Corporate Strategy
December 31, 2008 by office
Filed under Management, Strategy
(13801)
Generally speaking, it’s much easier to nominate a commercial strategy than it is to actually make that strategy work. There are several reasons for this phenomena:
1. Managers are trained to plan: not to execute. Managers tend to know more about formulating a strategy than they know about executing one because this is what their training has focused on.
2. Some top-level managers assume they can nominate any strategy they like: and then leave it up to middle-level managers and lower-level employees to figure out the details. They turn execution over to the “grunts” and expect them to figure out any roadblocks which crop up,
3. The people who plan strategies are sometimes separate from those who actually do what’s required: meaning the “planners” may have no real hands-on feel for the problems the “doers” are striking.
4. Execution of a strategy usually takes much longer than formulation: making it harder for people to maintain a feel for the big picture picture issues.
5. Strategy execution is a process: as opposed to strategy formulation which is frequently a one-step deal.
6. Strategy execution involves far more people than strategy development ever does: muddying the waters somewhat.
Despite these challenges, effective execution always begins with a good strategy at both the corporate and business levels. A sound strategy is the driving force behind any attempt to execute or make that strategy work.
The differences between a “good” strategy and a “bed” strategy from an execution perspective are:
1. A good strategy at both the corporate and business unit levels is clear and focused: and based on some reality based thinking rather than head-in-the-clouds thinking. A good strategy will have:
2. A good strategy integrates at the corporate and business unit levels: so the role of the business is clearly and consistently discussed. This should head off any turf battles over resource allocations. When everyone knows whether their unit is to be treated as a “cash cow” or as a “growth initiative,” the appropriate performance metrics can also be agreed upon. To get your strategies to mesh at both levels, you’ll probably need to hold some planning sessions where all the issues get discussed openly.
3. A good strategy will define and communicate the operational components: that is, the strategy will be able to be translated into relevant short-term objectives and sensible short-term operational metrics.
Corporate Strategy
Strategic objectives
Short-term metrics
Execution of the strategy will suffer if there are not short-term metrics specified by which people can gauge how they’re going. These short-term metrics must be measurable so that things can be improved and changed as required.
4. A good strategy will make appropriate demands on the organization: it will motivate the organization to develop the requisite capabilities so the strategy can be carried out effectively. Effective strategy always takes into account the organization’s resources, the demands of the global marketplace and what type of goals the organization’s are attempting to achieve.
Strategy is the essential ingredient, the driving force behind execution efforts. Sound planning is essential, then, at both corporate and business-unit levels.
–Lawrence Hrebiniak
Bad strategy begets poor execution. Ill-conceived strateges virtually guarantee poor execution outcomes. Execution truly does begin with a good strategy.
–Lawrence Hrebiniak
A popular mantra among a handful of managers I’ve known is that ‘good execution can overcome bad strategy.’ In my experience, that is rarely the case. Bad strategy can create major frustrations, as managers work long and hard hours in a futile attempt to execute that which is not executable. Hard work that produces no benefits is exasperating. Vague strategy and constant changes in strategy have the same frustrating results.
–Lawrence Hrebiniak
The short-term is a key to successful execution; managers routinely spend a lot of time there. It is necessary to have short-term operating objectives that provide measures or metrics that can be used to evaluate execution plans and efforts.
–Lawrence Hrebiniak
If corporate planning is poor or ill conceived, the effects on strategy execution and corporate and business performance are many and potentially fatal. Resources won’t be available or sufficient to sustain growth. Needed resources won’t be forthcoming for businesses that could potentially grow into stars in the corporate portfolio. Cash generators could be overtaxed or milked too extensively by the company, seriously hampering future cash-generation capabilities.
–Lawrence Hrebiniak
Making Strategy Work
December 30, 2008 by office
Filed under Books, Management, Strategy
Leading Effective Execution and Change
(13800)
To make your chosen strategy work, concentrate on getting five key factors right as well as paying attention to the context:
1. Corporate Strategy
2. Corporate structure Integration
3. Business strategy Short-term objectives
4. Business structure
5. Incentives and controls
The context
1. The organization’s ability to manage change
2. The culture of the organization
3. The organizational power structure
4. The overall leadership climate
Managers must learn to anticipate new…
Managers must learn to anticipate new cultural contradictions and to select the one that best aligns with the brand’s authority. And if that weren’t enough, they must then choose to align with the appropriate subculture and understand their ethos deeply enough to construct a credible and evocative seed idea. To create powerful seed ideas, managers must get close to culture–and that means looking far beyond consumers as they are known today.
–Doug Holt, Harvard cultural marketing authority
You can’t just ask customers what…
You can’t just ask customers what they want and then try to give it to them. By the time you get it built, they’ll want something new.
–Steve jobs
If I had asked the public what they wanted…
If I had asked the public what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse.
–Henry Ford