Marketing Strategy and Competitive Positioning pdf ebook

Inability to manage change effectively and overcome resistance to change – managing 
change well is vital to effective strategy implementation. Nonetheless, where change 
impacts on corporate culture, then moving too fast may be dangerous.
● 
Poor or vague strategy – good implementation capabilities cannot compensate for a 
strategy that is weak or ambiguous. Strategy drives execution, and if strategy is unclear 
or weak, then implementation is irrelevant.
● 
Not having guidelines or a model to guide strategy implementation efforts – managers 
want a logical model to guide implementation efforts and actions, particularly in trans-
lating strategic imperatives into practical actions.
● 
Poor or inadequate information sharing among individuals/units responsible for strategy 
execution – poor sharing of information or poor knowledge transfer and unclear respon-
sibility and accountability make it unlikely strategy implementation will be effective.
● 
Trying to execute a strategy that conflicts with the existing power structure – working 
against the power structure presents a major obstacle to implementation effectiveness, 
and underlines the importance of gaining the support of those influential in the organisa-
tion, and of forming coalitions to share implementation responsibility.

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THE STRATEGY IMPLEMENTATION CHALLENGE IN MARKETING
● 
Unclear responsibility or accountability for implementation decisions or actions – lack of 
clarity in responsibility for implementation and the achievement of measurable progress 
presents another obstacle to effective implementation (Hrebiniak, 2006).
Similarly, Alexander’s (1991) contention remains just as apposite today as when it was 
first raised in the early 1990s:
One key reason why implementation fails is that practicing executives, managers and 
supervisors do not have practical, yet theoretically sound, models to guide their actions 
during implementation. Without adequate models, they try to implement strategies without 
a good understanding of the multiple factors that must be addressed, often simultaneously, 
to make implementation work.
(Alexander, 1991)