backgrounds can promote ownership of projects, identify operational
problems in advance and enhance overall quality.
● Resources
Any project needs to be properly resourced. Leaders have the role of
obtaining and making optimum use of resources. The resourcing of
projects is often more to do with internal politics than actual need.
In many organisations there needs to be a more objective process
of resource allocation. Resource will ultimately relate to finance and
staff.
Resourcing is normally budget driven. However, there is now a
recognition of the importance of being time focused. For example, a
3-month time delay is likely to be more serious than a minor budget-
ary overspend. The concept of ‘time-to-market’ is dealt with in a later
section.
Remember, implementation never takes place in a vacuum – things
change and it is important to be flexible and build in an acceptable
degree of contingency (additional resource to be called on) within any
implementation strategy.
● Control
Control is simply a way of making sure what is supposed to happen
actually happens. The term itself – ‘control’ often appears to have neg-
ative connotations and is seen as limiting and coercive in nature. This
should not be the case. Astute management can develop effective con-
trol systems.
The basic approach is a simple feedback loop. You measure
progress, compare against some pre-set standard and if required take
action. Given the importance of control the concept is expanded upon
in the next chapter.
● Skills
The appropriate skills mix is required in order to achieve any aim or
goal. Within the context of implementing marketing strategy ‘softer’
human resource management (HRM) skills can be lacking. It should
be remembered that project management is a skill in its own right.
To summarise, successful implementation requires skills such as:
❍Technical/marketing skills for example, design, market research,
industry analysis.
❍HRM skills for example, delegation, performance appraisal, training.
❍Project management skills for example, budgeting, resourcing,
forecasting.
● Strategy
To state the obvious, there must be a strategy to implement. However
the fact that a strategy exists may not be apparent to everyone.
Additionally, the strategy may not be seen as appropriate by all staff.
The project leader must ensure people are aware of the strategy, the
reason for it and their role in making it work.
Potential strategy should be screened to ensure that it is appropriate
to current circumstances. For example, what is the basis of competitive
advantage? What organisational changes need to take place?
Strategic implementation 261