STRATEGYCOACHING 203
Far iborz Ghadar
Strategy Implementation:
Where the Fun BeginsS
ome organizations can have a mediocre strategy, implement it well, and
be successful. Others can have a wonderful strategy, implement it poorly,
and waste everyone’s time. As a coach, I work with senior leaders to identify
a strategy that makes sense for their organization. Then, I help optimize the
capability of the management team to implement it.
This is not without its interesting challenges. Most industries are experi-
encing a paradigm shif t from long product life cycles to short product life cy-
cles with significant ramifications for strategy implementation. Throw in the
fact that the management team of the average global organization is almost
always multicultural, multinational, and diverse in background and perspec-
tive; and you have a very new set of dynamics playing havoc with old ways of
doing business. Strategy implementation is not as complicated as people
think, but there are many different categories that need to be placed within
a framework before the way for ward becomes clear.
It helps to understand why those dynamics have changed. Many of the
very smart, very capable leaders I work with think that the situation they’re
facing is unique. When they started in business, 20 years ago, everything was
perfectly clear. Now that things have become complicated, frustrations and
pressures are mounting. It’s all too easy to blame the organization or the sen-
ior team. It’s much more likely that the impact of a shortened product life
cycle hasn’t been factored into the strategy equation.
Organizations fall into four categories depending on where they are posi-
tioned in the traditional product life cycle. Common patterns of external andFar iborz Ghadar is the William A. Schreyer Chair of
Global Management, Policies and Planning and Director,
Center for Global Business Studies at the Pennsylvania
State University Smeal College of Business Administra-
tion. He specializes in global corporate strategy and im-
plementation, international finance and banking, and
global economic assessment. He is the author of 11 books
and numerous articles, including the Harvard Business
Reviewarticle entitled “The Dubious Logic of Megamerg-
ers.” His most recent research has been published as the first chapter in Pushing
the Digital Frontier, Insights into the Changing Landscape of E-Business.He
can be reached by e-mail via Penn State University at [email protected].