1.0 INTRODUCTION:
Strategy implementation is also referred to as strategy execution or strategy actualization. There is no universally accepted definition of strategy implementation. Reading through various scholarly works, one is able to identify three broad distinct conceptions of the term. Some authors view it as a sequence of carefully planned consecutive steps, a perspective which can be labeled a process perspective. The second approach treats strategy implementation as a series of concerted (but often parallel) actions and examines these actions from a behavior perspective. Some authors combine the process perspective and behavior or action perspective and form a third approach, which we label as a hybrid perspective.
Under the process perspective, implementation is the process that turns plans into action assignments and ensures that such assignments are executed in a manner that accomplishes the plan’s stated objectives (Kotler, 1984). Strategy implementation is an iterative process of implementing strategies, policies, programs and action plans that allows a firm to utilize its resources to take advantage of opportunities in the competitive environment (Harrington, 2006).
Under the behaviour perspective, implementation is the actions initiated within the organization and its relationships with external constituencies to realize the strategy (Varadarajan, 1999). Implementation is operationally defined as those senior-level leadership behaviors and activities that will transform a working plan into a concrete reality (Schaap, 2006).
In the hybrid perspective, implementation is defined as ‘the sum total of the activities and choices required for the execution of a strategic plan…the process by which strategies and policies are put into action’ (Wheelen & Hunger 1992). Strategy execution is defined as the step-by-step implementation of the various