Strategy in Practice: A Practitioner's Guide to Strategic Thinking, 3rd Edition

Chapter 8Strategy Execution and Performance Appraisal

No strategy survives contact with the enemy.

—(Prussian) Field Marshal Helmuth Graf von Moltke

In this Chapter, We:

• introduce and discuss key elements of strategy execution and its link to the preceding strategy formation stage;
• reflect on critical issues related to the execution of strategic responses in practice; in particular, why many fail;
• develop and elaborate on a “third boundary” perspective on strategy execution that builds on the unique competing space concept;
• introduce three basic approaches to strategic performance appraisal and elaborate on their application in practice;
• reflect on limitations of strategic performance appraisal in the practice field.

Strategy, we argued at the outset of this book, is about winning. Winning is achieved on the basis of a differentiated value offering with which the firm or organization sets itself apart from its competitors. In previous chapters the basic principles of the strategic thinking process that the firm engages in when faced with a strategic challenge were examined; sense making and strategic analysis were shown to contribute to the building of an understanding of how the firm might respond appropriately to that challenge. While there is no such thing as a single “right” response, a preferred option exhibits the most suitable attributes and least amount of risk under the circumstances defined by the strategic challenge in question.

This leaves the final stage ...