The Organisational Relationsships between Support Functions and Core Business

The paper is based on research for a MBA thesis. The purpose is to clarify the organisational relationships between support functions and core business and how these relationships vary for strategic and operational support functions. The value chains for core businesses and support functions are analysed and related to empirical data from a case study on Danish Broadcasting Corporation.

A particular support value chain is identified and a typology of archetypes of support functions is developed. The relationship between core business and strategic support is identified as primarily a general business orientation, while the relationship between core business and non-strategic functions is identified as mainly a specific customer orientation.

It is concluded that a market relationship – internally or externally – is appropriate for non-strategic functions, while it is important to create a kind of coalition between the core business and the strategic support function.