Corporate Strategy
Where a company decides which businesses to be in and where the capital goes. Adjacent to corporate development, but the question is which direction to walk rather than what to buy.
1,000+ candidates coached into top-tier firms
What We Cover
Common Corporate Strategy Interview Questions
Which of our business units would you invest in, and which would you exit?
A competitor has just cut prices 15%. What do you recommend?
How would you size the opportunity in an adjacent market?
We have £500m of surplus capital. Where should it go?
What is the biggest threat to this company in five years?
How would you know whether last year’s strategy worked?
These are real questions asked in corporate strategy interviews. Our coaching covers how to structure and deliver winning answers.
What Top Firms Look For
Structured thinking that stays useful once the framework is put away
Genuine curiosity about the industry, not just about strategy as a discipline
Numeracy: a strategy that cannot be modelled is a slogan
Influence without authority, since strategy owns almost no headcount
Written communication — this role produces documents that get read by people who were not in the room
Comfort being wrong in public and updating quickly
A Day in the Life: Corporate Strategy
Corporate strategy runs on the planning calendar. Much of the year is analysis for a specific decision: an adjacency, a pricing move, a competitor response. Around planning season it becomes the machinery of the annual cycle, working with every business unit to turn ambition into a budget somebody will be held to. The work is more writing and persuading than modelling, and the deliverable is usually a recommendation the executive committee will argue about rather than an answer they will simply accept.
How to Break Into Corporate Strategy
Management consulting is the dominant feeder, typically after two to four years
Internal moves from finance, commercial and product roles are common and often preferred
Banking backgrounds transfer, though the emphasis shifts from transactions to markets
Smaller companies combine strategy with corp dev in one seat, which is a fast way to learn both
Read the company’s annual report and last three earnings calls before interviewing — this is the role where not doing so is most obvious
Frequently Asked Questions
How is corporate strategy different from corporate development?
Strategy decides which direction to walk; corporate development executes the acquisitions that get you there. Strategy asks whether the company should be in a market at all, how it wins, and where capital should go. Corp dev takes that as given and finds, values and negotiates the targets. At smaller companies the two are one job, which is the best place to learn both.
Is corporate strategy a good exit from consulting?
It is the most direct one, and the trade-off is well understood: better hours, one company instead of many, and a chance to see whether your recommendations actually worked. The adjustment people find hardest is influence. In consulting the client has already bought in by hiring you. In-house you have to earn the same standing from colleagues who did not choose to bring you in.
Your Coach: Surojit Chakraverti
Citigroup · Rothschild · Morgan Stanley · Bank of America · Hedge Fund CIO
Surojit is a hedge fund CIO (Third Wave Capital, previously Redline) and former investment banker who worked at Citigroup, Rothschild, Morgan Stanley and Bank of America — with his core deal experience in M&A at Citi and Rothschild. He has personally coached over 1,000 candidates into roles at Goldman Sachs, Blackstone, KKR, Google, McKinsey, and dozens of other top-tier firms.
Every corporate strategy coaching session is tailored to your specific targets, timeline, and experience level. No generic advice, just the insider knowledge that separates offers from rejections.
Ready to Ace Your Corporate Strategy Interview?
Get 1:1 coaching from professionals who have been through the process and sat on the other side of the table. No generic advice, just what actually works.
Book Your SessionCoached by Surojit Chakraverti, Citigroup, Rothschild, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, EY
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