The Corporate Context and the Speed of SBU-Level Decision Making

The article presents the results of research on the types of ways in which decision making by strategic business units (SBU) can be affected by the corporate cultures which subsume them. It uses the speed of decision making as a relevant and quantifiable business metric. An overview of related previous research is provided, along with details of the study, which involved five international firms with multiple divisions. Corporate contexts associated with higher velocity SBU decision making were found to emphasize factors such as target definition, career incentives and financial incentives.