Formulating and implementing corporate strategy to guide the planning and operations of mental health centers is related to some degree to the center's initial scale of operations and its funding context. The results of a longitudinal study of centers in 15 states indicate that these aspects of a center's context favor a specific array of management strategies: the extent to which centers are diversifying their service operations, the percent of change in direct government and nongovernment revenue, and an emphasis on developing interagency ties and on reducing costs represent major strategy options which differentiate mental health centers.