The Oxford Handbook of Strategy Implementation

Good strategies can fail because they are poorly implemented. Behind this straightforward statement is a complex reality. This innovative volume explores various aspects of strategy implementation, a process that is as challenging as it is important.

For strategies to be implemented effectively, firms must have the right resources and capabilities available. Available resources must be integrated in ways that create the capabilities needed and then those capabilities must be leveraged to effectively implement the strategy in order to create and sustain a competitive advantage.
This handbook focuses on how strategy implementation is influenced by resources and governance, human capital and management of it, and accounting-based control systems. It examines how the dynamic, competitive, and international environment increases the importance of knowledge and its acquisition, effective governance as a signal of proper incentives, the interaction of legality and legitimacy, and the connections between compliance and enforcement.

Because people implement the strategies through the completion of their job tasks and achievement of their job-related goals, the second section explores how changes in workforce demographics have influenced and may influence strategy. Major factors include the greater proportion of older workers and the increasing role women play in leadership. Acquiring, developing, and having a motivated work force is critical to implementation, whether and how best practices spread is explored, as is the effectiveness of setting goals.

Controlling managerial behavior plays a critical role in the implementation of strategies, and is the focus of the third section on accounting-based control systems. These can be helpful both in identifying inappropriate behaviors and in promoting positive managerial actions to achieve desired financial outcomes. They can also encourage experimentation and creativity. The effectiveness of accounting and accountability systems is influenced by four dimensions, including the intended users, standards of compliance, enforcement criteria, and the assurance process.