Parenting Styles
(Goold & Campbell)

The role of the Corporate Centre in Strategy. Explanation of Parenting Styles of Michael Goold and Andrew Campbell.

The Parenting Styles theory of Michael Goold, Andrew Campbell is a framework about the role of the corporate centre in a corporation. It was dealt with in their book, "Strategies and Styles", and several articles. They argue that there are many successful approaches to corporate strategy based upon management styles. Main determinants are the approaches for the planning influence of the centre and the type of control influence exerted by the centre on the businesses within the group. From this they identify 3 generic stereotypes which companies tend to follow. There are other styles but most tend to converge upon one of these three generic styles. Each style is different in its approach, can offer different advantages to the corporation, but has different strengths and weaknesses.

Three Generic Parenting Styles

The three generic parenting styles of Goold and Campbell are:

1. Financial Control
2. Strategic Planning
3. Strategic Control

Which type of influence/style is best to maximize value creation? The answer is complex but depends and can be determined upon the corporate purpose, history and culture and upon the reconciliation of multiple paradoxes of parenting advantage (control versus empowerment, responsiveness versus synergy, portfolio versus core competence).

Parenting Styles Forum

Layton - Canada

The New Deal Parenting Style?

"Yves L. Doz and and Mikko Kosonen seem to be in favor of the Strategic Planning Parenting Style for fast-changing technology companies in their article 'The New Deal at the Top' in HBR June 2007. Having researched a dozen large companies around the world (including Canon, Cisco, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Nokia and SAP), they recommend senior executives at new-deal companies should assume collective responsibility for corporate performance, rather than for their individual business unit performance. New-deal collaboration is furthermore characterized by frequency, intensity, informality, openness, and a focus on shared issues and the long term. A subordinate role for the CEO, and transparent accounting and performance measurement are seen as important facilitators. Unfortunately the authors are not mentioning any drawbacks of their collaborative philosophy."

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