Model-Based Approach to Effective Strategic Management and Sustainable Competitive Advantage

Strategic Management
Strategic management is a decision-making process that defines the procedures that an organization adopts to formulate, implement. execute and evaluate the organization strategy. The output of the strategic management process is a system of decisions - strategy content - that are aimed at shaping the organization's strategic direction and the means (organizational strategy) to guide the transformation of the organization as a system to successfully implement and execute its strategy, to more effectively respond/adapt to changes in its environment in achieving its long-term objectives.

The strategy content can be defined by a 3+1 viewpoint model, comprising the corporate, business, and operations strategy views of a layered hierarchy, and the functional strategy view that contributes to all the layers in the hierarchy. The views represent viewpoints of various levels of management in the organization from board of directors, executive management, middle management and line/operational management. This is a system of the actual decisions that are taken over time with respect to the formulation, implementation and execution, and control of an organization strategy. 

• Formulation
• Implementation
• Execution
• Evaluation

<

>

Strategy Formulation
Strategy formulation is sometimes referred to as 'strategic planning' because they both basically follow the same concept. Through strategic planning, management is able to evaluate organization's resources to determine the best ways to maximize the company's return on investment (ROI). ​The process of formulating organizational strategy is a creative decision-making process, involving generating ideas about what new solutions/products the business should offer, and in which markets to operate in order to survive, grow and thrive. 

Strategy formulation process involves analyzing the organization's internal and external environment and identifying and selecting the optimum set of grand strategies and long-term goals and objectives. Successful strategy formulation involves crafting a set of good strategic options, and a clear set of recommendations for the selected strategic alternative (strategic options).  Those recommendations revise, as necessary, the organization's mission, its supply of resources and objectives in meeting the expectations of the stakeholders.

Strategy formulation involves the following management tasks:

​​Visioning
​​​This is setting the high-level direction of the organization - namely the vision, mission and core values of the organization. Mission-vision Formulation involves reevaluating of the organization's mission-vision, including broad statements about its purpose, philosophy, and goals. In stating what the organization hopes to become, it is essential to view this in abstract terms as the satisfaction of the needs of significant groups which cooperate to ensure the organization's continued existence. These groups may include: customers, managers, employees, stockholders, and owners. The key to organization success is its ability to identify the important needs of each of these groups to establish some balance among them, and work out  a set of operating policies which permits their satisfaction. This set of policies, as a pattern, identifies what the organization is trying to become. A policy states how goals are to be attained. It tells people what they should and should not do in order to contribute to achievement of corporate goals. Corporate level goals are indications of what the organization as a whole is trying to achieve and to become.
​
Mission Statement 
This is a statement of what the organization seeks to do and to achieve for its stakeholders.  ​Mission statement also have stated goals - what the organization aspires to be for its stakeholders. Mission clarifies the long-term future direction of the company and its strategic intent.​ ​The mission statement describes the purpose and reason for the organization to exist. A mission statement establishes the organization's future course and outlines who we are, what we do, and where the organization needs to be headed - in effect, setting the organization with a sense of purpose, providing long-term direction, and establishing a clear mission to be achieved. 

In stating what the organization hopes to achieve, it is necessary to state what it hopes to do with respect to its environment - external "systems" such as markets, industry, the economy, the community, and other social systems. In each case there are unique relationships to observe (e.g., with competitors, municipal leaders, congress, etc.). 

Vision Statement​  
The vision statement usually describes some broad set of goals - what the organization aspires to look like in the future. Developing a vision requires senior management to develop carefully reasoned answer to the question: ​"what is our vision for the company - what are we trying to do and to become?"  - This question pushes managers to consider what the company's business character is, and should be, and to develop a clear picture of where the company needs to be headed over the next 5-10 years. ​The vision statement describes some broad goals  - what the organization aspires to look like in the future. ​

Values Formulation
Core values define the organization in terms of the principles nd values the leaders will follow in carrying out the activities of the organization. ​​Every organization has values, and these values should be coherent with the strategy. The Core Values are the strong enduring beliefs and principles that the company uses as foundation for its decisions; they determine how people will behave and how they think in carrying out their job functions. These values are shared by the Board and staff, strongly held and not easily changed. Values assessment involves looking into the personal values of the members of the organization, organization values, and the organization's operating philosophy. They are the essence of the company’s culture and expression of its “personality”.​ ​

Organizational Goals Formulation
The Organizational "Official" goals statements are described in an organization's public statements such as corporate charter, mission statements and annual reports. Some examples of organization official goals include:

• Mission Goals - The mission statement is a general statement on how you will achieve your vision. The mission goals are statements of what needs to be  accomplished to implement the mission and values. Mission Objectives are specific actions and timelines for achieving the mission goals.
• Corporate goals - These are statements of what needs to be accomplished to implement the corporate strategy. Corporate goals set expectations for employees, investors, and customers. Corporate goals typically include customer loyalty, profit, growth, leadership and commitment to employees, customers and the community. Corporate objectives are specific actions and timelines for achieving the corporate goals. Examples include: maximizing shareholder wealth, increasing market share, expanding current product lines, improving employee retention, etc. Corporate objectives are specific actions and timelines for achieving the corporate goals.
• Business Goals - These are statements of what needs to be accomplished to implement the business strategy. Business goals .

Official goals help build the organization's public image and reputation; and help communicate the general purpose of the organization and describe what the organization would like or hopes to achieve. 

SWOT Analysis
​This involves synthesizing the results of the analyses of the organization's external environment, internal environment, and industry to identify any opportunities and/or threats based on established strengths and weaknesses. The environments and organizational scans involve continuous monitoring of environments conditions for changes in environments' factors that may affect your organizations performance. The term SWOT denotes the following:
​

• Strengths (The internal positive attributes of your company that are within your control); 
• Weaknesses (These are negative factors that detract from your strengths); 
• Opportunities  (These are external factors in your business environment that are likely to contribute to your success);
• Threats -  These are external factors you have no control over that negatively influences your success). 

​
SWOT analysis helps executives summarize the major facts and forecasts derived from external and internal analyses.
​
Crafting Organizational Strategy
This involves crafting a organizational strategy. It is an exercise in entrepreneurship, searching for opportunities to (1) do new things, or (2) do existing things in new and better ways. It is primarily an intellectual and creative act involving developing solutions to known strategic problems identified and defined by the strategic issues agenda and events. 

Crafting strategy brings into play the critical managerial issue of how to achieve the targeted results in light of the organization's situation and prospects. The process of identifying the best courses of action require people to think strategically (plan) then apply that thought to actions. This involves generating strategic options that will give the organization sustainable competitive advantage in achieving its mission and long-term goals and objectives. The organization strategy is conceptualized as a layered strategy hierarchy comprising corporate, business and operations strategy.

Corporate Strategy
Corporate level strategy is the set of decisions that determine the long-term orientation of organization development, and corporate activities that evaluate current market positions and identifies investment priorities for the portfolio of businesses. Corporate strategy strives to create value, develop a unique marketing advantage and seize maximum market share. When clearly defined, the corporate strategy will work to establish the overall value of a business, set strategic goals and motivate employees to achieve them. Its scope entails issues of diversification, adding new products or services, the way of competing with other firms, developing cooperative relationships, and etc.
​
Corporate strategy is to create create enterprise advantage through adding value to the organization as a whole, more than the sum of its parts (business units). It is concerned with choices regarding strategic positioning and direction such as:

1. What should be the capabilities that distinguish the company?
2. What should be the company's comparative advantage (enterprise advantage) in adding value to its individual businesses?
3. What businesses - business portfolio - should the company be in?. 

​
​These choices/decisions determine the long-term orientation of the organization's development and corporate activities that evaluate current positions and identifies investment priorities for the businesses. These choices also set the context forbusiness strategy and operation strategy.

Types of corporate strategy options (grand strategies) may include the following:

1. Growth Strategy Option - Growth strategy option implies an expansion in the level of operations of the organization. This option aims to achieve considerable business growth in the areas of revenue, market share, penetration, etc. This can be achieved through pathways such as concentration - where the company is still focusing on its core business and builds it out; through diversification - where the company decides to diversify based on a number of different approaches; product expansion - creating new products; market expansion - reaching new audiences (market development).  
2. Stability Strategy Option - The stability strategy option implies a state of status quo, or rather a state where the activity level is significantly lower than in that of the growth stage. Stability strategies are geared towards getting "more" out of the existing business (i.e., profitability driven strategy) because the current situation already works well for the organization. This strategy assumes your company is doing well under its current business model. Since the pathway to growth is uncertain, employing a stability strategy to ensure incremental progress that still bring in revenue is a viable approach. 
3. Retrenchment Strategy Option - This requires you to strongly consider switching your business model. This set of strategies is almost the opposite of status-quo or growth strategies. It is a defensive strategy where the main objective is to change the negative trajectory and improve the company's position either through aggressive changes or "cutting off" the parts that pull it down.
4. ​ Re-invention Strategy - Re-invention strategies often include taking the existing company which has not changed for decades and reinventing them. Here one can distinguish between evolutionary strategies and revolutionary strategies.
5. Exit Strategy - Corporate exit strategy outlines a plan for business owners/entrepreneurs to have an out if they want to close the company. This option may include sub-options/pathways such as :mergers, acquisition, sell the company, initial public offering, or liquidation. 

The grand strategies (options) explain the scope of the activities, the logic and context of choice based on the premises of reasoned evolution.  Each corporate strategy option (grand strategy) may have potential sub-options (pathways) through which the strategy is accomplished.

Business Strategy
Business strategy is concerned with how the organization competes within a specific industry/market. It involves decision and choices about target markets, customer segments, and value propositions such as  Business strategy is concerned with decisions and choices regarding competitors, the nature of competition, and competitive advantage such as:
​

1. Who should be the customers that define our target market?
2. What should be the value proposition that differentiates our products and services with those customers?
3. Market geography? 

​Business strategy guides top-level executives and department managers in what should or should not be done according to the organization's core values. Business strategy by identifying clear plan for how an organization will reach its goals, allows you to focus on capitalizing your strengths,using them as competitive advantage that makes your company unique in the market place.

​Business strategy defines the organization's competitive strategy - a long-term approach companies use to gain competitive advantage in the eyes of the target audience. An effective competitive strategy will help a firm develop, enhance, and exploit one or more competitive advantages. Competitive advantage is a point of difference between a firm and its competitors that is valued by potential customers/clients.

Some types of competitive strategy are:

1. Cost Leadership - This is a cost advantage strategy where the organization is trying to be the lowest cost producer. In many industries high capital costs limit competitors. This is not true in professional services, this usually means lowering the cost of talent by using professionals from countries or regions with lower wages or employing more automation in the firms business process. 
2. Differentiation Leadership - This is a differentiation strategy. With differentiation strategy an organization is attempting to establish and maintain meaningful differences between the firm and its competitors. With differentiation strategy, firms target to achieve market leadership.
3. Focus Strategy - This is a specialization strategy. The focus dimension of a competitive strategy recognizes that either a cost advantage or differentiation strategy can be applied to a very broad market or a more narrow (niche) market. ​

It is a tool to help organizations define the methods and tactics (function actions) they need to take within their company to reach their business goals. Business strategy is intended to help organizations reach your business objectives with the vision serving as the direction for the business.

Without following anyone of above mentioned competitive strategies, it becomes very difficult for firms to sustain in competitive industry. Business strategies act as a foundation for developing operations strategies. Having a lower cost structure, or greater expertise are common examples of competitive advantages in the professional services. 

Operations Strategy
Operations strategy is a system of decisions that are aimed at shaping both the long-term capabilities of operations and their contribution to the overall strategy achievement. Formulating operations strategy is concerned with designing an operations strategy, giving the contents and type of decisions that forms the nucleus of the strategy. The design shows the long-term aspirations and intent while implementing the strategy makes sure that these are realized.

Operations strategy design decisions can be can be classified into four (4) categories: market requirements, operations resources, top-down and bottoms-up perspectives.

1. ​Market Requirements - This perspective is concerned with "what the market positioning of the organization requires operations to do". Addressing the appropriate needs of customers through product offering, and attracting customers as compared to competitors, are the the main concepts that influence performance objectives decisions. The Market Requirements perspective translates market requirements into performance objectives such as quality, speed, dependability, flexibility, and cost. 
2. Operations Resources - This perspective is concerned with "what operations resources can do"; and covers an organization's assets, processes, and capabilities. This perspective involves moving from a broad understanding of what resources, processes and capabilities an operation may possess within its resources through to identification of key decisions that operations  managers will need to take in order to exploit, build on and develop these capabilities. 
3. Top-Down - The top-don perspective defines the impact of corporate strategy and objectives on business strategy and objectives and in turn their influence on operations strategy.  This is a representation of top-down reflection of "what the business wants operations to do"; and comes down from business strategy. 
4. Bottoms-up - This perspective is concerned with "what day-to-day experience suggests operations should do". It comes from within operations to improve Resources and Capabilities and inform decisions to the question "on what should be the capabilities that make our business better than any other in delivering that value proposition?". ​ The bottom-up perspective describes the day-to-day experience of providing products - goods and services - to the market and the problems and solutions revealed, which become formalized into operations strategy. This is bottom-up activity where operations improvements cumulatively build strategy. 

Operations strategy has a vertical relationship with overall business/corporate strategy and has a horizontal relationship with other functional strategies, such as marketing, sales, finance, IT, and HR. Operations strategies focus on maximizing the efficiency and effectiveness of production while minimizing operating costs. 

Operations strategy can be categorized into the following types:

1. Customer-Driven Strategies - These are market based view approaches that enable the organization to meet the needs and desires of a target market. These strategies must allow a company to evaluate and   adapt to changing environments, continuously enhancing core competencies, and developing new strengths on an ongoing basis.
2. Core Competencies - Core competencies are the strengths and resources within a company. Core competency based strategies are resource-based and may include having well-trained staff, optimal business locations, and marketing and financial strengths.  By identifying its core competencies a company can develop processes such as customer satisfaction, product development, and building professional relationships with stakeholders. 
3. ​Competitive Priorities - Competitive priorities are defined as the dimensions that a firm's production system must possess to support the demands of the markets in which the firm wishes to compete. There are five common groups of competitive priorities namely cost, quality, time, flexibility and innovation. 
4. Product and Service Development - Strategies behind the development of products - goods and services - should consider design, innovation, and added value. When developing a good or service, a company should consider the wants and needs of its customers, how it stands against the competition, and how its technical measures relate to its customers' needs. Companies should consider packaging services with immediately observable and psychological benefits and support services.

​
​Operations strategy consists of a series of decisions that organizations make in order to implement competitive business strategies. ​Operations strategy's role is to provide a plan for the operations function so that it makes the best use of its resources.

Strategic Choice
Strategic choiceis the mental process of selecting the best or most appropriate strategy from the stock of alternatives that serves the company's objectives. This choice takes place in a frame work of reference made up of variety of elements and the choice made is the product of the basic elements that work in the frame work. The basic elements may be some combination of factors such as: execution capacity, distinctive competencies, decision making styles, governmental policies, competitors' reactions, time dimension, information constraints, etc.

Strategy Statement
The strategy statement describes what the organization's competitive game plan will be. A strategy statement communicates the company's intended strategy to everyone within the organization. A well written strategy statement will help employees and the organization to understand their roles when executing the company's strategy.  ​

Strategy Testing
Each strategy option has to pass through the following tests:

1. Aligned - in that it conforms to strategic intent. This answers the question "Does this option take us towards where we want to go?"
2. Feasible - in that the capabilities and resources necessary for success can be made available. This answers the question "Will it work?"
3. Acceptable - in that it will win the approval of both those who will have to approve it and those who will have to implement it. This answers the question "Will this option be acceptable?" 

​Any strategy has to pass all three (3) tests to be viable. if more than one strategic option passes these tests, they may have to be compared with each other to choose the 'best'.
​

Strategy Implementation
​Strategy implementation is one of the three (3) co-incident determinants of the strategic management process including strategy formulation and strategy evaluation. Strategy implementation is about  planning - investment decisions and plans - to build a capable organization that can make the formulated strategy work as intended, and execution of those plans to realize the actual strategy. The implementation plan is a complex mix of decisions and activities on managing people, strategy, and operations in creating "fits" between the ways things are done and what it takes for effective strategy execution to make the strategy work as intended.

Organization Strategy Implementation
​Strategy implementation is all about “how” the activities will be carried out, “who” will perform them, “when” and how often will they be performed, and “where” will the activities be conducted. And it does not refer only to the installation or application of new strategies but also to existing strategies that have always worked well in the past years, and are still expected to yield excellent results in the coming periods. Reinforcing these strategies is also a part of strategy implementation. ​Strategy Implementation ​​​consists of all the decisions and actions, and plans required to turn strategic choices into reality.​

Implementing Corporate Strategy
Corporate strategy at its core concerns itself with the entirety of a business, where decisions are made in regard to its overall growth and direction. Corporate strategy entails a clearly defined, long-term vision that organizations set, seeking to create corporate value and motivate the workforce to implement the proper actions to achieve customer satisfaction.​ Corporate strategy includes a unique mission statement that includes a set of long-term goals. It typically contains the detailed description of the type of business that an organization desires to be in, the different markets that the organization will serve, the basic values and belief system of its business, and the goals and profitability, that are expected to be achieved.

When clearly defined, a corporate strategy will work to establish the overall value of a business, set strategic goals and motivate employees to achieve them. Implementing corporate strategy The steps involved include:
​

1. Define Strategic Portfolio - Understand the strategic goals in terms of various strategic initiatives that the goals really represent.
2. Translate Goals into major programs - Translate goals into major initiatives at the beginning of operational planning. This is accomplished mapping the goals into chunks of work. 
3. Map programs to Organizational Structure - With grouping of initiatives into programs completed, the question is "How do initiatives impact the organization?" Profit and Loss accountability, organizational structure and resource control must be understood with respect to how they relate to strategy programs. Where will resources need to be shared? How will program funding affect budgets across the organization's structure?
4. Define Accountability for the programs - Accountability must be clear in terms of time frames. RACI models can aid in mapping out Responsibility, Accountability, Consult and Inform roles relative to the programs or initiatives supporting the plans.
5. Break programs down into projects - Operations planning is about execution, so estimating work effort and time to complete correctly, for chunks of work is important. Programs are too unwieldy to be estimated and managed without breaking down the effort into smaller chunks, i.e., projects.

Corporate strategy implementation entails making corporate strategy operational by translating corporate level strategy goals into programs and projects that accomplish those goals.
​
Implementing Business Strategy 
Implementing business competitive strategy may involve the following:

1. Assess Business situation - Consider your business situation and make sure your competitive strategy is developed in the context of your business situation. Is the company a mature firm with well-developed brand and reputation for stability, or a brand new startup?  What are your business imperatives? Do you need to grow in size or maximize profitability? These kinds of business objectives shape whats possible and what's optimal.
2. Research target markets and competitive environment - Research offers you the opportunity to understand how your firm is, or could be different from competitors in ways that are meaningful to your potential clients/customers. There are two (2) types of research of relevance here; research on your target markets and research on the competitive environment.
3. Identify Current or potential sources of competitive advantage - In the research step,you may have identified some likely potential advantages; you may consider these and add additional ones for evaluation. Evaluation involves applying the following tests: is the potential advantage true? i.e., is it grounded in reality?; id it relevant?; and is it provable? Is there objective support for your claim?
4. Validate your Competitive Strategy - The choices of competitive strategy are high stake strategic decisions; it is prudent to validate your selection of advantages before implementing them.
5. Develop your competitive strategy -  There are two types of implementation cases:

• Type 1 - Some competitive advantage may already have been fully implemented in your company, or you are planning on. In those cases your task is to focus on communicating those advantages to the market place. This element of the plan is called marketing or building brand strategy. This plan focuses on target audiences, messages, communications techniques, budget and schedule.
• Type 2 - ​Another type of implementation an organization might need to consider as well, if you are planning to implement a strategy that involves developing a completely new characteristic of the organization is planning how this is going to happen. Does it involve new hires? Training existing staff? Changing policies and procedures? Acquisitions? These sort of organizational changes do not happen on their own. They must be planned for and deliberately implemented.

 
Implementing Operations Strategy
Operations strategy refers to the methods companies use to reach their objectives. Developing operations strategies enables an organization to examine and implement effective and efficient systems for using resources, personnel and work processes. Service-oriented companies also use basic operations strategies to link long- and short-term corporate decisions and create an effective management team. 
​
The implementation of operations strategy involves consideration of a number of important points relevant to the strategy's execution, such as:

• A description of the Operations Infrastructure,
• Activation of lower decisions,
• Controlling results.

[TBD]

​The operations infrastructure consists of the following: organizational structure and the systems, human resources, culture and resources to support it. Within this framework managers have to consider:

1. the way operations function fits into the broader organization.
2. support systems such as information, communication, financial, control and other support systems.
3. internal policies, methods and culture that support the implementation.
4. budgets and resources for operations.
5. integrated supply chains to ensure the flow of materials.
6. motivation of people to pursue targets.
7. leadership to drive implementation forward and to continually look for improvements.

​
[TBD]

​
Implementation means the strategic plans are carried out and translated into positive actions. These are two (2) parts to implementing a strategy:

1. Cascade decisions and actions - This involves the cascading of decisions and actions through out the organization. The process entails translating the organization's strategic goals into annual objectives and the actions needed over the next one or two years to implement the major proposed key objectives. The objectives are then assigned to organization (functional) units with the right competencies and capability (as defined by their functional strategies) to ensure success implementation of the selected strategic choices.  
2. Monitoring Performance - This involves monitoring performance to make sure the planned results are actually achieved.

 
The above steps require that an appropriate operations infrastructure is in place.



Operations strategy decisions can be broadly categorized as structure or infrastructure decisions;

• Structure
• Infrastructure 

​[TBD]

1. Delegate the work - Develop action plans to help determine "what" specific actions or activities need to be carried out by "who", and "when" in order to achieve a goal within the constraints defined by the objective statements. ​An action plan gives a time table for implementing a strategy.

​
There are three (3) types of plans generated during the implementation phase;

1. Plan of Action - This involves the definition of objectives, the timing of strategy, the formulation of sub-strategies - functional strategy - relating to markets, production, finance, marketing (distribution, pricing), R&D, investment, and HR - personnel placement. Actions are the means, or specific activities, planned to achieve the objectives. The terms strategies and tactics refer to planned courses of action.
2. Plan of Implementation - Implementation involves the assignment and direction of personnel to carry out the plan. The three approaches to implementation are authority, persuasion, and policy. This deals with organizational design changes and structural modifications, motivational plans, reward and punishment systems, leadership style, and control and information systems.
3. Plan of Policies - This covers changes in values, rules, policies and procedures.

Objectives are statements of future conditions, that a manager hopes to achieve. All sets of objectives have three characteristics: priority, timing, and measurement. The phrase priority of objectives implies that at a given time, accomplishing one objective is more important than accomplishing others. Time dimensions imply that an organization's activities are guide by different objectives, depending on the duration of the action being planned. Effective planning requires measurement of objectives. A variety of measurements exists to quantify objectives in the eight areas that management expert Peter Drucker suggests: market standing, innovations, productivity, physical and financial resources, profitability, manager performance and responsibility, worker performance and attitude, social responsibility.

​Resources are constraints on the course of action. It also involves budgeting - identifying the sources and levels of resources that can be committed to the courses of action. Management can select the type of budget that best suits the planning needs of the organization.


Management Tasks in Implementation
​The transition from strategy formulation to implementation requires a shift in responsibility from executive management and strategists to divisional and functional managers. Managers and employees throughout the organization should participate early and directly in strategy-implementation decisions.

[TBD]

1. Establish  Organization Structure - Determine and define Roles, Responsibilities and Relationships that build an organization for achieving those goals and objectives. Set expectations among your team, and clearly communicate your implementation plan, so there’s no confusion. Document all the resources available including employees, teams, and departments that will be involved.
2. Cascade Strategy - Translating the selected strategic choices into organizational methods (functional strategies) involves translating the organization's strategic goals into annual objectives and the actions needed over the next one or two years to implement the major proposed key objectives. The objectives are then assigned to organization units with the right competencies and capability (as defined by their functional strategies) to ensure success implementation of the selected strategic choices.  
3. Delegate the work - Develop action plans to help determine "what" specific actions or activities need to be carried out by "who", and "when" in order to achieve a goal within the constraints defined by the objective statements. ​An action plan gives a time table for implementing a strategy.
4. Establishing strategy-supportive policies and procedures - The organizational policies and operating procedures/work procedures must have conformity with strategy. Strategy-supportive policies are essential, as they provide useful guides for decision making. Similarly, strategy-supportive work procedures or work practices are unavoidable as any deviation from the existing ones may create resistance from employees.
5. Design Strategy-Supportive Reward Systems - The Reward and motivation systems in the company need to be such that they promote better strategy implementation.
6. Design Strategic Control Systems - This involves managers selecting a strategy to implement and appropriate organization structure then creating control systems to evaluate and monitor the progress of activities directed towards implementing the strategies. This provides managers with the tools to regulate and govern their activities. Managers adopt corrective actions through adjustments in the strategy if variations are detected. Strategic controls can be both proactive and reactive.
7. Build a strategy-supportive culture - Strategy implementation is made relatively easy when the corporate culture is compatible with the strategy. When the corporate culture does not fit the strategy either the factors/aspects of the culture is changed or the strategy id modified. Managers face real challenges in changing corporate culture. 
8. Execute the plan - Monitor progress and performance, and provide continued support.
9. Take corrective action - Adjust or revise as necessary. Implementation is an iterative process, so the work doesn’t stop as soon as you think you’ve reached your goal. Processes can change mid-course, and unforeseen issues or challenges can arise. Sometimes, your original goals will need to shift as the nature of the project itself changes.

[TBD]
​
Planning involves thinking strategically first, then applying that thought to actionable implementation decisions.

[TBD]

The planning aspects of implementation revolve around decisions about managing people and processes, taking into consideration management issues central to strategy implementation. These issues may include:
​

1. Establish Annual Objectives - Establishing annual objectives is a decentralized activity that directly involves all managers in the organization. This involves managers identifying and defining the short-term objectives that turn the strategic long-term goals and objectives (of what is to be accomplished) defined in the formulation stage, into short-term objectives - specific, measurable, time-sensitive statements - of what is to be achieved and when they will be achieved. Account for variables that might hinder your team's ability to reach them, and layout a contingency plan. Annual objectives are essential for strategy implementation because they: represent the basis for allocating resources; are a primary mechanism for evaluating managers; are the major instrument for monitoring progress towards achieving long-term objectives; establish organizational, divisional, and departmental priorities.
2. Devising policies for execution of strategies -  Changes in a firm's strategic direction do not occur automatically. On a day-to-day basis, policies are needed make the strategy work as intended. Policies let both employees and managers know what is expected of them, thereby increasing the likelihood that strategies will be implemented successfully. Policies guide and constrain decision makers and ensures that the various functional strategies are integrated and complementary. Policies establish the conditions to enable effective execution.
3. Allocating resources - This involves allocation of resources - financial, physical, human, and technological resources - to the departments and function areas responsible for executing the strategy. Resource allocation is a central management activity that allows for strategy execution. Strategic management enables resources to be allocated according to priorities established by annual objectives. 
4. Managing Conflict - Approaches for managing and resolving conflict may include: Avoidance, Diffusion, and Confrontation. 
5. Matching Strategy with Structure - Changes in strategy often require changes in existing organizational structure for two (2) basic reasons: structure largely dictates how objectives and policies will be established; and structure dictates how resources will be allocated. Structure should be designed to facilitate the strategic pursuit of a firm and, therefore, follow strategy.
6. Linking performance and pay to strategies - Develop incentive and compensation plans that link performance and pay to strategies through mechanisms such as profit sharing, gain sharing, bonus programs, etc.
7. Minimizing resistance to change - Creating an organizational climate conducive to change
8. Matching managers with strategy -
9. Developing a strategy-supportive culture - []
10. Adapting production/operations processes.

During implementation stage, organizations may also find that they have to perform further planning, especially in the discovery of issues that must be addressed.
​
​[TBD]
​

​Implementation (Action) Plan Model
​Implementation intentions are modeled as action goals in the action plans that specify an anticipated critical situation linked to it and to an instrumental goal-directed response. Implementation intentions (plans) have the structure of "If situation X is encountered, then I will perform the goal-directed response Y!". Holding an implementation intention commits an individual to perform the specified goal-directed response (action) once the critical situation is encountered. The choices to pursue an implementation intentions (plans) that specify an anticipated critical situation linked to it and to an instrumental goal-directed response. ​Both strategy formulation and implementation intentions (goals models) are set in an act of willing. The former specifies the intentions to meet a goal or standard; the latter refers to the intention to perform a plan. Commonly, implementation intentions are formed in the service of goal intentions, because they specify the where, when, and how of respective goal-directed responses. 
​
A plan specifies a set of goals and objectives that need to be achieved to successfully satisfy the intended goals of the plan. The goals of the plan are assigned to functional areas (that define key organizational capabilities) or departments and then cascaded to the resources in key capability areas for implementation and execution. The cascade within a particular capability area terminates when the organization unit that abstracts that area reaches individual or team of individual resources that fill the relevant positions in the organization unit. The cascading process is based on goal refinement techniques. The goal refinement network model that represents the cascaded goals can be elaborated by associating with each cascaded goal element assigned to a position filled by resources responsible for employing the means to be employed in accomplishing actions/tasks/activities to achieve the specified goals and objectives. Goal refinement and elaboration decisions are critical and decisive in the planning process as alternative actor assignments define alternative system proposals. A prioritized implementation time schedule and budgets can be generated from the planning model.


Action Plans
The action plans are schedules for actions to be taken, and policies and procedures that guide resource allocation and prioritization decisions. The implementation plan defines the responsibility of top, middle and lower level managers focused on the creation of new strategic assets and/or enhancement and strengthening existing strategic assets needed by the entity in order to build an organization capable of carrying out the strategy and maintaining its ability to achieve future outcomes. ​The basic elements of the action plan are a list of activities needed for implementation, and time table showing when, responsibilities for each activity, time table of activities, budgeted costs, expected flow of funds, resources needed, etc.

Operations Plans
The Operations Plan describes milestones, conditions for success and explains how or what portions of a strategic plan will be put into operation during a given operations period. The operations plan is a basic tool that directs the day-to-day activities of organizational staff. An operational plan addresses four basic questions: Where are we now? Where do we want to be? How do we get there? How do we measure our progress?
​​
​
Evaluating Implemented Strategy
Strategy evaluation ensures that all key supporting elements of the business systems including Measures and Rewards, Structures and Processes, Culture and People are aligned behind the chosen strategies and hinged on the mission, vision, values and critical success factors (CSF) of the organization. The evaluation and control process is concerned with defining, attaining, and presenting constructive information for reviewing alternatives to the analyzed action plan. The evaluation method is comprised of the activities defined by the process steps below. 

Evaluation Process Steps

1. Define the strategy to evaluate - Managers need to specify the implemented strategy and the progress results that need to be evaluated. Such results have to be objectively measurable and consistent; and can be defined using goals modeling.
2. Outline Predetermined Standards - Managers need to outline standards according to the chosen implemented strategy. These standards often consist of a tolerance of range which defines adequate variations.
3. Obtain data to Map Out Onto Set Standards - Data to obtain consists of results from the actions taken on the chosen strategies.
4. Measure Performance - Assess the performance of the mapped out data.
5. Performance Match Standards -if the performance of the identified strategy achieves the standards within the tolerance range then the process stops here; otherwise, Take Corrective Action.
6. Take Corrective Action - The performance measured does not achieve the standards; managers must take necessary actions to resolve and amend the implementation Process.

The implementation evaluation method assists managers in deciding whether or not the chosen strategies are steering the organization in the right direction towards achieving the strategic objectives and mission, It provides an intuitive and model-driven approach to assess the execution feasibility of the chosen strategy implementation. 

​The evaluation method allows an organization to take into consideration a lot of the points that can influence successful implementation before an ideal strategy can be implemented. It is important to note that for a given organization and business environment not all strategies are executable. 
​


​

​[TBD]

The evaluation is based on a set of selection criteria/factors that ensures the chosen strategies will be effective. A viable strategy is defined in terms of the degree to which the strategy meets those criteria i.e.,:

1. Consistency - The strategy must not represent mutually inconsistent goals and policies.
2. Suitability (Appropriateness) - Is the strategy consistent with the organization's mission, values, and operating principles? Does it fit with the vision and mission?
3. Consonance - The strategy must represent adaptive response to the external environment and to the critical changes occurring within it as defined by the SWOT Analysis information..
4. ​Advantage - The strategy must provide for the creation and/or maintenance of a competitive advantage in the selected areas of activity.
5. Flexibility - Can it be adapted and changed as needed?
6. Cost-Benefit - Is the strategy likely to lead to sufficient benefits to justify the costs in time and other resources?
7. Timing - Can and should the organization implement this strategy at this time, given external factors and competing demands?

The whole point about strategy is that the critical factors determining its quality are often not directly observable or simply measured; and by the time strategic opportunities/threats do directly affect operating results, it may well be too late for an effective response.

​[TBD]

Strategic Objectives
A strategic objective is a business need that is defined in quantifiable and measurable terms. Strategic objectives are big-picture performance indicators (goals) for a company, and they describe what the company will do to try and fulfill its mission. The business need must be bound by both a baseline and a target (how much?), as well as time (by when?). We must know the level of improvement required and how much time we have to achieve the established targets. An objective is an outcome measure, not the measure of a process designed to achieve the outcome. If you can’t establish baseline or target numbers, it’s a sign that your objectives aren’t really goals. In reality, they are strategies or tactics. Strategic and operational planning most often use time, dollars, percentages, and numerical counts to measure strategic goals/objectives. ​Strategic objectives are typically a type of performance goals - for example, launch a new product, increase profitability, grow market share for the company's product, etc.​


​

​Developing Strategic Options

Pattern of Decisions
In effect, strategy is the pattern of strategic decisions (options) that management has to consider, such as:.
​

• Options for Markets and Products

1. Market and Product - Market Penetration, Market Development, Product Development, or Diversification (related or unrelated). While research may measure how successful different forms of market or product development are in general, the management choice has to focus on the relative attractiveness of available options.

​

• Options for Building Resources, Capabilities, and Competences 

1. Strategic assessment might have identified the strengths and weaknesses in existing resources and capabilities in comparison to competitors; this may lead to identifying improvements to shore up existing weaknesses, or to build on existing strengths.
2. It is also likely that potential product/market options will require supporting changes in resources and capabilities.

The time-scales for developing resources and capabilities may be very long, and may be longer than the time-scale for market entry.


​

Strategy Execution
​Strategy execution is one of the three (3) co-incident determinants of the strategic management process including strategy formulation and strategy implementation. Strategy execution takes place within the context of strategy implementation, and is a change control process involving a series of integrated decisions/actions that take place over time, and inextricably changes the organization and its relationship with its environments. Execution involves the top-down cascade of deliberate strategy and bottom-up reflection of emergent strategy, resulting in the company's actual/realized strategy.

​A realized strategy is the strategy that an organization actually follows. Realized strategies are a product of a firm’s intended strategy (i.e., what the firm planned to do), the firm’s deliberate strategy (i.e., the parts of the intended strategy that the firm continues to pursue over time), and its emergent strategy (i.e., what the firm did in reaction to unexpected opportunities and challenges). 

Execution System
Execution involves the decisions and activities the organization undertakes in order to turn the implemented strategy into commercial success. These decisions and activities encompass the thousands of decisions and actions taken every day by executive, middle and line managers, and employees acting according to information they may have, and their own self-interest as influenced by organizational culture, and constrained by organizational policies and procedures. The strategy execution decisions have to be timely - this refers to "when" in the evolution of changes in the organization the decisions are made, rather than how much time the decision maker has to make the decision. Successful execution is the best possible results a strategy and its implementation will allow in the actual realized strategy. 

[TBD]

The system enables the effective management of the strategy-producing value chain. The value chain of managing an organization, starts by formulating a strategy, translating the strategic choice(s) into objectives organized around strategic themes, goals and initiatives that will enable management to develop action plans for implementation and execution.​

Strategic Management Control System
After a strategy is selected, it is implemented over time so as to guide a firm within a changing environment. Strategic control is required to steer the company towards its long term strategic direction and avoid pitfalls and obstacles. Strategic control is concerned with tracking the strategy as it is being implemented, detecting problems or changes in the premises and making necessary adjustments. Strategic control is related to that aspect of strategic management through which an organization ensures whether it is achieving its objectives contemplated in the strategic action. If not, what corrective actions are required for strategic effectiveness. 

​Types of Strategy Controls
The types of strategic control techniques include:

1. Premise Control - Every strategy is founded on certain assumptions relating to environmental and organizational forces. Premise control serves to test continuously these assumptions to determine whether they are still valid or not. This facilitates the strategists to take necessary corrective action at the right time than just pulling on with the strategy based on vitiated or invalid postulations.
2. Implementation Control - In order to implement a chosen strategy, there is need for preparing quite good number of plans, programs and projects. The purpose of implementation control is to evaluate as to whether these plans, programs and projects are actually guiding the organization towards its pre-determined goals or not.  This type of control is a step-by-step assessment of implementation activities. It focuses on the incremental actions and phases of strategic implementation, and monitors events and results as they unfold. Is each action or project happening as planned? Are the proper resources and funds being allocated for each step? There are two (2) basic types of implementation control are: Monitoring Strategic Thrusts (This is the assessment of specific projects or thrusts that have been created to drive the larger strategy); Reviewing Milestones (During strategic planning, you likely identified important points in the implementation process. When these milestones are reached, your organization will reassess the strategy and its relevance. Milestones could be based on timeframes, such as the end of a quarter, or on significant actions, such as large budget or resource allocations); Operational Control Systems (Implementation control can also take place via operational control systems, like budgets, schedules, and key performance indicators).
3. Strategic Surveillance - If premise and implementation strategic controls are more specific by nature, strategic surveillance, is more generalized and overriding control which is designed to monitor a broad range of events both inside and outside the organization which are likely to threaten the very course of a firm’s strategy. They allow the organization to monitor a broad range of events and conditions inside and outside the company that are likely threaten the successful achievement of the firm's strategic objectives. This provides the opportunity to uncover important, yet unanticipated information.
4. Special Alert Control - When something unexpected happens, a special alert control is mobilized. This is a reactive process, designed to execute a fast and thorough strategy assessment in the wake of an extreme event that impacts an organization. The event could be anything from a natural disaster or product recall to a competitor acquisition. In some cases, a special alert control calls for the formation of a crisis team—usually comprising members of the strategic planning and leadership teams—and in others, it merely means activating a predetermined contingency plan.

Strategy execution system is a management control system that supports an organization in successfully implementing its strategic choice. It facilitates systematic planning, performance measurement standards, monitoring, evaluation of performance and corrective action of strategic initiatives.

The levels of control may include: strategic control, operational control and tactical control. Strategic control always comes first, followed by operations then tactics.

Strategic Control
Managers want to know if the company is headed in the right direction and if current company trends and changes are keeping them on that right path. To answer this question requires the implementation of strategic control. Strategic control involves monitoring a strategy as it is being implemented, evaluating deviations, and making necessary adjustments.

1. Strategic control may involve the reassessment of a strategy due to an immediate, unforeseen event. For example, if a company’s main product is becoming obsolete, the company must immediately reassess its strategy.
2. Implementing a strategy often involves a series of activities that occur over a period. Managers can effectively monitor the progress of a strategy at various milestones, or intervals, during the period. During this time, managers may be provided information that helps them determine whether the overall strategy is unfolding as planned.
3. Strategic control also involves monitoring internal and external events. Multiple sources of information are needed to monitor events. These sources include conversations with customers, articles in trade magazines and journals, activity at trade conferences, and observations of your own or another company’s operations. For example, Toyota gives tours of its plants and shares the “Toyota Way” even with competitors.

The errors associated with strategic control are usually major, such as failing to anticipate customers’ reaction to a competitor’s new product. BlackBerry had a strong position in the business cell phone market and did not quickly see that its business customers were switching to the iPhone. BlackBerry could not recover.

Operational Control
Operational control involves control over intermediate-term operations and processes but not business strategies. Operational control systems ensure that activities are consistent with established plans. Mid-level management uses operational controls for intermediate-term decisions, typically over one to two years. When performance does not meet standards, managers enforce corrective actions, which may include training, discipline, motivation, or termination. Unlike strategic control, operational control focuses more on internal sources of information and affects smaller units or aspects of the organization, such as production levels or the choice of equipment. Errors in operational control might mean failing to complete projects on time. For example, if salespeople are not trained on time, sales revenue may fall.

Tactical Control
Tactical control emphasizes the current operations of an organization. Managers determine what the various parts of the organization must do for the organization to be successful in the near future (one year or less).
For example, a marketing strategy for a wholesale bakery might be an e-commerce solution for targeted customers, such as restaurants. Tactical control may involve regularly meeting with the marketing team to review results and would involve creating the steps needed to complete agreed-upon processes. Tactics for the bakery strategy may include the following:

• building a list of local restaurants, hotels, and grocery stores
• outlining how the bakery website can be used to receive orders
• personally visiting local executive chefs for follow-up
• monitoring the response to determine whether the sales target is met

[TBD]

​Execution management control requires constant monitoring of the progress of the strategy, its implementation and execution to assess whether the planned results are being achieved. A firm’s successive strategies are greatly affected by its past history of implemented and executed strategies (actionable decisions) which determine its current state, emergent strategy, and actual/realized strategy. It is important to reexamine past assumptions, and compare actual results with earlier hypotheses.


[TBD]




Exercising Control
 In order to exercise control, managers have to take the following steps:

1. Setting performance standards - Every function in the organizations begins with plans which specify objectives or targets to be achieved. In the light of these, standards are established which are criteria against which actual results are measured.
2. Measuring actual performance,
3. Analyzing variance, and
4. Taking corrective actions.

[TBD]
Role of Control Systems
A control system monitors the performance of operations and adjusts the strategy to improve performance. There are five (5) parts to a control system, including:

1. Review the goals, objectives and constraints of the operations strategy,
2. Monitor conditions and changes in the operations and their environment,
3. Measure actual performance in key areas,
4. Compare actual performance with plans from the strategy and identify gaps,
5. Adjust the strategy to improve performance, moving or adding resources, revising plans, or in the extreme changing the whole strategy,

[TBD]

[TBD]

Strategy execution involves the decisions and activities the organization undertakes in order to turn the implemented strategy into commercial success. These decisions and activities encompass the thousands of decisions and actions taken every day by executive, middle and line managers, and employees acting according to information they may have, and their own self-interest as influenced by organizational culture, and constrained by organizational policies and procedures.

​
​Strategy Integration Process
The strategy integration process is comprised of vertical orientation - top-down direction and bottom-up direction of the dual flow of information in the strategy hierarchy.

• T0p-Down Direction - The whole process starts with establishing Corporate Strategy goals, posing questions about business portfolios, and investment decisions, such as "Where?", "How much?" and "What kind of?". Then it follows Business Strategy identifying how to compete in specific markets and industries, trying to find coherent answers to a generic question "How?", and with which generic strategy to compete. And finally, the Operations Strategy comes, that should provide the right answer to a specific question "How?" ("Which way to compete?"), to deliver the highest result from the sum of basic performance objectives - speed, quality, dependability and flexibility at appropriate cost. 
• Bottom-up Perspective - Operations Strategy strives to improve these objectives, supports and reinforces the final outcome of Business Strategy - to achieve sustainable competitive advantage that in turn, contributes to achieve superior economic returns on a corporate level. Based on the results of Business Strategy, corporate strategists/owners may decide on entering/leaving markets, enlarging/shortening the value chains or pursuing business diversification.

Once the dyadic information flow is completed, further refinement of the whole process might start again, based on the outcome of this process.
​

[TBD]

• Strategy Execution - process for executing the strategic choices by means of budgeted resource allocations; focus on getting the work of the business done efficiently and effectively;

​[TBD]
Successful execution involves decisions about:

1. Strategy - This is a hypothesis (educated guess) of the intended approach/means to accomplish specified actions/tasks that contribute to desired goals and objectives. Strategy is achieved through the constant interplay between doing, planning and evaluation in closing the performance gap.
2. Structure - 
3. Coordination - 
4. Information Sharing - 
5. Incentives and Controls - []

These decisions take place within the organizational context of power, culture, leadership and the ability to manage chage.
​
​​​Enacting Organization System Instance
Organizations as social systems exist in the real world through people who are members of the organization and some physical structures (such as offices and facilities). Enacting an organization involves translation from the abstract model of the formal definition to concrete system elements, such as assigning individual actors (people) to positions in the organization structure (for example, organized around functional areas) in specific locations and facilities. The assignment of actors to positions is formally made through the signing of legal contracts (created and regulated through organization policies) with the actors. The signature of this contract represents a conveyance of the goals of the position to the actor(s) who are assuming that position, i.e., the goals of the position are expected to be executed by the actor(s) enacting that position.


Strategy execution is the process of translating strategy into the best business results possible, within the framework of its implementation.

 

Strategy Execution Tasks
​​Strategy execution is a systematic way of exposing reality and acting on it. It involves decisions made every day by employees acting, according to the information they have and their own self-interest, within the context of strategy implementation, and activities undertaken at all levels in the organization involving top management, middle management, and front-line managers and workers to turn implemented strategy into commercial/social success. The strategy execution decisions have to be timely. Timeliness refers to "when" in the evolution of changes in the organization the decisions are made, rather than how much time the decision maker has to make the decision.
Strategy execution step-by-step task view includes:

1. ​Visualize the Strategy - Visualization of the strategy enables shared understanding of what the strategy is. An effective way to visualize the strategy to improve understanding is an illustration that shows the important elements of the strategy and how each related to one another and to the mission goals. Frameworks such as the Strategy Map by Kaplan and Norton, etc. help in this regard.
2. Measure the Strategy - The key goals elements of the strategy should be assigned an easily understood performance measure. The full set of strategic performance measures can be organized into a Balanced Scorecard based dashboard to help managers determine the progress or lack there of of the strategy execution.  
3. Report Progress, Compare and Learn - Your strategy is a hypothesis, its your best estimate of the route to success. It is essential to check your hypothesis at the end of an execution cycle (just like budgets are reviewed monthly to ensure financial commitments are being kept), to ensure the strategy is producing results, versus controlling performance. Compare your initial strategic assumptions with what you have learnt from the reality of the results from the completed execution cycle.  In addition, look back at your Strategy Execution Capability as well to ensure it is supportive of your strategy. 
4. Make Decisions and Update strategy -  Strategy execution is much like sailing a boat toward a planned destination. A defined course and full complement of navigational charts will not eliminate the need to remain vigilant, to assess the environment, and to make corrections as conditions change while on the journey. As part of the regular reporting process leaders must make ongoing strategic decisions and update the strategy to keep it current and on course.  A company needs to update its strategy based on changes in its competitive environment and on the strategy execution feedback from reporting on the previous cycle, as well as update and fine tune your execution capabilities if necessary.. 
5. ​Manage Initiatives - This is about selecting, prioritizing, and executing the right initiatives - those actions/plans - that will lead to achieving specific strategic objectives or closing objective performance gap. Strategic initiatives are new plans or actions to improve strategic asset or solve a strategic problem. 
6. Manage Projects - Develop a capability in project management to coordinate and control - monitor and report progress - the execution of critical strategic projects focused on improving an organization's delivery on its mission. These projects statements include scope, budget, and start/end dates.
7. Communicate Strategy - Leaders must communicate their visualized strategy to the workforce in a way that will help them understand not only what needs to be done, but why.
8. Align Workforce Individual Roles - Set individual performance goals and objectives for managers and employees. Make to link  all individual objectives with the strategy at the organization level. Aligning Individual Roles - Senior leadership must ensure that employees at all levels can articulate and evaluate their personal contribution towards achieving specific strategic goals.
9. Reward Performance - After explaining the strategy and aligning the workforce to it, senior managers must institute the incentives that drive behaviors consistent with the strategy. Monitor and coach regularly to motivate and provide feedback in the right way.
10. Evaluate Performance - Most organizations conduct a formal performance evaluation and review at the end of the individual  performance management cycle. The evaluation should answer the basic question; "have the individual performance objectives been achieved?"

Strategy execution is the continuous process of closing the gap between where the company is, and what the strategy calls for. ​ This results in a company's actual strategy - typically a combination of (1) planned - deliberate and purposeful actions and (2) emergent - as-needed reactions to unanticipated developments and fresh competitive pressures.

​Execution Building Blocks
The ideal execution process for each organization is different, but all include some basic and fundamental building blocks that enable executive management to influence the actions of employees in all areas of the organization that result in effective execution of intended and emergent strategy. These building blocks include:

1. Clarifying decision rights and norms - How decisions are made; How people instinctively act or take action.
2. Designing Information flows and Mindsets - How data and knowledge are processed; How people make sense of their work and environment.
3. Motivators and Commitments (Aligning motivations of employees with organization purpose) - How people are encouraged to perform; How people are inspired to contribute.
4. Aligning Organizational Structure and Network to Strategy - How work and responsibilities are allocated; How connections are made beyond the organizational chart.
5. Allocation of resources - This is a set of basic activities in implementation that refers to both financial and non-financial resources that are (a) available to the organization and (b) are lacking but required for strategy implementation. How much funding would be needed to support implementation, covering the cost and expenses that must be incurred in the execution of the strategies? Another resource is time - Is there more than enough time to see the strategy throughout its implementation?

These building blocks are inextricably linked in a coherent system.

Strategy Execution as a System
Strategy execution system is a social-technical system that provide the framework to integrates strategic decisions and actions such as:

• ​Strategic decisions, and actions taken resulting from those decisions.
• Operations management decisions and activities performed resulting from decisions.
• Observing the outputs and outcomes of strategic actions through reporting and monitoring environment changes.
• Diagnosing the issues resulting from the patterns of organization behavior effected by organization outputs.
• Timely adaptation to changes in environment and timely response to any identified opportunities or threats to achieving the mission objectives and strategic goals. 

Successful execution is the best possible results a strategy and its implementation will allow in the actual realized strategy that closes the strategy-to-performance ('strategy-execution') gap.

​A company's actual strategy is typically a combination of (1) planned - deliberate and purposeful actions and (2) emergent - as-needed reactions to unanticipated developments and fresh competitive pressures.


[TBD]

Execution
[TBD]

• ​Integrating Functional Strategies - Identify and give due consideration to the cross-functional implications of strategy at implementation when the critical issues of strategy are appraised. [Horizontal Integration]
• Develop Tactical plans for functional areas such as marketing, production, personnel, finance, and plant facilities. Implementation requires outstanding collaboration between all members of the various groups throughout the whole organization from top management to line workers.
• Developing budgets that steer resources into those internal activities critical to strategic success.
• Finalizing strategic plan with input from all invested parties.
• Aligning the budget to annual goals.
• Producing various versions of the plan for each group.
• Establishing a system for tracking and monitoring the plan.
• Establishing a performance management and reward system.
• Presenting the plan to the entire organization.
• Building annual department plans around the corporate plan.

The role of managers is to guide the organization towards goal accomplishment. Managers are responsible for combining and utilizing organizational resources to ensure their organizations achieve their purposes.  

​



​

Strategy Evaluation and Control
Strategy evaluation involves the assessment of performance measures collected through monitoring of projects and programs to determine the effectiveness of a strategy in meeting strategic objectives. Performance Evaluation entails the process of evaluating the performance of a strategy, reviewing new developments and initiating corrective action to make adjustments in long-term direction, objectives, strategy, or implementation in light of actual experience, changing conditions, new ideas, and new opportunities. ​

An effective evaluation of the strategy begins with defining the parameters to be measured; these parameters should mirror the goals set in the direction setting stage of the strategic management function. To evaluate performance, firms' need to establish a set of "desired" outcomes as well as the metrics they will use to monitor how well their organizations delivered against those outcomes. Those outcomes may include: achieving certain levels of productivity, revenues, profits, market share, market penetration, customer satisfaction, etc.​

Strategy Evaluation
Evaluation & Review - process for making necessary adjustments based on monitoring and control information and strategy performance review.


Monitoring

 

Strategic Controls
[TBD]

Types of Controls
[TBD]

Premise Control Measures
Every organization creates a strategy based on certain assumptions, or premises. As such, premise control is designed to continually and systematically verify whether those assumptions, which are foundational to your strategy, are still true. These are typically environmental (e.g. economic or political shifts) or industry-specific (e.g. new competitors) variables.

Implementation Control Measures




[TBD]
​​
Strategic control involve actions that may include performance measurements, monitoring, consistent review of internal and external issues and factors, and making corrective actions when necessary. ​

Strategic Control and Measures
Management Control is the process for tracking a strategy as it's executed, detecting problems or changes in its underlying premises, and reporting to appropriate management levels;


[TBD]
​
Leadership climate is the emotional tone set or climate created by leaders within the work environment. The Leadership Climate Indicator is completed by employees who assess the climate created by individual line managers, as well as the climate created by groups of leaders such as senior leadership teams.