Strategy Implementation and Firm Performance: A Holistic Approach

The aim of this book is to give more insights into the riddle of proper strategy implementation. Previous works indicate that firms seem to have problems implementing their strategies in an appropriate way. This fact should be of great concern as strategy implementation is at least as important for firm performance as strategy formulation. After identifying eleven important strategy implementation factors, it is argued that different strategies require different strategy implementation skills. The findings based on 175 responses from executives of medium and large size Austrian firms show that it is crucial for prospectors and analyzers to align their strategy implementation factors according to their strategy content. Interestingly, the degree of alignment in defender firms has no impact on firm performance. Moreover, it is revealed that an "overdoing" of strategy implementation factors does not play any crucial part in influencing firm performance while underemphasizing has a negative impact. Contrary to expectations, strategy implementation still significantly influences firm performance regardless of whether strategy content is aligned with the environmental uncertainty or not.