Implementation

Getting Results

A business needs more than a good strategy: It needs to implement that strategy. Inevitably, some good strategies fail and some bad strategies get implemented. One study found that 70% of executives who fail in their jobs do so because they also fail to execute their strategies in the market. These leaders had good “vision,” but it never got properly executed, for example:

• Sony achieved a milestone with the Walkman, but it did not anticipate the popularity of Apple’s iPod. Sony’s former CEO, Nobuyuki Idei, recognized the huge market for combined media and entertainment devices. He developed a strategy to integrate media and electronics, but when he tried to put his idea into action, concerns about piracy, pricing and technical standards sidetracked his developers. Regional disputes added to the problems, delaying Sony’s effort to put music and movies into one machine.
• Carly Fiorina, former Hewlett-Packard CEO, wanted to merge HPs products and create a larger presence in personal computers by buying Compaq. Critics called her aloof and a poor communicator. Lack of company-wide support undermined her plan, which did not link strategic goals...