The functional departments of a company must develop internal strategic plans for achieving the mission and objectives. Functional strategies are strategies developed and implemented by department managers. Marketing focuses on the four Ps: product, promotion, place, and price. The marketing department makes decisions about which products to provide, how they will be packaged and advertised, and where they will be sold.

The operations department is responsible for systems processes that convert inputs into outputs of products or services for its customers. Operations focuses on quality and efficiency. The human resources (HR) department is responsible for working with all the other functional departments in the areas of recruiting, selecting, training, evaluating, and compensating employees. Based on the type of business, any number of other departments also need to develop strategy.