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Making Strategy Work: Leading Effective Execution and Change
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Sales rank 26,612
Customers rating (based on 25 reviews)
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Without effective execution, no business strategy can succeed. Unfortunately, most managers know far more about developing strategy than about executing it -- and overcoming the difficult political and organizational obstacles that stand in their way. In this book, leading consultant and Wharton professor Lawrence Hrebiniak offers the first comprehensive, disciplined process model for making strategy work in the real world. Drawing on his unsurpassed experience, Hrebiniak shows why execution is even more important than many senior executives realize, and sheds powerful new light on why businesses fail to deliver on even their most promising strategies. Next, he offers a systematic roadmap for execution that encompasses every key success factor: organizational structure, coordination, information sharing, incentives, controls, change management, culture, and the role of power and influence in your business. Making Strategy Work concludes with a start-to-finish case study showing how to use Hrebeniak's ideas to address one of today's most difficult business execution challenges: ensuring the success of a merger or acquisition.
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| Publisher | Wharton School Publishing | | Release date | 01/2005 | | Availability | Usually ships in 24 hours | | Edition | Hardcover |
| | List price | $39.99 | | Our price | $26.39 (you save 34.01%) | | Used price | from $22.49 |
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 A Model for Successful Execution of Strategy
In Making Strategy Work, Hrebiniak builds a model for the successful execution of strategy. His methodology ties strategic thinking to short term business objectives and stresses the relationship to business structure. Without integration of the organization's core business infrastructure, strategy cannot be implemented effectively. The book has far reaching implications for strategy focused organizations such as in the deployment of resources, budgets, training, incentives, etc.
Execution trumps strategy - but you need both to succeed!
There's a saying in football, that great coaching can't overcome poor player performance; but great player performance can overcome poor coaching. This idea boils down to the fact that great strategy is meaningless if it's not executed properly, but great execution can save poor strategy. This is the premise of Lawrence Hrebiniak's book titled -"Making Strategy Work" - where the author states that absent effective execution, no business strategy can succeed. Unfortunately, developing strategy tends to be easier than implementing it. Soundview recommends this book because it offers a disciplined and comprehensive procedure that allows strategies to work in a real world environment. Additionally, the author looks as the critical factors that are necessary for flawless execution of strategy including: culture, controls, organization structure as well as incentives. Don't implement your strategic objectives without it!
practical
As you should expect from a book that claims to 'make strategy work' this book for me does exactly that. Make it work. It borrows principles and concepts from other major works over the recent years, like Good to Great from Jim Collins and elaborates on them in several chapters, most of them focusing on singular subjects that prevent the strategy from working: culture, leadership, behavior, structure etc.
I personally like the mix of conceptual models and basic tips and tricks, but this can also lead to a middle of the road book that the more practical-minded or the more academic might not fancy. Take your pick.
Solid book
Keeping implementation in mind when creating strategy is a sound strategy. Packed with excellent case studies, Making Strategy Work is a fine guide for managers and leaders to get things done. I recommend this book along with Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't, starting with the "Who" then moving on to the "What".
 What makes strategy really work ?
Considering the high ranking and the established name of Warton School, I bought this book. Whether you like this book or not, depends mainly on what you are looking for.
The author says, making strategy work is more difficult, than finding a suitable strategy for the business you are in. Following my own experiences I doubt this. How many companies do we really know, that have a sound strategy that can be simply expressed and proofed right by many years of succes? Go to the shopfloor and ask your employees simple things as e.g. why your customers buy from you and what your business is or should be about. Although the author does not focus on how to build a strategy and covers the aspects of strategy implementation, a good strategy will first of all decide, whether any implementation has a chance for success.
A good strategy gives you answers on:
1.) Who are we and where are we actually (not only internal view) ?
2.) Where do we go ?
3.) Why will we be succesfull ?
Answering this questions will cope with the core question of strategic marketing as positioning and differentiation as well. Implementing any longterm strategy is mainly dedicated to leadership, preliminary people development around core competencies and step by step project management by having easy and consistant measures defined.
There are to many basic statemants in this book and definitions - just common sense. Focus on analysing your current external position and the internal view, the strategy definition and the strategy implementation will be much easier. Change has mostly to do with communication and telling the story as it is, the rest relays on your leadership and how convincing the need for change is. Eliminate the "jerks" and develop the "right" people and your strategy will move forward. The question about the "right" people is linked to change management and leadership, but non of this books will provide you the answer of this question.
Even though softfactors are important, any book about making strategy work should first of all rise a few questions what preliminary answers on important questions need to be on hand?
Best Regards,
Oliver
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