Strategy Implementation And The Strategic Management Process

The strategy implementation and strategy formulation processes are closely interrelated. Figure 1-1 illustrates this relationship. The desired results of an organization are established during the strategy formulation process.

Implementation consists of the issues involved in putting the formulated strategy to work. It is necessary to spell out more precisely how the strategic choice will come to be. No strategy, no matter how brilliantly formulated, will succeed if it cannot be implemented.

Mintzberg's Model

Traditionally, the relationship between strategy formulation, strategy implementation, and organizational performance has been depicted as shown in Figure 1-2. In this model, organizations begin strategy formulation by carefully specifying their mission, goals, and objectives, and then they engage in SWOT analysis to choose appropriate strategies.

Henry Mintzberg suggests that the traditional way of thinking about strategy implementation focuses only on deliberate strategies. Minztberg claims that some organizations begin implementing strategies before they clearly articulate mission, goals, or objectives. In this case strategy implementation actually precedes strategy formulation.

Minztberg calls strategies that unfold in this way emergent strategies. Implementation of emergent strategies involves the allocation of resources even though an organization has not explicitly chosen its strategies.
See Henry Mintzberg website: www.henrymintzberg.com

Most organizations make use of both deliberate and emergent strategies. Whether deliberate or emergent, however, a strategy has little effect on an organization's performance until it is implemented.