Strategy Implementation Versus the Concept of Strategy

Part of the Eurasian Studies in Business and Economics book series (EBES, volume 2/2)

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between the form of the strategy, its time horizon, the update frequency and the degree of the strategy implementation. The studies concerning the strategic management process, i.e. the process of continuous development and implementation of the strategy, pay special attention to the importance of preparing a formalized strategy known to the company’s management and employees, extending the time horizon for planning, and performing frequent updates in response to the speed and intensity of changes occurring in the environment. The paper presents the results of the studies concerning the problems associated with the strategy implementation, which were conducted on a sample of 200 Polish companies. The Paper and Pencil Interview research method was used for the needs of the study. The results can be interpreted as an indication that success in the strategy implementation does not depend on the degree of the strategy formalization or the frequency of changes in the strategic plan. It seems that the successful companies participating in the survey implement the strategy to a considerable degree, despite the fact that they represent different approaches to the form, time horizon and frequency of updates of the strategy.

Keywords

Strategy Strategy implementation Concept of strategy Time horizon Update of the strategy Degree of the strategy implementation 

Notes

Acknowledgment

The paper presents the results of the research carried out under a grant from the National Science Centre number DEC-2011/03/B/HS4/04247.

References

  1. Abell, D. F. (1980). Defining the business: The starting point of strategic planning. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar
  2. Andrews, K. R. (1980). The concept of corporate strategy. Homewood, IL: R.D. Irwin.Google Scholar
  3. Ansoff, H. I. (1980). Strategic issue management. Strategic Management Journal, 1(2), 131–148.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  4. Armstrong, J. S. (1982). The value of formal planning for strategic decisions: Review of empirical research. Strategic Management Journal, 3(3), 197–211.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  5. Bechtold, B. L. (1997). Chaos theory as a model for strategy development. Empowerment in Organizations, 5(4), 193–201.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  6. Boar, B. H. (1984). Application prototyping. A requirements definition strategy for the 1980s. New York: Wiley-InterScience Publication.Google Scholar
  7. Bourgeois, L. J. (1980). Strategy and environment: A conceptual integration. Academy of Management Review, 5(1), 25–39.Google Scholar
  8. Box, T. M. (2011). Small firm strategy in turbulent times. Academy of Strategic Management Journal, 10(1), 115–122.Google Scholar
  9. Brennan, M. J., Schwartz, E. S., & Lagnado, R. (1997). Strategic asset allocation. Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, 21(8), 1377–1403.MATHMathSciNetCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  10. Brock, D. M., & Barry, D. (2003). What if planning were really strategic? Exploring the strategy-planning relationship in multinationals. International Business Review, 12(5), 543–561.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  11. Drucker, P. (1954). The practice of management. New York: Harper & Row.Google Scholar
  12. Greenley, E. (1986). Does strategic planning improve company performance? Long Range Planning, 19(2), 101–109.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  13. Hansen, M. T., Nohria, N., & Tierney, T. (1999). What’s your strategy for managing knowledge? In J. A. Woods & J. Cortada (Eds.), The knowledge management yearbook 2000–2001 (pp. 55–120). London: Routledge.Google Scholar
  14. Hax, A. C., & Majluf, N. S. (1991). The strategy concept and process: A pragmatic approach. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.Google Scholar
  15. Jauch, L. R., Osborn, R. N., & Glueck, W. F. (1980). Short term financial success in large business organizations: The environment‐strategy connection. Strategic Management Journal, 1(1), 49–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  16. Johnson, G., & Scholes, K. (2002). Exploring corporate strategy. Harlow: Financial Times Prentice Hall.Google Scholar
  17. Jones, S. L. (1993). Another look at time-varying risk and return in a long-horizon contrarian strategy. Journal of Financial Economics, 33(1), 119–144.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  18. Kaplan, R. S., & Norton, D. P. (2001). The strategy-focused organization. Strategy & Leadership, 29(3), 41–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  19. Keil, S. K., Reibstein, D., & Wittink, D. R. (2001). The impact of business objectives and the time horizon of performance evaluation on pricing behavior. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 18(1), 67–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  20. Kenny, J. (2006). Strategy and the learning organization: A maturity model for the formation of strategy. The Learning Organization, 13(4), 353–368.MathSciNetCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  21. Klein, S. M. (1996). A management communication strategy for change. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 9(2), 32–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  22. Leemhuis, J. P. (1985). Using scenarios to develop strategies. Long Range Planning, 18(2), 30–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  23. Magretta, J. (2012). Michael Porter answers managers’ FAQs. Strategy & Leadership, 40(2), 11–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  24. Mason, R. O., & Mitroff, I. I. (1981). Challenging strategic planning assumptions: Theory, cases, and techniques. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
  25. Mezger, S., & Violani, M. (2012). Seven basic strategic missteps and how to avoid them. Strategy & Leadership, 39(6), 19–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  26. Miller, C. C., & Cardinal, L. B. (1994). Strategic planning and firm performance: A synthesis of more than two decades of research. Academy of Management Journal, 37(6), 1649–1665.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  27. Mintzberg, H. (1987a). Crafting strategy. Harvard Business Review, 65(4), 66–75.Google Scholar
  28. Mintzberg, H. (1987b). The strategy concept I: Five Ps for strategy. California Management Review, 30(1), 11–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  29. Mintzberg, H. (1988). Opening up the definition of strategy. In J. B. Quinn, H. Mintzberg, & R. M. James (Eds.), The strategy process (pp. 13–20). Harlow: Prentice Hall.Google Scholar
  30. Mintzberg, H. (1994a). Rethinking strategic planning part I: Pitfalls and fallacies. Long Range Planning, 27(3), 12–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  31. Mintzberg, H. (1994b). The fall and rise of strategic planning. Harvard Business Review, January–February, 108–114.Google Scholar
  32. Nakatani, Y. (2005). The effects of awareness‐raising training on oral communication strategy use. The Modern Language Journal, 89(1), 76–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  33. Pearce, J. A., Robbins, D. K., & Robinson, R. B. (1987). The impact of grand strategy and planning formality on financial performance. Strategic Management Journal, 8(2), 125–134.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  34. Raps, A. (2005). Strategy implementation: An insurmountable obstacle? Handbook of Business Strategy, 6(1), 141–146.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  35. Steyn, B. (2004). From strategy to corporate communication strategy: A conceptualization. Journal of Communication Management, 8(2), 168–183.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  36. Tzu, S. (2006). The art of war. New York: Penguin Great Ideas.Google Scholar

Copyright information

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Strategic Management DepartmentWrocław University of EconomicsWrocławPoland

Personalised recommendations