Making Strategy Work: A Literature Review on the Factors Influencing Strategy Implementation

ICA Working Paper 2/2008

Making Strategy Work: A Literature Review on the Factors influencing Strategy Implementation
Yang Li1, Sun Guohui1, Martin J. Eppler2
1 2

Business School, Central University of Finance and Economics, Beijing, China

Institute of Corporate Communication, University of Lugano (USI), Lugano, Switzerland

Yang li: Email: [e-mail] Tel: [phone] Address: Business School, Central University of Finance and Economics, No.39 Xueyuan Nanlu, Haidian District, Beijing 100081, China Sun Guohui: Email: [e-mail] Fax: [phone] Tel: [phone] Address: Business School, Central University of Finance and Economics, No.39 Xueyuan Nanlu, Haidian District, Beijing 100081, China

Martin J. Eppler: Email: [e-mail] Fax: [phone] Address: Institute of Corporate Communication, University of Lugano (USI), Via Buffi 13, 6900 Lugano, Switzerland.

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Making Strategy Work: A Literature Review on the Factors Influencing Strategy Implementation
Abstract
Although numerous studies acknowledge that strategies frequently fail not because of inadequate strategy formulation, but because of insufficient implementation, strategy implementation has received less research attention than strategy formulation. In this study, we review the factors that enable or impede effective strategy implementation, and survey the state-of-the-art in this domain. We highlight how strategy implementation has been researched so far – and in which contexts – and how this field may be moved forward. As a result of our literature analysis, spanning the last twenty-four years, we find nine crucial factors for strategy implementation that are frequently discussed in the literature as well as two approaches of aggregating and relating relevant factors. We find several important research needs regarding these factors and outline how they could be addressed.

Keywords Implementation factors, implementation phases,

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