Establishment and execution of a management strategy are the heart and soul of an organization. This strategic management is what determines the company of either successful or fail. Coulter (2002, p. 5) stated that an organization that applies strategic management concepts and techniques have higher level of performance. However, implementation of this strategy is a big challenge. Even a good strategy can be ineffective in its execution. A poor strategy, though always lead to ineffectiveness, can sometimes be effective. Nonetheless, whether or not the implementation of these strategies is effective, it has always give impacts on the involved organization.
Effects of ineffective implementation of a good strategy
Logically, a good strategy would likely be effective. Yet, in business world, there are lots of cases where a good strategy of a company did not meet its targeted financial performance or its vision. Back in 1999, Fortune magazine study stated that 70% out of 10 CEOS who fail to do so is not because of bad strategy, but because of bad execution. In strategic management process, the strategy implementation plays the most critical part, even more so that the formulation. What is the use of a really good formulation, but with a very poor implementation?
According to Goodman et. al (2007, p. 77), a strategy implementation involves doing things needed to ensure that an organization’s strategy is achieved effectively and efficiently. Blahová & Knápková (2010) further
There has been a large amount of research into what strategy is, since Michael Porter’s perennial work in the 1980s. Studies done on the execution of strategy have been far less numerous. However, there is one major understanding about the execution of strategy. The execution of strategy is a vital part of success in business. A summary of many myths surrounding various strategic executions will be outlined, along with their subsequent analyses.
Strategy is a set of complicated tactics formulated by the executives of a company directed towards the achievement of company’s goal (Salmela, 2002). It is about all the path ways that a company would follow to reach its ultimate goal. It is a company’s strategy which helps to identify what it does better than the other companies in the industries, which may be different from what it does best. For successful strategy formulation and implementation, a company should know the needs of customers and should have knowledge of its competitors. Through a good strategy a company would identify that opportunity which makes it different from the others (Thompson, 2005).
Pearce, J. A. II, & Robinson, R. B. (2009). Strategic management: Formulation, implementation, and control (11th ed.). [University of Phoenix Custom Edition e-text]. New York: McGraw-Hill. Retrieved August 20, 2011, fr
According Vermeulen, most new strategies are implemented. One of the chief reason for lack of implementation of these strategies is that ‘’ new strategies’’ are usually not strategies at all. A real strategy involves a clear set of choices which define what the organization is going to execute and those which isn’t going to execute. Therefore, most strategies are never put into actions despite the ample efforts of hard-working individuals since they doesn’t represent a set of clear choices (Vermeulen, 2017). To improve your strategy you must ensure that there is a clear communication of the strategy to the implementers who are the employees as well as all the people in the enterprise. Communicating your logic will be very important in answering some of the ‘’why’’ questions that your employees have. Answering such questions will help in persuading the employees that the new strategy is valuable. For effectiveness of the strategy, it should be issued from the top down and supported from the bottom up. This means that lower-level workers must be empowered so that they can think of their own initiatives to realize the
Strategic management also includes implementation of plans. The overall ability of ability to have effective implementation of your strategy allows to assess the effectiveness of your formulaic planning and data consumption.
The literature research reviewed in this paper attempts to address the topic of strategy implementation. The paper tries to establish an academic case for previously researched material on this subject by reflecting on the diverse views published in the literature. The different views expressed combine to formulate research to establish relevance as well as importance in this step of the Strategic Management Process. In order to identify and discuss existing data and developments in strategy implementation, over twelve articles in scholarly academic journals containing “strategy implementation” or “strategy execution” as the key words were
Strategy Implementation Model: Equip the organization to adapt to change by developing a model of appropriate structures, objectives, controls, integration mechanisms, and incentives for implementing the strategy.
According to Hrebiniak (2006), formulating a consistent strategy is a difficult task however implementing it is even more difficult. Noble, (1999b) suggested that strategy implementation is often seen as a craft, rather than a science.
n the book, Good Strategy/Bad Strategy by Richard Rumelt, the author goes into detail about the differences of good strategy and bad strategy and at the same time making clear distinctions of a company’s strategy that is implemented to achieve the company’s objective versus their objectives overall. Rumelt divides his book into numerous chapters such as what it takes to develop a good strategy, how bad strategy is formed over time and why it happens so often, chain-link systems, the science behind good strategy, and much more. A good strategy, according to Rumelt, is the first advantage because “other organizations do not have a strategy”. Most companies have unfortunately been misguided by poor strategy, and they focus on performance objectives or vague goals. Throughout the book, the author claims that a good strategy “has coherence, coordinating actions, policies, and resources as to accomplish an important end “ (Rumelt 26). In the first chapter of the book, Rumelt talks about how the Apple Corporation’s strategy and its CEO, Steve Jobs, were able to revive the company during 1997. When Steve Jobs modified Apple’s strategy, he wanted one simple thing; integrate plain strategy. Rumelt describes in the first chapter that “the power of Jobs’ strategy came from directly taking the fundamental problem wit ha focused and coordinated set of actions. He did not announce ambitious revenue or profit goals; he did not indulge in messianic visions of the future. And he did not just
In the book “Good Strategy and Bad Strategy”, Richard Rumelt illustrates examples of success and failure of business management to explain the true meaning of the strategy, and tells companies how to develop a correct strategy and adhere to core of management strategy. He also emphasizes the central role of strategic management as to remind the readers to understand the huge difference between a good strategy and bad strategy. This book has three sections: good and bad strategy, sources of power, and thinking like a strategist. I will be evaluating strengths and weaknesses under these topics. After finish reading the book, I had gained a better understanding of what a good strategy means to the success of a company. According to Rumelt, a good strategy is coherent, where companies pursue multiple objectives that are connected with each other. Rumelt points out that a good strategy consists of three elements: diagnosis, guiding policy, and coherent action. (71) First, diagnosis means to define the obstacles and challenges that the companies are facing, and guidelines help the people to overcome the obstacles. Lastly, coherent action is the activities or actions that company did to be consistent with its guiding policy. Today, many of us lost the focus of the strategy, which results in the downward of businesses and organizations. Rumelt has defined the strategy as acknowledging the main problems and take coherent action to overcome the problems. Moreover, he illustrates
The implementation of correct strategy in an organization is of vital importance. The reason for this is that strategy helps an organization to reach goals and it helps an organization to prosper. The correct Strategy and implementation also helps an organization to have a
There is no single, universally accepted definition for strategy. Some understand it as a deliberate plan, drawn up to achieve set goals, others see it more as a process, whereby a company’s decision and actions are made in alignment with opportunities or threats in the industry. Even others define it as a pattern of consistent actions in decision-making and lastly there are those with a military view of strategy, who consider it a manoeuvre to beat and outsmart the competition (Parthasarthy, 2006). By drawing from each of the definitions, one could say that strategy and by extension, strategic management, is constituted of short-term strategies involving managing and planning for the present and long-term decisions and
Strategy is the key to running a strong, successful, and well-rounded company. Having a sound strategy can make a world of difference when running an organization and the impact that it has cannot be overlooked. Many organizations fail because they do not have a durable strategy in place for their organization. The importance of having a good strategy cannot be stressed enough. Everyone should have a voice in the making of an organizational strategy; it’s good to get all points of views and opinions from top to bottom in an organization. It’s up to the top management to make sure the strategy is implemented and executed. It’s very simple to tell which organizations have good strategies and which ones do not.
The world seems to be changing ever faster, with the innovation of technological, economic and political forces reverberating around the world everyday. In the 21st century, management is becoming one of the leading key words on most of search engines such as Google, Yahoo, Go.com, Business.com, WebCrawler…Times are turbulent, and for managers trying to successfully run their organizations, not only do they have to master the technical skills but also make precise decisions at the right times and build up the appropriate strategies to achieve organizational goals. That is to say strategy is undoubtedly crucial for organization’s success, so what is strategy? Strategy refers to the plan of action that prescribes resources
A strategy is said to be a plan that is made for the long term success of a product or brand. It is extremely important to have a strategy in order to figure out a direction towards which any company is able to focus all its resources efficiently and achieve desired outcomes. Formulating effective strategies is a considerably long process in itself that combines analysing several factors, situations and issues that are already present in a company and looking to improve on them alongside trying to implement various innovations and ideas to collectively create a direction towards which they can move and direct the resources available to them.