Chapter 7

Strategic Implementation
and Control
 Strategic Implementation
• Strategy implementation is the translation of
chosen strategy into organizational action so as to
achieve strategic goals and objectives.
• Implementation is critical to the success or failure of
any venture. Basic generic management principles
(e.g. leadership, team building and delegation)
contribute to the process. Marketing managers must
evaluate the ease, or otherwise, of implementation
and deploy project management techniques to
achieve desired goals.
 Cont’d
• In the context of marketing the goal will be to
achieve and/or maintain a marketing
orientation – success by a process of
understanding and meeting customer need. It is
doubtful if a marketing strategy can be
implemented where this orientation does not
exist. Achieving such a view is dependent on the
quality of management and their understanding
of marketing as a business philosophy.
 Success vs failure
• Two dimensions determine the success of a strategy:
the strategy itself and an organization’s ability to
implement it. A useful starting point in considering
success or failure is outlined in the following figure.
Bonoma (1984) examines the appropriateness of the
strategy and the effectiveness of execution
skills,thus establishing four general positions:
• Success. The ideal situation: an appropriate strategy
and a strong ability to execute such a strategy. This
should present little or no problem.
Strategy and execution
 Cont’d
• Chance. Here the strategy is poor, perhaps
lacking detailed analysis or not building on
existing strengths. However, it may be saved
by effective execution. This may be such that
we can adopt and adapt from a weak opening
basis and, with luck, do what is required.
Clearly, the degree of ‘inappropriateness’ is
highly significant. Is the strategy able to be
saved?
 Cont’d
• Problem. We are doing the right things badly. The
strength of strategic planning is dissipated by poor
execution. Often the true value of the strategy is not
fully recognized and it is dismissed as being
inappropriate.
• Failure. A no-win situation. With failure on all levels
there is a danger of struggling on with
implementation and simply ‘throwing good money
after bad’. Organizations should try to learn from such
situations. Do not make the same mistake twice.
 Cont’d
Effective implementation (Strategy execution)
can be viewed in terms of:
• 1 Understanding the fundamental principles of
implementation.
• 2 Assessing the ease, or otherwise, of
implementing individual projects.
• 3 Applying project management techniques
 Fundamental principles

Having stressed the importance of implementation we turn to

the issue of what factors are required for success. These include
• Leadership
• Structure
• Culture
• Resources
• Control
• Strategy
• Skills
• Systems
 Cont’d
Any successful strategy must be supported by
each of these components. These cover the
human aspects of business and a more
objective process approach to management.
Note that these factors can have either a
positive or negative effect on a given project.
Each is considered in turn.
 Leadership
• The role of the leader is to get the best out of
people and deal with the unexpected. They
should be viewed as facilitators. This is
achieved by creating an environment where
actions can take place. Leaders require
effective people skills such as negotiation and
delegation. The leader needs transferable
management skills in addition to technical and
marketing competence.
 Cont’d
Adair (1984) summarizes leadership as:
• 1 Task needs – aiming to complete the
project.
• 2 Group needs – developing team spirit and
morale.
• 3 Individual needs – harmonizing the above
with the needs of the individual.
 Culture
• Much management theory relates to
corporate culture. Culture can be defined as a
combination of shared values and beliefs.
These are commonly reinforced with
corporate symbols and symbolic behaviour.
For example, a company may wish to pursue a
culture of openness and accessibility.
 Cont’d
• Great care must be taken when implementing
strategy. If the strategy goes against the
dominant culture it is likely to fail unless a major
effort is made to develop and maintain support.
This could be achieved via staff training,
appraisal and restructuring. The strategist needs
to be sensitive to the shared values that exist
within the organization. Normally it is best to
work with, as opposed to against, such values.
 Structure
• The structure of any organization, or project, has
two primary functions. Firstly, it defines lines of
authority denoting levels of responsibility.
Current management thinking promotes a move
towards flatter structures with more devolved
authority. Secondly, structure is a basis for
communication. Structures can filter out
information, making senior management remote
from the customer. In the area of implementation
consideration should be given to how
communication occurs.
 Resources
• Any project needs to be properly resourced.
Leaders have the role of obtaining and making
optimum use of resources. The resourcing of
projects is often more to do with internal
politics than actual need. In many
organizations there needs to be a more
objective process of resource allocation.
Resources will ultimately relate to finance and
staff.
 Cont’d
• Resourcing is normally budget driven. However,
there is now a recognition of the importance of
being time focused. For example, a three-month
time delay is likely to be more serious than a minor
budgetary overspend.
• Remember, implementation never takes place in a
vacuum – things change and it is important to be
flexible and build in an acceptable degree of
contingency (additional resource to be called on)
within any implementation strategy.
 Control
• Control is simply a way of making sure what is
supposed to happen actually happens. The
term itself – control – often appears to have
negative connotations and is seen as limiting
and coercive in nature. This should not be the
case. Smart management can develop
effective control systems.
 Skills
• The appropriate skills mix is required in order
to achieve any aim or goal. Within the context
of implementing marketing strategy, ‘softer’
human resource management (HRM) skills can
be lacking. It should be remembered that
project management is a skill in its own right.
 Cont’d
To summarize, successful implementation
requires skills such as:
• Technical/marketing skills, e.g. design, market
research, industry analysis.
• HRM skills, e.g. delegation, performance
appraisal, training.
• Project management skills, e.g. budgeting,
resourcing, forecasting
 Strategy
• To state the obvious, there must be a strategy
to implement. However, the fact that a
strategy exists may not be apparent to
everyone. Additionally, the strategy may not
be seen as appropriate by all staff. The project
leader must ensure people are aware of the
strategy, the reason for it and their role in
making it work
 Cont’d
• Potential strategy should be screened to
ensure that it is appropriate to current
circumstances. The development of strategy is
an ongoing activity. During and after the
implementation phase, management should
review and adapt policy as required. While the
overall objectives remain intact, there may be
changes in how we set about achieving such
targets.
 Systems
• Several systems are important in the
implementation process and fall into two general
groups: reporting and forecasting. It is necessary
to have systems which aid management decision
making. Such systems will cover areas such as
finance and budgeting, project
evaluation/refinement and market research.
The key factor is often the interpretation of
information rather than the system itself.
 The Seven S’s
• The ‘Seven-S’ model developed by McKinsey &
Co. provides a useful summation of these
ideas. The model can be adapted as seen in
the following figure and split into:
• (i) human resource management (HRM) –
dealing with the people-based aspects of
implementation, and
• (ii) process – the policy, procedures, reporting
and systems aspects of implementation.
The Seven Ss
Assessing ease of implementation
• It is now possible to test and evaluate the likely
ease of implementation.
• Firstly, strategic fit – how easily will the
strategy fit into current activities?
Unsurprisingly, the easier the fit the less likely
implementation problems are to occur.
However, it must be recognized that an easy fit
does not guarantee success. The strategy must
be right for the business environment.
 Cont’d
• Primarily, the concern is with the level of
change associated with the implementation.
The greater the change, the greater the
management challenge and the greater the
perceived benefit of the change needs to be.
Hence there is a need to consider the
potential pay-off and the amount of change
required to achieve this.
Strategic Fit
 Cont’d
• Overhaul. Here implementation will have a
significant impact and face significant challenges.
Given that a high degree of change is likely, one
must expect increasing levels of resistance and risk
as the strategy has only a limited fit with current
activity. There needs to be compelling strategic
reasons and significant support for this strategy’s
implementation. Such activities are likely to involve
factors such as restructuring, downsizing, mergers
and overhauling business culture.
 Cont’d
• Synergy. The word can be defined as ‘working
together’. The combined effect of high importance
and relatively limited change offers a potentially
‘easy ride’. Problems should be limited and risk of
failure is reduced. However, great problems occur
when a strategy is deemed to fall into this category,
only to find that it is not the case and far more
change is required. The organization needs to be
doubly sure it has the required synergy before
embarking on this route.
 Cont’d
• Limited impact. Low levels of change affecting
relatively unimportant areas of activity. Often a
series of such activities can yield incremental
change. This could represent a stage-by-stage
approach to change, where relatively minor
changes are introduced over a period of time. This
option of incremental activity can be used where
resources are limited or a phased consolidated
approach is deemed more appropriate.
 Cont’d
• Overkill. This has high risk and limited impact
importance. Questions have to be asked. Why
are we doing this and what is the pay-off?
Care is needed in order not to alienate staff
and disrupt activity. Such projects often occur
as a result of political maneuvering and
compromise.
 Cont’d
• Management must assess the level of change
associated with a project and deploy strategies
relating to the management of change.
• Justification. Have supportive evidence in the form
of facts and quantitative/statistical data. Hard data
often prove powerful allies.
• Commitment. Try to involve others via group
problem solving, participation and communication.
Such factors tend to generate commitment to
change.
 Cont’d
• Learning. Change is often difficult to achieve
and mistakes will be made. Learning from
mistakes is important. Remember, experience
is the name we like to give our mistakes.
• Incrementalize. It may be better to have an
overall strategy that can be broken down into
a series of smaller ongoing changes, as per the
‘limited impact’ strategy.
 Cont’d
• Operations. Ensure that change is reflected in
operational activities through the appropriate
systems, structures, policies and monitoring.
• In this way, change becomes a permanent
feature and the organization avoids slipping
back into old practice.
 People, power and politics
• When addressing the issue of implementation
there are no panaceas. However, not all staff
will be equally supportive of a given marketing
strategy. Hence it is wise to consider the likely
levels of support and resistance that may exist
relative to a given project. Piercy (1997, p.
591) sets out general categories into which
staff can fall (see the following figure).
Cont’d
 Cont’d
Those with influence, often the appropriate
decision-making unit (DMU), need careful
consideration. Common tactics include:
• Converting or isolating opposition.
• Upgrading the status of influential supporters.
• Recruiting the active involvement of non-
involved supporters.
• Negotiation and trade-off with vested interest.
 Cont’d
• In short, the success of any programme requires
sufficient influence and support. This becomes
more complex when the project generates high
levels of change.
• The issue of supporters and their influence tends
to relate to the dreaded, but vital concept of
internal office politics. Within the organization,
political behaviour can be either desirable or
undesirable. Often this depends on your
perspective. Good strategies can flounder on the
rocks of political self-interest and behaviour
 Cont’d
• Kakabadse (1983) identifies seven common approaches to
playing the political game:
1 Establish who the interested parties are – the stakeholders.
2 Consider their comfort zones. What do they value, fear or
tolerate?
3 Work within these comfort zones.
4 Use networks – those interested or influential.
5 Identify ‘gatekeepers’ and adhere to the norms of the
network.
6 Make deals for mutual benefit.
7 Withhold and withdraw. Consider withholding information
and know when to withdraw from areas of conflict and
dispute.
 Applying project management
techniques
• Essentially, project management involves achieving
unity of purpose and setting achievable goals within
given resource and time scale parameters.
• Efforts tend to focus on integrating activity, building
teamwork and monitoring progress. Marketing
projects are rarely simple and often have to be
achieved while overcoming unforeseen problems
and barriers.
• Effective project management deals with such
problems as and when they arise.
 Project management Activities

• Objective setting
• Planning
• Delegation
• Team building
• Crisis Management - The basic premise of
crisis management is to take urgent action in
response to unexpected events.
 Control
• Control defined
• Since control is a process whereby management
ensures that the organization is achieving desired ends,
it can be defined as a set of organized (adaptive)
actions directed towards achieving specified goals in
the face of constraints.
• Control and planning are complementary, so each
should logically presuppose the existence of the other.
Planning presupposes objectives (ends), and objectives
are of very limited value in the absence of a facilitating
plan (means) for their attainment
 Cont’d
• Anthony (1988) also refers both to the links between
control and strategic implementation on the one hand,
and the interaction among individuals on the other:
• “Control is used in the sense of assuring
implementation of strategies. The management control
function includes making the plans that are necessary
to assure that strategies are implemented.”
• “Management control is the process by which
managers influence other members of the organization
to implement the organization’s strategies.”
 Control-The basic Principles
• The basis of control is the ability to measure. In
essence it compares what should have happened
with what actually happened or is likely to
happen. Given the importance of measurement,
a tendency exists to measure what is easy to
quantify rather than what is important. Good
control systems often detect and rectify problems
before they become significant and managers
should remember that prevention is better than
cure. Try to be proactive rather than reactive.
 Cont’d
• The process is broken down into a series of
simple steps. Firstly, a target is set. Ideally, this
is integrated into overall strategic planning.
• Secondly, a method of measurement has to be
determined and implemented. Finally,
measured results are compared with the
predetermined target(s) and corrective action,
if required, is undertaken.
 Cont’d
• There are two sides to the control equation – inputs
and outputs. If only output is considered then the
system is one of inspection as opposed to control.
Correctly addressing both sides of the equation
allows management to optimize the process and take
a strategic view.
Typical inputs include:
• Finance: investment, working capital and cash.
• Operations: capacity, usage, efficiency and
application of machines, systems and other assets.
• People: numbers, quality and skills of staff.
 Cont’d
• Output is measured in terms of overall system
performance. Performance is derived from a
combination of efficiency and effectiveness:
• Efficiency. How well utilized are the inputs? Do we
make maximum use of finance, minimize cost and
operate at optimum levels of capacity?
• Effectiveness. Are we doing the right things? This
relates to actual performance and will include sales
revenue, profit, market share and measures of
customer satisfaction.
 Cont’d
• Control systems can operate as simple feedback
loops. However, more sophisticated systems of
feed forward control are possible. Such systems
try to pre-empt problems by anticipating the effect
of input(s) on overall performance.
• However, such systems are more complex and
consequently more difficult to set up. The following
figure illustrates the application of a basic control
loop to the marketing management process.
Feedback Control
Marketing Control systems
 Cont’d
• These targets define a specific measurable basis
against which managers will be judged. The objective
of increasing market share would be quantified. For
example, we may aim at a 7 per cent increase over
twelve months. Responsibility for achieving the target
is assigned and actual performance is evaluated
against planned performance. The adjustment of the
process is achieved by management action and/or
altering the objectives or standards within the system.
In this way, the system becomes flexible and can react
to changes in performance and the business
environment.
 What makes an effective control system?

• Control systems require careful design. Generic principles exist

which are common to all effective control mechanisms. As
with management processes, it is important to retain a degree
of flexibility and common sense. The project manager can
deploy the following principles to ensure effective control:
• Involvement. This is achieved by encouraging participation
in the process. Management can achieve desired results via
consultation. For example, staff could contribute towards
setting targets. Their own staff development needs could be
considered along with the required tasks. Correctly applied,
the process enhances morale, promotes ownership and
develops the skills base of employees.
 Cont’d
• Target setting. There are two important factors. Firstly, the target
criteria should be objective and measurable. How this is assessed
needs to be communicated and agreed in advance. Secondly, it
needs to be achievable but challenging.
• Focus. Recognize the difference between the symptoms and the
source of a problem. While it may be expedient to treat the
symptoms, tackling the source of the problem should eliminate it
once and for all.
• Effectiveness. The tendency exists to measure efficiency as
opposed to effectiveness. Efficiency is the usage and productivity
of assets. Effectiveness is about doing the right things. Ideally, we
want measures of efficiency applied to areas of effectiveness. Be
careful to measure what is important, not what is easy to quantify.
Additionally, measurement should be accurate, valid and
consistent
 Cont’d
• Management by exception. Management attention is directed
to areas of need. Identifying what constitutes an exception to
the norm is a useful exercise in its own right. The process
involves setting tolerances and benchmarks for normal
operation. Management action only becomes a priority when
preset limits are breached.
• Action. Good control systems promote action. Such systems
do not must detect problems, they solve problems. Basically,
actions adjust the inputs to the process. For example, extra
resources could be made available to deal with a backlog or a
process or procedure could be redesigned to make it more
effective.