Implementing and executing a company's strategy is a job for the entire management team, not just a few senior mangers.
When strategies fail, it is often because of poor execution &8212; things that were supposed to get done slip through the cracks.
Putting together a talented management team with the right mix of skills and experiences is one of the first strategy implementing steps.
In many industries adding to a company's talent base and building intellectual capital is more important to good strategy execution than additional investments in capital projects.
Building competencies and capabilities is a multi-stage process that occurs over a period of months and years, not something that can be done overnight.
Competencies and capabilities has a huge payoff — improved strategy execution and a potential for competitive advantage.
Wisely choosing which activities to perform internally and which to outsource can lead to several strategy-executing advantages — lower costs, heightened strategic focus, less internal bureaucracy, speedier decision making, and a better arsenal of competencies and capabilities.
There are serious disadvantages to having a small number of top-level managers micro manage the business by personally making decisions or by requiring they approve the recommendations of lower-level subordinates before actions can be taken.
The ultimate goal of decentralized decision-making is to put decisions to lower levels but to put decision-making authority in the hands of those persons or teams closest to and most knowledgeable about the situations.
Corporate culture refers to the character of a company's internal work climate and "personality" — as shaped by its core values, beliefs, business principles, traditions, ingrained behaviors, and style of operating.
Because culturally approved behavior thrives and culturally disapproved behavior gets squashed, company managers are well advised to spend time creating a culture that supports and encourages the behaviors conducive to good strategy.
In a strong culture company, values and behavioral norms are like crabgrass; deeply rooted and hard to weed out.
In adaptive cultures, there is a spirit of doing what is necessary to ensure long-term organizational success provided the new behaviors and operating practices that management is calling for are seen as legitimate and consistent with the core values and business principles underpinning the culture.
A good case can be made that a strongly planted, adaptive culture is the best of all corporate cultures.
Once a culture is established, it is difficult to change.
A company's values statements and code of ethics communicate expectations of how employees should conduct themselves in the workplace.
