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Strategy implementation is an enigma in many companies. The problem is illustrated by the unsatisfying low success rate (only 10 to 30 percent) of intended strategies. The primary objectives are somehow dissipated as the strategy moves into implementation and the initial momentum is lost before the expected benefits are realized. This article discusses how a successful implementation is a challenge that demands patience, stamina and energy from the involved managers. The key to success is an integrative view of the implementation process. With the help of a checklist the ten critical success factors of an implementation process are figured out. To demonstrate how strategy implementation can be done in practice a case study is constructed. The article is built biaxially: on the one side the critical success factors within the strategy implementation process are explained, on the other hand the concrete example of making good use of these points in the form of an underscored case study is provided. The article provides some practical guidelines for strategy implementation in general. Strategy implementation differs completely from the formulation process and requires much more discipline, planning, motivation and controlling processes. The case study demonstrates that these guidelines are well tried and reliable in practice.

The purpose of the study was to find out the determinants of strategy implementation by the international reproductive health (RH) non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Kenya for attainment of MDG 5 by 2015. The objectives of the study were to analyse the effects of the determinants of strategy implementation for attainment of the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 5 by international RH NGOs operating in Kenya. This study was guided by three specific objectives: to analyse the effect of policy regulations on strategy implementation by international RH NGOs in attainment of MDG 5; to determine the effect of management competencies on strategy implementation by international RH NGOs in attainment of MDG 5 and to explore the effect of resource allocation on strategy implementation by international RH NGOs in attainment of MDG 5 by 2015 in Kenya.

A cross-sectional descriptive study design was carried out from January to March 2012 in Nairobi, Kenya. The study populations comprised of programme staff and RH technical advisors for the international RH NGOs operating in Kenya and headquartered in Nairobi. The sampling design was a census method since all the ten international RH NGOs based in Nairobi were selected. Qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection were used using both closed and open-ended questionnaires. The quantitative data were analysed using SPSS version 20 for both descriptive and inferential analysis. Qualitative data were analysed descriptively. Measures of location and variability were used for analysis and hypothesis tested using Fisher ' s Exact test and regression analysis.

The research findings showed that policy regulations, management competencies and the resource allocations determine successful implementation of the strategic plans. Inadequate resource allocations have a direct bearing on the implementation of the RH programmes which invariably affects the attainment of the MDG 5 by 2015. The study did not accept the null hypotheses and therefore showed that there is relationship between policy regulations, management competencies and resource allocations and the implementation of strategic management plans by international RH NGOs operating in Kenya.

Although numerous studies acknowledge that strategies frequently fail not because of inadequate strategy formulation, but because of insufficient implementation, strategy implementation has received less research attention than strategy formulation. This paper addresses this gap.

While metaphors are widely used in strategy teaching and development, this study aims to present an approach how to benefit from metaphor analysis in strategy implementation. The authors find that metaphors used by organizational actors in strategy implementation processes carry a great range of implicit meanings and tacit knowledge that – when made explicit and critically examined – may serve as early warning signals to anticipate difficult or problematic developments in the strategy rollout phase.

The authors conducted narrative interviews with the main protagonists involved in the implementation of a strategic knowledge management project for the sales force of a multinational telecommunication solution provider. The data collected resulted in the surfacing of distinct groups of metaphors used by different organizational groups at different phases of the project implementation.

The metaphor analysis showed that metaphors not only reflect but also foreshadow project developments, and thereby reveal organizational conflicts that may erupt at later stages of the strategy implementation. Learning through metaphors can be realized through a sensitization to the detrimental effects of particular metaphors, as well as through the revelation of inconsistencies between the metaphors used and the exposed behaviors.

The study is an in-depth case study of a strategy implementation project in one organization. While the findings are related to the particular case context, the methodological approach to use metaphor analysis as an early warning signal in strategy implementation can be replicated for strategy implementation processes in general.

Organizations may use metaphor analysis as a tool to calibrate to what extent their strategy implementation is aligned with initial strategic objectives. Metaphor analysis will be particularly helpful to check if there is an alignment in the implementation approach between different organizational groups. Such analysis can serve as an early warning signal for the strategy implementation phase.

The approach provides an inexpensive but very effective way of anticipating problematic project developments and unforeseen difficult collaborations during strategy implementation processes. With its focus on metaphors, it captures implicit meanings and connotations that business languages tend to filter out, yet that play a powerful role for enabling or obstructing strategy implementation.

To explore the mechanisms of the implementation strategy, “oilcloth sessions” and understand and explain the ripple effects of oilcloth sessions as a strategy to implement a new emergency department.

A qualitative design was used whereby data were collected using field notes from an ethnographic study of the oilcloth sessions and follow-up semi-structured interviews with staff, managers and key employees who participated in the oilcloth sessions. The data analysis was inspired by the realist evaluation approach of generative causality proposed by Pawson and Tilley.

The primary ripple effect was that the oilcloth sessions were used for different purposes than the proposed program theory, including being used as: (1) a stage, (2) a battlefield, (3) a space for imagination and (4) a strategic management tool influencing the implementation outcomes. The results bring essential knowledge that may help to explain why and how a well-defined implementation strategy has unplanned outcomes.

Unintended outcomes of implementation strategies are an underexplored issue. This study may help implementation researchers rethink the activities required to reduce unintended negative outcomes or explore potential unplanned outcomes and, in this way, hinder or enhance outcomes, effectiveness and sustainability. Future studies within implementation research should incorporate attention to unintended outcomes to fully understand the impact of implementation strategies.

This study focuses on the key success factors (KSFs) for strategy implementation in the fisheries industry in Iceland identified by chief executive officers within the industry. The purpose is to provide a comprehensive categorization of KSFs that influence how strategy is mobilized. The secondary aim is to uncover the level of priority that companies place on the dimensions of the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The methodology involves qualitative case studies based on in-depth elite interviews with nine chief executive officers of Icelandic fishing companies.

The research indicates strategy implementation can be improved in four main areas. First, by engaging and involving all employees in the implementation process. Second, by enhancing bottom-up innovation and communication. Third, through alignment of the corporate strategy and the UN SDGs, and fourth, by following rigorous action plans with clear, measurable and prioritized objectives and timeframes for the managers to follow. These improvements have both theoretical and practical implications for the fishing industry. Consequently, a conceptual framework for integrated strategy implementation in the fisheries industry is proposed.

A limited number of in-depth elite interviews were conducted since access to the chief executive officers of the country’s largest fishing companies proved challenging. However, the nine companies collectively hold nearly 50% of the country’s total quota, thereby proving a deep understanding of the topic relevant to the industry. The research uncovered a substantial cross-section of viewpoints, and as such, the results are relevant for both academia and practitioners alike.

This study contributes to the debate on KSFs relevant to strategy implementation within a specific industry but also aligns with the UN SDGs by proposing a dedicated framework for implementing strategies in the fisheries industry. Overall, this study can help managers achieve strategy implementation.

Taking the dialogic organizational development perspective, this study aims to investigate the framing processes when engaging in dialogue for strategy implementation and how these enable the evolution of implementation opportunities.

Through a qualitative exploratory study conducted in a large multinational, the authors analyse the dialogue and interactions among 25 dyads when identifying opportunities to contribute to strategy implementation. The data analysis relies on a process-coding approach and linkography, a valuable protocol analysis for identifying recursive interaction schemas in conversations.

The authors identify four main framing processes – shaping, unveiling, scattering and shifting – and provide a framework of how these processes affect individuals’ mental models through increasing the tangibility of opportunities or elevating them to new value hierarchies.

From a theoretical perspective, this study contributes to the strategy implementation and organizational development literature, providing a micro-perspective of how dialogue allows early knowledge structures to emerge and shape the development of opportunities for strategy implementation.

From a managerial perspective, the authors offer insights to trigger action and change in individuals to contribute to strategy when moving from formulation to implementation.

Rather than focusing on the structural control view of strategy implementation and the role of the top management team, this study considers strategy implementation as a practice and what it takes for organizational actors who do not take part in strategy formulation to enact and shape opportunities for strategy implementation through constructive dialogue.

Some BIM implementation strategies are critical, while others are insignificant and ineffective in terms of lowering BIM adoption obstacles and promoting widespread acceptance of BIM in projects. The BIM literature has not provided evidence to support this claim or identify the fundamental BIM implementation strategies. This study filled this gap by identifying and investigating the effect of fundamental BIM implementation methodologies on the occurrence of proportional impacts between stages.

The findings indicate a positive and crucial relationship between the stages of the BIM implementation strategies and the reduction of barriers (r = 1.79, z = 2.15), preliminary and sustained BIM adoption barriers (r = 1.53, z = 60.83), BIM adoption on projects and BIM-enabled integration and collaboration (r = 0.7, z = 2.74). This validates the model's hypotheses and demonstrates that the fundamental BIM implementation strategies will accelerate the reduction of BIM adoption hurdles. The impact, however, will be the same for both sustained and preliminary barriers. This implies that lowering the obstacles alone will not secure BIM adoption.

The validation of the model's hypotheses demonstrated that the fundamental BIM implementation strategies will accelerate the reduction of BIM adoption hurdles. The impact, however, will be the same for both sustained and preliminary barriers. This implies that lowering BIM adoption obstacles alone will not secure BIM adoption. This study proposes that BIM deployment tactics be carefully chosen in order to remove preliminary impediments, reduce barriers and energise BIM acceptance.

In line with the findings of this study, BIM adoption must be consistent and long-term before the benefits in project execution become evident and substantiated. The BIM abilities of project participants, the feasibility of BIM conventions and the proficiency of BIM supervisors may all play a role in this.

This research implies a few approaches and tactics for implementing BIM in an efficient and beneficial manner. The study's findings imply that BIM deployment tactics should be carefully chosen in order to remove preliminary impediments, reduce barriers and energise BIM acceptance. It also explains how to structure BIM implementation strategies in developing countries. Another significant practical implication is the model's conclusion on the benefits of BIM adoption.

This study emphasises the significance of understanding the interrelatedness between the stages of the BIM implementation process in order to promote unavoidable and high-quality BIM adoption, as well as identifying the essential strategies that will guide policymakers and industry players in improving and pursuing successful BIM implementation. This study adds to BIM implementation theories by providing new information on the models, stages and interconnections of the BIM implementation process. However, the study could not identify the factors that impede BIM adoption despite the reduction in barriers and use of fundamental BIM implementation strategies.

The Oxford Strategy Insights Project was designed to assess the current approaches, aims, and focus of strategists across industries and geographies.

The project received input from 167 executives and managers across twenty-six industries, spanning over thirty countries, regarding their firm’s strategy process.

The biggest gap highlighted by the Oxford Strategy Insights Project is effective strategy execution. An overwhelming majority of respondents indicated that their organization’s strategy execution efforts are ineffective and slow, with accelerated implementation being the exception rather than the norm. In line with these findings, few firms appear to be applying the best practice of establishing an implementation management infrastructure including a “Program Manager” tasked to manage and coordinate the firm’s strategy implementation effort. The one positive element related to strategy execution is that most firms seem to have an effective strategic measurement and reporting process.

Organizations that can execute their strategies increase the likelihood of realizing the full potential of their plans. However, the study’s main finding is that effective strategy execution is severely lacking. Strategists need to become more foresighted, with a much greater focus on implementation.

Although the value of effective strategy execution has been well documented for over five-decades in both academic and management practice literature, new research has found that most strategists are still short-sighted, viewing strategy as primarily planning with a limited focus on implementation.

The purpose of this paper is to build on the research-supported view that interactions between top and middle management enhances effective implementation of organizational strategies by exploring the role of internal actors in driving organizational strategy at the intersection between strategy formulation and strategy implementation.

Adopting a social practice perspective, we undertook semi-structured interviews of 27 top and middle level managers drawn from a single case organization. Data collected were analysed using thematic analysis.

Differences in managerial perception of strategy has significant impact on implementation of strategic decisions as well as creating tensions in recursive communication practices between internal social actors. Furthermore, individual perceptions cannot only limit the extent of strategy awareness amongst key actors, the manifestations through social interaction between top and middle managers is a critical determinant of effective communication and realization of organizational strategy.

The research contributes to the strategy process and practice literature by exploring the dynamic interactions taking place at the intersections of strategy formulation-implementation phases of organizational strategy. It particularly highlights practical issues in top and middle manager interactions and implications for successful strategy implementation.

This paper aims to explore the role of leadership in influencing the strategy implementation behaviors of salespeople. This paper also seeks to examine the moderating influence of competitive environment on the leadership style – salesperson implementation of sales strategy relationship.

Data were collected from a sample of 190 business-to-business salespeople in different industries. The study’s hypotheses were tested using partial least squares (PLS).

The results of the study show that a transformational leadership style has stronger effects on the sales strategy implementation behaviors of salespeople when compared to transactional leadership. However, in highly competitive environments, the effects of transactional leadership on the sales strategy implementation behaviors of salespeople become stronger. The results also show when salespeople implement sales strategy, it has a positive impact on their sales performance.

Sales managers should adapt their leadership style depending on the competitive environment that operate in. As transformational leadership and transactional leadership are not mutually exclusive, managers should tailor their use of these styles to improve the strategy implementation behaviors of their salespeople. Managers should also train their salespeople on the use of sales strategy.

This study contributes to the literature by showing that the effectiveness of a particular leadership style is often contingent on the external environment. This research also demonstrates that when salespeople are strategic in their approach to selling, they will improve their sales performance.