Effective Strategy Implementation

As a cornerstone of marketing, branding is critical for success on many markets. Companies therefore spend considerable time and effort developing sound brand strategies. While there is some knowledge on brand strategy formulation, there is little knowledge on how brand strategies may be implemented effectively. This is in contrast to the extant literature that highlights the importance of strategy implementation for performance outcomes of (brand) strategies. This also disregards the many companies whose brand strategies fail because of insufficient implementation. Against this background, this paper reviews relevant literature on brand strategy implementation and introduces a theoretical framework and propositions for future research.

Although scholars and managers agree on the relevance of effective strategy implementation (SI) for performance, related research remains limited and SI effectiveness still is not understood well. This is mainly because research largely has neglected to focus on SI as a key organizational capability. Drawing on organizational learning (OL) theory, this paper provides a conceptualization of and develops a higher-order measure for a firm’s strategy implementation capability (SIC). The scale is validated and empirically tested with two samples (sample 1: 268 senior implementation managers with experience in strategy implementation; sample 2 with 72 strategy developerimplementer dyads). Additionally, the paper proposes reduced scales of the construct of SIC for easier integration into future implementation-related research. In terms of theory, this paper advances our understanding of organizational capabilities and SI effectiveness. Managerially it suggests ways to build and manage this important resource effectively for competitive advantage.

The research presented investigates strategy implementation (SI) as a mechanism that links innovative strategies and their performance outcomes. To this end, organizational learning (OL) theory is used to examine SI as a possible mediator of strategies’ performance effects and, in particular, to evaluate the role of firms’ SI capabilities for strategies’ performance outcomes. The paper proposes a conceptual model of innovative marketing strategies’ performance outcomes, with a firm’s SI capability as a key mediator and moderator of the strategies’ performance effects. The model is tested using data from 268 senior implementation managers. The results identify the mechanism that links marketing strategies to firm performance and show that a firm’s SI capability is central to understanding the implementation and performance outcomes of marketing strategies.