RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BUSINESS DEFINITION AND CORPORATE GROWTH: THE EFFECT OF FUNCTIONAL ALIGNMENT

. In previous research, the hypothesis drawn from Theodore Levitt's idea that companies could continuously grow by ‘functional’ business definitions was statistically proved with 50 Japanese electric/electronics companies. The current research tests the hypothesis that in the case where the functions in corporate business definitions, divisional business definitions and products and services are all aligned, it will ultimately bring continuous growth to the company, through case studies and content analysis of four companies with highly functional corporate business definitions. As a result, it is proved that the company that successfully aligns the functions on every level continuously grows at a higher rate than the others.