving strategy in the midst of uncertainty Designing and evolving strategy in the midst of uncertainty

Assessing the potential impacts of volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) conditions
Managing geopolitical risk
Responding to changing markets and business models
Aligning risk management and business strategy initiatives

Building the right organization for your strategy Building the right organization for your strategy

Evolving the organization structure for each stage of your strategy
Clarifying and communicating your strategy
Optimizing the relationship between headquarters and business distribution or geographical units
Leading and managing company transformation for better alignment
Fostering a more agile and innovative organization

Managing ecosystems for strategic success Managing ecosystems for strategic success

Determining and assessing environmental factors that can enhance your success
Designing strategic partnerships and vendor relationships that support your strategy
Understanding the tradeoffs between creating and capturing value across the members of the ecosystem
Building and influencing ecosystems in order to build and sustain competitive advantage
Identifying weaknesses and strengths that can determine the sustainability of the ecosystem

Key Topics

Creating value across markets

Leading the strategy development process in a multibusiness or multinational company
Employing diversification as a source of competitive advantage
Choosing the core around which you will build your diversification strategy
Identifying resources and distinctive competencies that will underpin your competitive advantage

Growing through horizontal diversification, vertical integration, or cross-border operations

Identifying the underlying attractiveness of businesses and geographic markets
Allocating resources across the portfolio to maximize value creation
Understanding how acquisitions help to build and sustain competitive advantage
Making build, buy, or partner decisions
Designing country-level and business unit strategies that align with the overall corporate strategy
Creating new offerings and adapting existing offerings for new markets

Designing and evolving strategy in the midst of uncertainty

Assessing the potential impacts of volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) conditions
Managing geopolitical risk
Responding to changing markets and business models
Aligning risk management and business strategy initiatives

Building the right organization for your strategy

Evolving the organization structure for each stage of your strategy
Clarifying and communicating your strategy
Optimizing the relationship between headquarters and business distribution or geographical units
Leading and managing company transformation for better alignment
Fostering a more agile and innovative organization

Managing ecosystems for strategic success

Determining and assessing environmental factors that can enhance your success
Designing strategic partnerships and vendor relationships that support your strategy
Understanding the tradeoffs between creating and capturing value across the members of the ecosystem
Building and influencing ecosystems in order to build and sustain competitive advantage
Identifying weaknesses and strengths that can determine the sustainability of the ecosystem

Growth Vector Project

Working in small groups focused on a particular growth vector (horizontal diversification, vertical integration, or multinational expansion), you will develop a solution to a strategic challenge your company is facing, exchange insights with others in your group, and leverage your peers' insights to develop your own multimarket strategy.

Please note: The entire program is conducted with strict confidentiality. Any information on your company shared during program discussions is treated as completely private, and all feedback is considered proprietary to the companies involved.

Growth Vector Project

The HBS Advantage

Our Executive Education programs are developed and taught by HBS faculty who are widely recognized as skilled educators, groundbreaking researchers, and award-winning authors. Through their board memberships, consulting, and field-based research, they address the complex challenges facing business leaders across the globe.

Faculty Cochairs

Juan Alcacer

James J. Hill Professor of Business Administration

HBS Unit:

Strategy

Read Full Bio

David J. Collis

Adjunct Professor

HBS Unit:

Strategy

Read Full Bio

Raffaella Sadun

Professor of Business Administration

HBS Unit:

Strategy

Read Full Bio

The HBS Advantage: Our Executive Education programs are developed and taught by HBS faculty who are widely recognized as skilled educators, groundbreaking researchers, and award-winning authors. Through their board memberships, consulting, and field-based research, they address the complex challenges facing business leaders across the globe.

Faculty Cochairs

Juan Alcacer

James J. Hill Professor of Business Administration

HBS Unit:

Strategy

Read Full Bio

David J. Collis

Adjunct Professor

HBS Unit:

Strategy

Read Full Bio

Raffaella Sadun

Professor of Business Administration

HBS Unit:

Strategy

Read Full Bio

Apply Download Brochure

More Admissions Information

"The program helps leaders design better strategies for sustaining value, and growing profitably through diversification."

Juan Alcacer

Faculty Cochair

David J. Collis

Faculty Cochair

Raffaella Sadun

Faculty Cochair

Need Help? Contact Us:

Program Advising team

Email: executive_education@hbs.edu

"The program helps leaders design better strategies for sustaining value, and growing profitably through diversification."

Juan Alcacer

Faculty Cochair

David J. Collis

Faculty Cochair

Raffaella Sadun

Faculty Cochair

Need Help? Contact Us:

Program Advising team

Email: executive_education@hbs.edu

Strategy Comparison Chart

Compare programs at-a-glance to find what's right for you.

Need Help? Contact Us:

Program Advising team

Email: executive_education@hbs.edu

Strategy Comparison Chart

Compare programs at-a-glance to find what's right for you.

Need Help? Contact Us:

Program Advising team

Email: executive_education@hbs.edu

Related Programs

Explore All Programs Download Program Calendar

Explore All Programs Application PDF

Building and Sustaining Value Across Markets

"The program helps leaders design better strategies for sustaining value, and growing profitably through diversification."

"The program helps leaders design better strategies for sustaining value, and growing profitably through diversification."

Summary

Summary

DetailsExpand AllCollapse All

Design a strategy that creates and sustains value for your multibusiness or multinational companyDesign a strategy that creates and sustains value for your multibusiness or multinational company Dropdown down

Implement a successful strategy across marketsImplement a successful strategy across markets Dropdown down

Overcome strategic and organizational challenges common in multibusiness or multinational companiesOvercome strategic and organizational challenges common in multibusiness or multinational companies Dropdown down

Drive change while minimizing riskDrive change while minimizing risk Dropdown down

Expand your personal and professional networkExpand your personal and professional network Dropdown down

Design a strategy that creates and sustains value for your multibusiness or multinational company

Implement a successful strategy across markets

Overcome strategic and organizational challenges common in multibusiness or multinational companies

Drive change while minimizing risk

Expand your personal and professional network

Who Should Attend

Who Should Attend

Learning and Living at HBS

Learning and Living at HBS