ASST PROF JONLEN ASST PROF JONLEN DESADESA

Strategy is a blueprint indicating the course of action to achieve the desired objectives. These objectives are achieved by proper activation of the strategy.The process of translating, putting into action or execution of the strategy is known as strategy implementation.All the efforts of strategy formulation bear fruits in this phase of strategy implementation. Many strategies have failed due to lack of proper implementation.Strategy implementation requires a suitable organizational structure and strong support, discipline and hard work from all the managers and employees.

Strategic implementation is critical to a company’s success. It focuses on the entire organization. Implementation occurs after environmental scans, SWOT analyses, and identifying strategic issues and goals.

A successful implementation plan will have a very visible leader. Everyone in the organization should be engaged in the plan

Performance measurement tools are helpful to provide motivation and allow for follow up.

Operationalising the strategy, Institutionalizing the strategy, Evaluation & Control of the strategy.

Strategy implementation is described as an action phase of the strategic management process, it covers strategy activation and evaluation & control.Activating strategy encompasses communicating communicating & motivating, setting goals, formulating policies & motivating, setting goals, formulating policies & functional strategies,& functional strategies, organizational structuring, leadership implementation, resource allocation.

There is no guarantee that a well designed strategy will get approved and implemented automatically.Hence the strategy leader must defend the strategy from every angle, communicate to others how the strategy will benefit the firm and get whole hearted support from employees. Important things that he can keep in mind are as follows:Communicating & Motivating Goals / ObjectivesFormulating policies & functional strategiesOrganizational Structuring/ ImplementationLeadership ImplementationResource Allocation

STRATEGY FORMULATION

Intellectual Process

Requires good conceptual, integrative & analytical skills.

Done at the corporate level

Coordination among few are required.

STRATEGY IMPLEMENTATION

Operational Process

Requires good motivating & managerial skills.

Done at all levels

Coordination among many are required.

A SBU is a grouping of business subsidiaries based on some important elements common to each.SBUs are independent subsidiaries of an organization and they exist within the organization.They have their own set of competitors.SBUs are also known as profit centers. Periodically, it may send its profits to the parent company. The parent company may also exercise certain control on the SBU.

STRATEGY EVALUATION AND CONTROL (SEC)

Strategy Evaluation & Control is the last phase of the strategic management process.The basic purpose of SEC is to determine the effectiveness of a strategy in achieving organizational objectives & taking proper corrective measures if necessary.This is done to check if the strategy meets the objectives of the firmSEC is defined as the process of determining the effectiveness of a given strategy in achieving the organizational objectives and taking corrective action wherever required.Through this step a firm analyses its performance, checks for deviations and accordingly takes corrective measures to remove the discrepancies.

To determine the effectiveness of a given strategy.Need for feedback & appraisalNeed for reward systemsChecking the validity of a strategyFinding out deviationsTaking corrective measuresFuture Planning

SUITABLITYSUITABLITYSIMPLESIMPLEECONOMICALECONOMICALFLEXIBLEFLEXIBLEFORWARD LOOKINGFORWARD LOOKINGPERVASIVEPERVASIVECOMMUNIATICATION & INVOLVEMENTCOMMUNIATICATION & INVOLVEMENTOPERATIONALOPERATIONALOBJECTIVITY BASEDOBJECTIVITY BASED

Board of DirectorsShareholdersFinancial ControllersChief Executive OfficersProfit Centre HeadsMiddle level ManagersCorporate Planning StaffExternal & Internal AuditorsCompany Secretaries

Strategic Control aims at comparing actual performance with established standards and taking corrective measures if there are deviations.This type of control is done at the higher levels of authority.Since the business environment is uncertain, evaluation and control plays a very important role.In strategic control, 2 types of standards or criteria are set: Quantitative Criteria and qualitative CriteriaThere are 2 broad types of control- Strategic Control & Operational Control. Both these controls make strategic implementation more effective.

Strategies are often based on premises(assumptions).Assumption may be or may not be true. A strategy may be valid only as long as the planning premise remains valid.A Premise Control is designed to check systematically and continuously whether or not the premises set during the planning and implementation process are still valid.A strategy may be based on certain industrial, environmental socio-cultural, political, economic factors. Changes in the basic premises may lead to changes in the strategy.A firm should detect invalid premises & and make valid changes in the strategy.

Premise control is designed to check systematically and continuously whether the premises on which the strategy is based are still valid.If an importance premise is no longer valid, the strategy may have to be changed.Premise control thus help strategist to reject an invalid premise and shift their focus towards a feasible alternative.To save time & money, managers should pick only those premises whose change is likely to have a major impact on the firm and its strategy.The responsibility of Premise Control should be assigned to the corporate planning staff.

Implementation control is designed to access whether the overall strategy should be changed in the light of unfolding events and results associated with incremental steps and actions that implement the overall strategy.Strategy implementation is done by all the employees working in the firm and it takes place as a series of steps, programmes and this occurs over a period of time.It is important to check f all the resources are contributing towards the achievement of organizational goals or not. If the resources are not benefiting the firm, then corrective action should be taken.Since mostly the middle and lower level management are involved in the process of implementation, it is necessary that the top level management has control over the process.

An important method for achieving implementation control is the milestone review in which all the key activities necessary for implementation of a strategy are identified in terms of events, major resource allocation or time. After tracking important milestones, a thorough review of the implementation process is undertaken to find out its relevance to achievement of objectives.

Many times, the implementation of a strategy may not progress as planned due to which deviations will exist. Thus the top level management should take suitable corrective action.

Strategic surveillance is designed to monitor a broad range of events inside and outside the company that are likely to threaten the course of the firms strategy.The strategy of a company could be defeated by such events.It is therefore necessary that the company exercise surveillance for timely detection of such development & take corrective measures immediately.This is done generally through a general kind of monitoring based on selected information sources to uncover events that are likely to affect the strategy of an organization.Eg: Maruti Suzuki’s Manesar plant

A special alert control is often a rapid reconsideration of the firm’s strategy because of a sudden, unexpected event.In the face of such unexpected events, the firm should respond immediately and reassess its strategy quickly.Contingency plans & crisis management teams must be kept ready to handle such situations.Egs: Alliance between competitors, mergers, takeovers, sudden fall in the government, industrial disaster, natural calamity etc could have a serious impact on the firm’s strategy.

Operational Control systems guide, monitor and evaluate progress in meeting annual objectives.Operational control is done at the operational level of strategy implementation.The Operational control helps in supplementing the strategic control.Operational control provides post-action evaluation & control over short period of time.

Taking corrective action or measures is the final step in the control process.Performance Gap Analysis will reveal the reasons for the gap & will help decide the suitable corrective measures.The causes & extent of the gap will determine the corrective measures.In certain cases, if the gap is too much, then more than one corrective measure may be used to correct the deviation.Corrective measures include effective implementation of strategy, modification of objectives, strategy or structures, change in methods, rules & procedures.These step of taking corrective action is undertaken by the management to rectify the defects in actual performance.

Corrective action includes change in strategy, structure, compensation practices, training programmes, redesign of jobs, replacement of personnel etc.Corrective action may be immediate or basic.Immediate corrective action corrects something right now and gets things back on track. It is temporary in nature.Basic corrective action is concerned with permanent solution of serious deviations.A manager should not set too high or too low standards. And if the standards set create a problem, the manager should not hesitate in revising the standards.

1. Overtime may be permitted2. Additional workers and materials may be

assigned3. A full time director may be assigned to

personally push the project through.4. If these actions fail, the schedules may have to

be revised.