This study looks at business development as one of the many strategic management areas and aims to provide an overview about the available business development directions and methods, together with elements which play a significant role in deciding which of those directions and methods should be exploited. To provide a better insight on these decisions, a multiple-case study is also exploited at the end of this project. Therefore, this research exploits the deductive approach and starts by theoretical discussions which are then tested and explored also in practise, and for the analysis of the two cases, secondary data are exploited. The systems methodological approach used for the study means that the options related to business development are not only studied in relation to various influencing elements, but also these elements are studied in relation to each other. In the theoretical part of this paper, various business development directions such as consolidation, market penetration, product development, market development, integration, and diversification are explored, and so are the various business development methods such as internal, external, or joint development. Based on these discussions, the study presents a system of options and influencing elements which all need to be taken into consideration when deciding the most optimal business development path. At the end of the study, the multiple-case study analysis on Ikea and Vodafone brings further exploration of the studied area and highlights the fact, that the development of various companies could have similar patterns, as well as contrasts, based on the differences of the variables of the system.