Bridging the Gap
The authors present an unconventional approach, based on real-life examples, to close the strategy-execution gap.
- Feb 25, 2016,
- Updated Feb 25, 2016 11:24 AM IST
Strategy is not new to this world. Every organisation and business needs a strategy for it to grow and provide value to its shareholders. While a lot of companies define their strategy, many falter in implementation. In the words of Jack Welch, "Strategy is a general direction that a business should determine - after that decision, one should implement like hell." One cannot agree more with this statement. But the question remains - how? How does one go about executing the strategy that will lead to the final objective?
Paul Leinwand, Cesare Mainardi and Art Kleiner - authors of Strategy That Works: How Winning Companies Close the Strategy-to-Execution Gap - have provided a great framework to overcome this conundrum of successful implementation. According to the authors, the key is to link strategy to capabilities to implementation - easier said than done.
All good companies have capabilities, but how many of them manage to define a few differentiating capabilities and integrate those capabilities to strategy? In the authors' simple words, the following need complete alignment: a value proposition that distinguishes a company from other companies; a system of distinctive capabilities that reinforce each other which enables them to deliver on the value proposition; and a chosen portfolio of products and services that make use of the capabilities.
Strategy is not new to this world. Every organisation and business needs a strategy for it to grow and provide value to its shareholders. While a lot of companies define their strategy, many falter in implementation. In the words of Jack Welch, "Strategy is a general direction that a business should determine - after that decision, one should implement like hell." One cannot agree more with this statement. But the question remains - how? How does one go about executing the strategy that will lead to the final objective?
Paul Leinwand, Cesare Mainardi and Art Kleiner - authors of Strategy That Works: How Winning Companies Close the Strategy-to-Execution Gap - have provided a great framework to overcome this conundrum of successful implementation. According to the authors, the key is to link strategy to capabilities to implementation - easier said than done.
All good companies have capabilities, but how many of them manage to define a few differentiating capabilities and integrate those capabilities to strategy? In the authors' simple words, the following need complete alignment: a value proposition that distinguishes a company from other companies; a system of distinctive capabilities that reinforce each other which enables them to deliver on the value proposition; and a chosen portfolio of products and services that make use of the capabilities.