CONCLUSIONES Y RECOMENDACIONES

Okumus (2003) reviewed extensive literature on strategy implementation frameworks, noted their weaknesses and finally developed a framework which is credited for its comprehensiveness of factors that influence strategy implementation. Okumus (2003)

noted the early frameworks (for example, Waterman et al. 2001; Hambrick & Cannella

1989; and Stonich 1982) simply listed and described implementation factors. Other groups in the 1990s and early 2000 suggested step-by-step sequential implementation

models (see for example Bergadaa 1999; Hacker et al. 2001; and Noble 1999b).

Okumus (2003) notes that although categorising these factors into a step-by-step process makes the models more understandable for managers, the models are oversimplified and ignore the dynamics of interaction that occur between the stages depicted by the models. Another category is processual frameworks that emphasise the importance of the context and process, but fail to give details on the factors that are important, their roles and impact during strategy implementation (Dawson 1994; and Pettigrew & Whipp 1999).

After analysis of the frameworks cited above, Okumus (2003) proposed a conceptual framework which groups the implementation factors into four categories. The four categories are: content, context, operational process and outcome. The details of these four categories are presented in Table 5.5 below.

Table 5.5: Categories of strategy implementation factors

Four categories

Details of the factors Strategic

Content

Refers to why and how the strategy is initiated (development process). Key areas to be considered are :

 New strategy to be consistent with the overall direction of the of the organisation

 Aims of new strategy to clearly identified

 Management of change

 Active participation from all levels of the management

Strategic Context

This is further divided into external and internal. External context is concerned with environmental uncertainty and internal on factors such as organisational structure , culture and leadership

Operational process

Includes: operational planning, resources allocation, people, communication and control

Outcome The intended and unintended results of the implementation process which

can be tangible or intangible

Source: Adapted from Okumus (2003:875)

Apart from description of the various factors in these four categories, Okumus (2003) provided an explanation of the relationship of each factor with other elements and its

potential impact on the implementation process. In this framework, strategy implementation is the process that occurs within the strategic context and content, and is viewed as the strategic direction of the organisation needed to design new initiatives. Process factors are primarily utilised in the implementation process, and outcomes are seen to be expected or unexpected results of the initiated strategy. Okumus's (2003) framework has the potential to help managers and researchers when examining and evaluating the complex process of strategy implementation.

5.3 CONCLUSIONS ON THE FRAMEWORKS FOR STRATEGY IMPLEMENTATION

A review of the implementation frameworks for strategy implementation gives rise to the following observations:

 Strategy formulation is not included in the frameworks, with the exception of

McKinsey’s 7's framework. This is in line with the majority of the implementation literature that views strategy formulation and strategy implementation as two separate processes that follow each other. However, strategy formulation and implementation are interactive processes and should be viewed together. This calls for implementation frameworks that should enable managers to view strategy formulation and implementation factors together since they collectively influence the success of strategy implementation and ultimately the performance of the entire organisation.

 The frameworks can be considered logical and rational in nature, adopting a linear

and prescriptive approach. Part of this approach is the emphasis on the “hard” factors of the implementation aspects such as the organisational structure, reward systems, control and information systems. The “soft factors” or human side of implementation is not given due attention by most of the factors, and this plays a key role in the success or failure of any strategy. Some of the factors to be considered are: employee motivation, behaviour change, coaching and counselling. In addition, little attention is paid to power and politics, while strategy implementation unavoidably raises questions of power in the organisation and brings change to

established positions. Therefore power and politics have a significant influence on strategy implementation.

 Apart from the framework developed by Okumus (2003), other frameworks only

provide partial explanations and examples of how implementation factors interact with each other and influence other factors, but the exact nature of these interactions and how they help or prevent organisations from achieving coherence between strategy and key implementation factors is often neglected.

 The factors provided by thse frameworks as critical to strategy implementation and

the implementation approaches are mainly top-down in nature, which is often a dominant view in strategy implementation. However, it is becoming apparent that issues such as employee commitment and involvement are important pillars of successful strategy implementation.

 The overriding assumption among a majority of these frameworks is that there must

be coherence among these factors if the strategy implementation process is to be successful. For example, Thompson and Strickland (1999) comment that the stronger the fits, the better the execution. Stonich (1982) argues that effective implementation of strategy requires a constant effort to align the basic elements that drive the organisation, while Hrebiniak and Joyce (1984:17) state that “everything depends on upon everything else in strategy implementation”. Given the complex, dynamic nature of implementation situations, it may be difficult or even impossible to achieve the coherence between these implementation factors. It is essential to understand how strategies can be implemented without having a proper coherence between the implementation factors, which calls for further research into strategy implementation.

 These frameworks pay little attention to the external environment of the organisation,

and focus more on the internal capabilities. Factors in the general environment and specific industry conditions from which the opportunities and threats emerge, should be given attention since the best strategy can be foiled by factors from this external environment.

 These frameworks are largely based on simple logical analysis supported by case studies or small-sample survey data. As such, they have limited empirical evidence and their context is usually narrowed to medium and large-sized businesses.

 These frameworks do not clearly discuss the extent to which these factors allow

strategies to be successful and/or prevent strategies from being successful.

It appears that there is still no generally, accepted conceptual framework for strategy implementation which provides a clear demonstration of the need to focus attention on strategy implementation and generally accepted models for successful strategy implementation.

After an in-depth literature exploration on key success factors for successful strategy implementation and existing strategy implementation frameworks, the section below provides a hypothetical model of this study that comprises three categories of factors, namely: context, content and operational, that are critical to successful strategy implementation. The model has combined a number of factors and mainly used Okumus’s (2003) approach in categorising them.