ADOPTION OF STRATEGY GOALS: EXPLORING THE SUCCESS OF STRATEGY IMPLEMENTATION THROUGH ORGANIZATIONAL

ABSTRACT
This study is about the success of strategy implementation. Implementation, the conceptual counterpart of strategy formulation, has been regarded as an extremely challenging area in management practice. Still, strategy implementation has received remarkably less attention in the strategic management literature. The existing implementation frameworks are mostly normative and rather limited.
On the other hand, the strategy as practice research agenda has emerged to study strategy on the micro level, as a social phenomenon. Practice researchers have introduced an activity – based view on strategy that is concerned with the day – to – day activities of organizational life that relate to strategic outcomes. Still, there is a clear need to know more about these strategic activities: what are they like, and how are they related to strategic outcomes.
This study explores the success of strategy implementation in terms of organizational activities, by focusing on two questions: how are the strategy goals realized through organic goal’s adoption? The research questions are addressed empirically.
The analysis produces a general strategic activity categorization consisting of numerous activities under five main activity categories of determining, communicating, controlling, organization and interacting with the environment. The activities divide into existing and desired ones, which further divide into enhancing and novel one, the analysis reveals that successful adoption of a strategic goal is desired activities that enhance the existing ones and extensive repertories of novel desired activities in addition, the scope of the strategic goals’ origin and its coherence with other elements of strategy is proposed to contribute to the adoption of the strategic goal.
The study contributed to the strategy as practice discussion by taking the activity – based view seriously and showing in detail what the strategic activities are like and how they are linked to the success of strategy implementation. The research reveals that strategy implementation is a much more complicated, creative, communicative, and external oriented phenomenon than the extant literature presents. Furthermore this study adds to the very limited empirical research on how strategies are adopted and enacted on all organizational levels. The practical implications of the study concern critical evaluation of existing and desired activity patterns, as well as understanding the significance of the strategic goals’ origin and the coherence of the strategic whole

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Certification
Dedication
Acknowledgement
Abstract
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