Corporate management is confronted with the problem that the transformation of strategic plans into operational activities and its implementation in many cases does not lead to the desired success. The objectives, developed in the strategic planning process, often miss equivalents in terms of potentials for action and therefore result in weaknesses of realization. The present thesis focuses on the operational corporate governance of manufacturing enterprises with particular emphasis on target-oriented business management. For that purpose existing management models are subjected to close and critical scrutiny and their applicability in terms of contributing to a solution of the problem examined. The paper goes on to develop a process model that facilitates target-oriented operational corporate management and uses the available potentials of courses of action in its best way in order to continuously increase the enterprise value. The model is structured within a multi-dimensional system and explored in the aspects of processes, structures, evaluation and corporate culture. The adjustment and integration of TPM constitutes a further significant element within the overall concept. The issue of general applicability is then examined on a particular case study, in order to verify the effectiveness of the process model and to deduce from it recommendations in terms of potential courses of action for the management of manufacturing enterprises.