Business leaders often lament that up to two-fifths of the potential value of the corporate strategy drafted gets lost in faulty execution. This “Plan-then-do” approach was first popularized by GE in the 1970s but is not practical now due to the “cone of uncertainty” that has exponentially gone up. Strategy and execution now need to be thought of simultaneously just as practiced by Bain. This approach may best be termed as “Decide-Do/Refine-Do”, which implies a constant improvisation even between work. For companies that have solved this conundrum, five lessons have been understood to be followed by them. For a start, such companies do not see strategy as a plan, but more of as a vision which is evergreen. Strategy for them is more of a direction that pervasive. Such firms value flexibility as they know that obstacles are constant but need to be manoeuvred against. For them, strategy is not a bond to be wedded with, but a portfolio of complementary options. Another crucial point where such companies differ from the masses, is they create mechanism to respond to crises and are proactive against them, just as Caterpillar was well-prepared to for the 2007 financial crisis. These companies also believe in constant testing, learning and then going back to the drawing board to further improvise as gaming firm Caesars does.

Source:https://hbr.org/2017/11/5-ways-the-best-companies-close-the-strategy-execution-gap

Uploaded Date:24 November 2017