Transitioning from Formulating to Implementing Strategies

The strategy-implementation stage of strategic management is revealed in Figure 7-1, as illus­trated with white shading. Successful strategy formulation does not guarantee successful strategy implementation. It is always more difficult to do something (strategy implementation) than to say you are going to do it (strategy formulation)! Although inextricably linked, strategy imple­mentation is fundamentally different from strategy formulation.

In all but the smallest organizations, the transition from strategy formulation to strategy implementation requires a shift in responsibility from strategists to divisional and functional man­agers. Implementation problems can arise because of this shift in responsibility, especially if strat­egy-formulation decisions come as a surprise to middle- and lower-level managers. Managers and employees are motivated more by perceived self-interests than by organizational interests, unless the two coincide. This is a primary reason why divisional and functional managers should be involved as much as possible in both strategy-formulation and strategy-implementation activities. Strategy formulation and implementation can be contrasted in the ways illustrated in Figure 7-2.

Strategy-formulation concepts and tools do not differ greatly for small, large, for-profit, or nonprofit organizations. However, strategy implementation varies substantially among differ­ent types and sizes of organizations. Implementing strategies requires such actions as altering sales territories, adding new departments, closing facilities, hiring new employees, changing an organization’s pricing strategy, developing financial budgets, developing new employee benefits, establishing cost-control procedures, changing advertising strategies, building new facilities, training new employees, transferring managers among divisions, and building a better manage­ment information system. These types of activities obviously differ greatly among manufactur­ing, service, and governmental organizations.

Source: David Fred, David Forest (2016), Strategic Management: A Competitive Advantage Approach, Concepts and Cases, Pearson (16th Edition).