About the Book
You Can Create All The Strategy You Want But It Doesn't Matter Unless You Can Implement It. Here's How. Without effective execution, no business strategy can succeed. Unfortunately, most managers know far more about developing strategy than about executing it -- and overcoming the difficult political and organizational obstacles that stand in their way. In this book, leading consultant and Wharton professor Lawrence Hrebiniak offers the first comprehensive, disciplined process model for making strategy work in the real world. Hrebeniak has consulted on execution and strategy with companies ranging from GM to Chase Manhattan, DuPont to GE (where he participated in several of Jack Welch's legendary Work-Outs). Drawing on his unsurpassed experience, Hrebiniak shows why execution is even more important than many senior executives realize, and sheds powerful new light on why businesses fail to deliver on even their most promising strategies.
Next, he offers a systematic roadmap for execution that encompasses every key success factor: organizational structure, coordination, information sharing, incentives, controls, change management, culture, and the role of power and influence in your business. Making Strategy Work concludes with a start-to-finish case study showing how to use Hrebeniak's ideas to address one of today's most difficult business execution challenges: ensuring the success of a merger or acquisition.
Table of Contents:
Introduction. 1. Strategy Execution Is the Key. Execution Is a Key to Success Making Strategy Work Is More Difficult Than the Task of Strategy Making Sound Execution Is Critical-A Focus on Making Strategy Work Pays Major Dividends Managers Are Trained to Plan, Not Execute Let the "Grunts" Handle Execution Planning and Execution Are Interdependent Execution Takes Longer Than Formulation Execution Is a Process, Not an Action or Step Execution Involves More People Than Strategy Formulation Does Additional Challenges and Obstacles to Successful Execution Wharton-Gartner Survey Wharton Executive Education Survey Panel Discussions The Results: Opinions About Successful Strategy Execution Poor Execution Outcomes Making Sense of the Data and Going Forward The Execution Challenge Having a Model or Guidelines for Execution Strategy is the Primary Driver Managing Change The Power Structure Coordination and Information Sharing Clear Responsibility and Accountability The Right Culture Leadership Controls, Feedback, and Adaptation The Next Step: Developing a Logical Approach to Execution Decisions and Actions Summary Endnotes 2. Overview and Model: Making Strategy Work. Common vs. Unique Execution Solutions A Need for Action A Model of Strategy Execution Corporate Strategy Corporate Structure Need for Integration Executing Business Strategy "Demands" of Business Strategy Integrating Strategy and Short-term Operating Objectives Incentives and Controls Incentives Controls Context of Execution Decisions The Execution Context Managing Change Culture The Organizational Power Structure The Leadership Climate Need for a Disciplined Approach Summary Endnotes 3. The Path to Successful Execution: Good Strategy Comes First. Is the Impact of Strategy Overrated? Issue #1: The Need for Sound Planning and a Clear, Focused Strategy Corporate-Level Planning AT&T: Bad Corporate Strategy? Business Strategy Issue #2: The Importance of Integrating Corporate and Business Strategies The Role of the Business Is Unclear Inappropriate Performance Metrics Battles Over Resource Allocations Assessments of Business Performance Create Additional Problems The Strategy Review Issue #3: The Need to Define and Communicate the Operational Components of Strategy Integrating Strategic and Short-Term Objectives Need for Measurable Objectives Issue #4: Understanding the "Demands" of Strategy and Successful Execution Low-Cost Producer Differentiation Strategies Developing the Right Capabilities The Demands of Global Strategy A Final Point Summary Endnotes 4. Organizational Structure and Execution. The Challenge of Structural Choice General Motors Johnson & Johnson Citibank and ABB The Critical Structural Issues Structural Issue #1: Measuring Costs and Benefits of Structure Structural Issue #2: Centralization vs. Decentralization Structural Issue #3: The Strategy-Structure-Performance Relationship Summary Endnotes 5. Managing Integration: Effective Coordination and Information Sharing. The Importance of Integration Boeing Royal Dutch/Shell Group Dell Computers Interdependence and Coordination Methods Types of Interdependence Coordination Processes and Methods The GE "Work Out" Facilitating Information Sharing, Knowledge Transfer, and Communication Creating, Using, and Sharing Knowledge Methods, Tools, or Processes for Information Sharing Informal Forces and Information Sharing Additional Informal Factors Affecting Information Flow and Knowledge Transfer Clarifying Responsibility and Accountability Responsibility Plotting and Role Negotiation Summary Endnotes 6. Incentives and Controls: Supporting and Reinforcing Execution. Role of Incentives and Controls Incentives and Execution A Basic Rule: Don't Demotivate People Good Incentives Reward the Right Things Controls: Feedback, Learning, and Adaptation The Control Process Develop and Use Good Objectives Reward the Doers, the Performers Face the Brutal Facts Honestly Reward Cooperation Clarify Responsibility and Accountability Controls Require Timely and Valid Information Leadership, Controls, and Execution The Strategy Review: Integrating Planning, Execution, and Control Step 1: Strategy Formulation Step 2: The Execution Plan Step 3: Initiating the Control Process Step 4: Cause-Effect Analysis and Organizational Learning Step 5: Feedback and Change Step 6: Follow Up and Continue the Process Summary Endnotes 7. Managing Change. Managing Change: A Continuing Challenge Steps in Managing Change A Model of Change and Execution Components of the Model Relating Change to Execution Problems Sequential Change Complex Change Other Factors Affecting Change Summary Endnotes 8. Managing Culture and Culture Change. What Is Culture? Culture is Important for Execution Culture is Not Homogeneous Culture Affects Performance Organizational Performance Affects Culture A Model of Culture and Cultural Change The Top Line: The Effects of Culture The Bottom Line: Changing Culture Summary Rule 1: The Reasons for Change Must Be Clear, Compelling, and Agreed Upon By Key Players Rule 2: Focus on Changing Behavior-Not Directly on Changing Culture Rule 3: Effective Communication is Vital to Culture Change Rule 4: Adequate Effort Must Be Expanded to Reduce Resistance to Change Rule 5: Beware of Excessive Speed Endnotes 9. Power, Influence, and Execution. A View of Power and Influence Strategy and Environment Problems or Dependencies Organizational Structure Uneven Resource Allocations Internal Dependencies and Power Using Power and Influence Coming Full Circle: Conclusions About Power Power and Execution Define Power Bases and Relationships Form Coalitions or Develop Joint Ventures with Those in Power Focus on Value-Added, Measurable Results A Final Note on Power: The Downside Summary Endnotes 10. Summary and Application: Making Mergers and Acquisitions Work. Making Merger and Acquisition Strategies Work Why Focus on Mergers and Acquisitions? Why Do So Many Mergers and Acquisitions Fail or Founder? Using the Present Model and Approach to Execution Corporate Strategy Corporate Structure Cultural Integration in M&A Business Strategy and Short-Term Objectives Business Structure/Integration Incentives and Controls Managing Change Managing Culture and Culture Change The Critical Role of Leadership Summary Endnotes Appendix. Index.
About the Author :
About the Author Dr. Lawrence Hrebiniak is a professor in the Department of Management of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He has been a member of the Wharton faculty since 1976, and currently teaches courses in strategic management and strategy implementation in the Wharton M.B.A. and Executive Education programs. He held several managerial positions in industry prior to entering academia, and is a past president of the Organization Theory Division of the Academy of Management. For over two years, he was one of five Wharton faculty providing commentaries on the Wharton Management Report, a daily program on the Financial News Network. His consulting activities and executive development programs focus on strategy implementation, the formulation of strategy, and organizational design, both inside and outside the U.S. Dr. Hrebiniak's clients have included Johnson & Johnson, AT&T, Chemical Bank, Isuzu (Japan), Weyerhauser, Dun & Bradstreet, DuPont, Management Centre (Europe), the Social Security Administration, First American Bankshares, General Motors (U.S., Brazil, Japan, Venezuela), Chase Manhattan, Studio Amrosetti (Milan), and GE. Dr. Hrebiniak's current research is concerned primarily with strategy implementation, especially the relationships among strategy, structure and performance. He is also interested in strategic adaptation as organizations change over time to remain competitive. He has authored four books, including Implementing Strategy (PHPTR 1984) and The We-Force in Management (Jossey-Bass, Inc. 1994). (c) Copyright Pearson Education. All rights reserved.
