CHAPTER 1

INTERRELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN STRATEGY FORMULATION AND IMPLEMENTATION

Winning companies know how to do their work better.

Michael Hammer and James  Champy

A management truism says structure follows strategy. However, this truism is often ignored. Too many organizations attempt to carry out a new strategy with an old Structure.

Dale McConkey

Weak leadership can wreck the soundest strategy; forceful execution of even a poor plan can often bring victory.

By – Sun zi

An organization‘s capacity to execute its strategy depends on its hard infrastructure - Its organizational structure and systems and on its soft infrastructure its culture and norms.

By – Amar Bhide

The biggest levers you’ve got to change a company are strategy, structure, and culture. If I could pick two, I’d pick strategy.

By- Wayne Leonard, CEO, Entergy

The ideal organizational structure is a place where ideas filter up as well as down, where the merit of ideas carries more weight than their source, and where participation and shared objectives are valued more than executive order.

Edson Spencer

Leader lives in the field with his troops.

H – Ross Perot

Weak leadership can wreck the soundest strategy; forceful execution of even a poor plan can often bring victory.

Sun Zi

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INTRODUCTION

In this book, we shall discuss the concept of strategy formulation, to know the relationships between strategy formulation and implementation of the strategy, to study different issues in strategy formulation. Design the organization structure for strategy formulation and implementation and control in terms of functional structure, divisional structure, strategic business units, matrix structure and network structure. Strategy implementation and control in strategic business units and core competencies are related to value chain analysis, identifying the core competencies and manages it links with business. It also involves leadership which helpful for strategic implementation. While implementation of strategy in an organization would be building a strategy which is supporting corporate culture for proper implementation and control. Finally, strategic management is a continuous process in firms which decides what strategies will be required by the enterprise. In this case, there must be the translation of strategic thought into strategic action in the enterprise and its process. Proper translation requires the support of all managers and employees of the business: it is the basic essential to the enterprise. Improper implementation of the strategy, it affects to the entire organization. It affects all the functional and divisional areas of a business.

INTERRELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN STRATEGY FORMULATION AND IMPLEMENTATION

Strategy execution deals with the managerial exercise and it involves to the supervision of organization for ongoing strategy formulation and execution in an enterprise for survival, growth, and development in an organization.

Strategy execution will be making work, it can be improving the core competencies are implemented and showing measurable progress towards the achievement of the targets results.

It is concerned with the translation a decision which converts into action that is pre purposeful and makes the proper decision itself.

Strategy implementation should be acceptable and to know the feasibility of the performance in an organization.

It involves the allocation of resources to the new course of action which will be undertaken by a company.

It designs the organization structure and its activities for effective handling in an organization.

BASIC ELEMENTS OF STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT

Basic elements of strategic management involve to strategy formulation, implementation, and control of strategy in the enterprise or organization or company

Basic elements of strategic management are classified into three steps

Step one is to Strategic analysis; it consists of the environment, expectations and purposes and resources competencies and capability.

Step second is to strategic choice; it principally the combination of bases of strategic choice, strategic options and strategic evaluation and selection.

The third step is to strategic implementation: it composes of organization structure and design, resource allocation and control, managing strategic change.

STRATEGY FORMULATION AND IMPLEMENTATION MATRIX

There are so many differences between strategy formulation and implementation process. So many managers in enterprises fail to make distinguish between strategy formulation and implementation. Strategy formulation requires special skills and also strategy implementation also requires very different skills compare to strategy formulation. An organization is successful due to its credit goes to sound strategy formulation and implementation of strategy and control tool of strategy. In several cases, strategy formulation and implementation is the failure due to lack knowledge, skills, and resources in the project.

Matrix clearly identified the distinction between sound / flawed strategy formulation and excellent/weak strategy implementation. It identified with the Square A, B, C, D'.

Square A refers to the situation where a company seems to formulate a very competitive strategy, but it is showing difficulties, in the case of implementation it successfully. It happens due to the lack of experience, the lack of resources, missing leadership and so on. In these situations, the company will be aiming at moving from A to B. In this case, project managers and a team will be facing some difficulties