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  • 1.  Breakthrough strategy and implementation

    Posted 03-14-2009 04:43

    Hi George - a recent post of yours to the List illustrates the complementary questions .. the game-changing of Sam Walton, P&G [and others .. CNN, Southwest, IKEA, Starbucks, iPhone, Skype, eBay etc etc] were clearly brilliant, and it would be great to help others make similarly great breakthroughs. But the next question is what strategic management actually did every week, month, and quarter in the years or decades following that innovation to deliver performance [strong growth in scale and cash flows]. Few of these great case firms were first, boldest  and alone in their innovation, so there must have been massive differences in the continuing actions and decisions of their management, compared with their less successful colleagues.

    ... then there's the question of – having changed the game, what do you do next, change it again and again and again? These powerful firms do not seem to do that very often, if at all in some cases. Rather, having found a game they can win, they relentlessly push it forward. Strategy implementation seems to be dismissed as trivial or merely operational effectiveness, which badly understates its importance and complexity – and unless I'm missing something, we don't seem to have any methods, tools or frameworks to either understand it or teach it.

     

    Kim Warren

     

     

    From: Management Education and Development Discussion [mailto:MG-ED-DV@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU] On Behalf Of George Graen
    Sent: 13 March 2009 10:03
    To: MG-ED-DV@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU
    Subject: Re: FW: Definition of strategy, Systems of Systems Approach.

     

    In a message dated 3/13/2009 3:54:22 A.M. Central Daylight Time, Kim@strategydynamics.com writes:

    Hi George – from what I have seen, I think we are working in different but related parts of the forest. My impression is that you are challenging management to rethink fundamentally how things work and reconceptualise markets and their business. Clearly important. My focus is, first, on making much better decisions and performance out of what already exists – for which there is huge potential in most cases. The linkage is that – having imagined a new business model with your ideas – we can turn that into a defined structure that we can test 'on paper' before making it a reality, and then as it develops, continue checking how it is working and driving the best possible performance out of it.

    We could take a short look at a real case if you like.

    Hi Kim- I agree with your analogy of the forest to describe our foci. Clearly, both approaches will be need by top management to survive in the new undefined economy. A good example is the jerky responses of the government to the mixed signals of open systems that are poorly understood. I suggest that trial and error is a poor way to understand a systems change. My edited book describes both the needed strategies and analytical tools. Unfortunately, our wiz kid economists think they have the answers. Sorry, but it's a bit more than voodoo. What do you think?

     

    George Graen

     

    A Good Credit Score is 700 or Above. See yours in just 2 easy steps!



  • 2.  Breakthrough strategy and implementation

    Posted 03-14-2009 08:47

    Hi Kim,

     

    Thank you for your thoughtful questions.  I thought that I was clear that my new edited book describes both strategies and tools to implement the change and improve it over time.  When the new game works, TMTs work hard at improving it.  As Satchel Paige, a baseball legend said, keep doing and don't look back, because someone may be gaining on you.  When your competitors get better at your game than you, change the game in your favor.  As to the absence of new game changing after a successful transformation, I find that the "insider" descriptions are much more active at game-changing in different areas than the "outsider" case writers' description.  I know this from my research on Walmart and P&G over the last 15 years or so.

     

    I agree that our strategy courses have been influenced a great deal by "OT".  This usually pushes the "T" at the expense of the "O".  From my "<st1:place w:st="on">OB</st1:place>" perspective, I try to balance "O" and "B".  In my new book, we spend a good number of pages on organizational design, strategies as tools and implementation technologies (tools).  I hope that our fellow business strategy professors will make such tools part of their courses.  What do you think?

     

    George Graen

    /jag


    A Good Credit Score is 700 or Above. See yours in just 2 easy steps!


  • 3.  Breakthrough strategy and implementation

    Posted 03-14-2009 09:34
    Hi,

    There are frameworks to assist in implementing strategy. However, they primarily exist outside the strategic management literature. The field of management control is devoted to strategy implementation. There are two comprehensive frameworks that have been validated by empirical studies. Merchant's (1985, 2007) results, action and personnel/culture controls and Simons' (1995) Levers of Control frameworks outline tools managers can use to enhance strategy implementation. There are also two other frameworks which are less comprehensive, yet very popular with practitioners. The first is Kaplan and Norton's (1992) Balanced Scorecard which has evolved over the past 15 years into a strategy implementation framework. The second is Zimmerman's (1998) Organizational Architecture which is basically an operationalization of agency theory.

    Cheers,

    Norman Sheehan


    -----Original Message-----
    From: Management Education and Development Discussion on behalf of Kim Warren
    Sent: Sat 14-Mar-09 9:43
    To: MG-ED-DV@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU
    Subject: Re: Breakthrough strategy and implementation

    Hi George - a recent post of yours to the List illustrates the complementary questions .. the game-changing of Sam Walton, P&G [and others .. CNN, Southwest, IKEA, Starbucks, iPhone, Skype, eBay etc etc] were clearly brilliant, and it would be great to help others make similarly great breakthroughs. But the next question is what strategic management actually did every week, month, and quarter in the years or decades following that innovation to deliver performance [strong growth in scale and cash flows]. Few of these great case firms were first, boldest and alone in their innovation, so there must have been massive differences in the continuing actions and decisions of their management, compared with their less successful colleagues.

    . then there's the question of - having changed the game, what do you do next, change it again and again and again? These powerful firms do not seem to do that very often, if at all in some cases. Rather, having found a game they can win, they relentlessly push it forward. Strategy implementation seems to be dismissed as trivial or merely operational effectiveness, which badly understates its importance and complexity - and unless I'm missing something, we don't seem to have any methods, tools or frameworks to either understand it or teach it.



    Kim Warren





    From: Management Education and Development Discussion [mailto:MG-ED-DV@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU] On Behalf Of George Graen
    Sent: 13 March 2009 10:03
    To: MG-ED-DV@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU
    Subject: Re: FW: Definition of strategy, Systems of Systems Approach.



    In a message dated 3/13/2009 3:54:22 A.M. Central Daylight Time, Kim@strategydynamics.com writes:

    Hi George - from what I have seen, I think we are working in different but related parts of the forest. My impression is that you are challenging management to rethink fundamentally how things work and reconceptualise markets and their business. Clearly important. My focus is, first, on making much better decisions and performance out of what already exists - for which there is huge potential in most cases. The linkage is that - having imagined a new business model with your ideas - we can turn that into a defined structure that we can test 'on paper' before making it a reality, and then as it develops, continue checking how it is working and driving the best possible performance out of it.

    We could take a short look at a real case if you like.

    Hi Kim- I agree with your analogy of the forest to describe our foci. Clearly, both approaches will be need by top management to survive in the new undefined economy. A good example is the jerky responses of the government to the mixed signals of open systems that are poorly understood. I suggest that trial and error is a poor way to understand a systems change. My edited book describes both the needed strategies and analytical tools. Unfortunately, our wiz kid economists think they have the answers. Sorry, but it's a bit more than voodoo. What do you think?



    George Graen



    ________________________________

    A Good Credit Score is 700 or Above. See yours in just 2 easy steps! <http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100126575x1219671244x1201345076/aol?redir=http:%2F%2Fwww.freecreditreport.com%2Fpm%2Fdefault.aspx%3Fsc%3D668072%26hmpgID%3D62%26bcd%3DfebemailfooterNO62>


  • 4.  Breakthrough strategy and implementation

    Posted 03-14-2009 12:10
    Thank you for literature.
    What does the articles tell us?
     
    Competitive strategies or dynamic capabilities?
    Any meta-analysis?
     
    Could please inform the movements? Thank you very much.
     
     
    With best wishes,
     
    Chun-Lan
     
     
     

     

    Date: Sat, 14 Mar 2009 08:46:38 -0400
    From: Lmxlotus@AOL.COM
    Subject: Re: Breakthrough strategy and implementation
    To: MG-ED-DV@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU

    Hi Kim,

     

    Thank you for your thoughtful questions.  I thought that I was clear that my new edited book describes both strategies and tools to implement the change and improve it over time.  When the new game works, TMTs work hard at improving it.  As Satchel Paige, a baseball legend said, keep doing and don嚙踝蕭t look back, because someone may be gaining on you.  When your competitors get better at your game than you, change the game in your favor.  As to the absence of new game changing after a successful transformation, I find that the 嚙踝蕭insider嚙踝蕭 descriptions are much more active at game-changing in different areas than the 嚙踝蕭outsider嚙踝蕭 case writers嚙踝蕭 description.  I know this from my research on Walmart and P&G over the last 15 years or so.

     

    I agree that our strategy courses have been influenced a great deal by 嚙踝蕭OT嚙踝蕭.  This usually pushes the 嚙踝蕭T嚙踝蕭 at the expense of the 嚙踝蕭O嚙踝蕭.  From my 嚙踝蕭OB嚙踝蕭 perspective, I try to balance 嚙踝蕭O嚙踝蕭 and 嚙踝蕭B嚙踝蕭.  In my new book, we spend a good number of pages on organizational design, strategies as tools and implementation technologies (tools).  I hope that our fellow business strategy professors will make such tools part of their courses.  What do you think?

     

    George Graen

    /jag

    A Good Credit Score is 700 or Above. See yours in just 2 easy steps!

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  • 5.  Breakthrough strategy and implementation

    Posted 03-14-2009 13:06
     
     
     
    HI John.
     
    THANK YOU. We think we have brought our literature up-to-date and describe the tools for TMTs to improve their competitive game through executive design coaching in research-based tools. We illustrate our new tool descriptions with real organizational examples. We look forward to your telling us how well we accomplished our mission.
     
    George Graen
     
    In a message dated 3/14/2009 9:29:19 A.M. Central Daylight Time, jeggers@bop.gov writes:
    Extremely well put George. You're book sounds like a must read.


    John
    -----Original Message-----
    From: George Graen <Lmxlotus@AOL.COM>
    To: Management Education and Development Discussion <MG-ED-DV@AOMLISTS.PACE..EDU>

    Sent: 3/14/2009 8:46:38 AM
    Subject: Re: Breakthrough strategy and implementation


    Hi  Kim,
    Thank you for your thoughtful questions.  I thought that I was clear that my
    new  edited book describes both strategies and tools to implement the change
    and  improve it over time.  When the new  game works, TMTs work hard at
    improving it.  As Satchel Paige, a baseball legend said,  keep doing and don't look
    back, because someone may be gaining on you.  When your competitors get better
    at your  game than you, change the game in your favor.  As to the absence of
    new game changing  after a successful transformation, I find that the "insider"
    descriptions are  much more active at game-changing in different areas than
    the "outsider" case  writers' description.  I know this  from my research on
    Walmart and P&G over the last 15 years or so.
    I agree that our strategy courses have been influenced a great  deal by "OT"
    ..  This usually pushes  the "T" at the expense of the "O".  From my "OB"
    perspective, I try to balance "O" and "B".  In my new book, we spend a good
    number of  pages on organizational design, strategies as tools and
    implementation  technologies (tools).  I hope that  our fellow business strategy professors
    will make such tools part of their  courses.  What do you  think?
    George  Graen
    /jag
     

    A Good Credit Score is 700 or Above. See yours in just 2 easy steps!