Is it the business developer's job to define the business goals or is it the top management's?

The Goals are set by the Top Management and how to achieve it by getting more business is the task of Business development manager, they translate the GOALS in terms of business by securing the orders.

Business developer will get you all the necessary ingredients like market data, scope, trend, growth prospects , demand etc . But it is the Top Management who sets the priority of what is to be done and what it to be achieved.

Business goals of course should be defined by the company's top management however it should be done with the business development team's inputs who are in the end going to face the market and get the results.

The Top Management defines all the business goals. 

The business developer will work to improve an organization’s market position and achieve financial growth. They will define long-term organizational strategic goals, builds key customer relationships, identifies business opportunities, negotiates and closes business deals and maintains extensive knowledge of current market conditions.

Top Management will define the goals Keeping in view market potential and Competitors share from that particulars market

That's a good question, but in my opinion it is not100% the right question!

 

If we are talking about "Corporate goal" - for sure they should be defined mainly from the Tom Management with cooperation with Business developers. But those "corporate goals" must be translated to each companies department/level, where the Business developers must have100% participation.

I think that's the reason for existence of frameworks such as "BSC - Balanced Scorecard" - one of the most widely adopted strategic planning tools used by businesses.

Both, the Business Developer needs to understand the main reason for having this company exist, the main focus for certain duration should be discussed with the Owner, CEO so that they can come up with a strategy that will help the company to survive for the coming years

Managment coordinates the efforts of people to accomplish goals and objectives using available resources efficiently and effectively.