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Strategy Execution

Revision as of 18:33, 20 January 2021 by User (talk | contribs)

When asked to define strategy execution, most managers respond with statements like, “It’s the successful implementation of a strategic plan” or “It’s getting your strategy done.” While these perspectives are certainly valid, they aren’t very helpful in terms of understanding what needs to be done to actually drive business results. Here’s a look at some mainstream approaches to strategy execution:

  • Strategy execution as a process. The most notable book to date on strategy execution is Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done, by Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan. Bossidy, a retired CEO, and Charan, a renowned management consultant, make the case for execution as a discipline or “systematic way of exposing reality and acting on it.” They explain that “the heart of execution lies in three core processes":
    • People
    • Strategy
    • Operations

They explain the processes and descriptions managers use to successfully drive business results.

  • Strategy execution as a system. The information presented in Execution is certainly useful, but the authors don’t fully explain how an organization can implement their three core processes to achieve strategy success. There have been significant advancements in this area since Execution was published in 2002. In 2008, Harvard Business School Professor Robert S. Kaplan and his Palladium Group colleague David P. Norton wrote The Execution Premium: Linking Strategy to Operations for Competitive Advantage. In it they present their management system, which houses six sequential stages intended to help organizations capture what they call an “execution premium”—a measurable increase in value derived from successful strategy execution. They outline six stages in this system:
    • Develop the strategy
    • Plan the strategy
    • Align the organization
    • Plan operations
    • Monitor and learn
    • Test and adapt[1]
  1. What is trategy Execution? American Management Association