Business Horizons (2008) 51, 301309

www.elsevier.com/locate/bushor

Building a capable organization: The eight levers of strategy implementation

Victoria L. Crittenden a,*, William F. Crittenden b
Carroll School of Management, Boston College, Fulton Hall 450B, 140 Commonwealth Avenue, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467, U.S.A. b College of Business Administration, 101 Hayden Hall, Northeastern University, Boston, MA 02115, U.S.A.
a

KEYWORDS
Strategy; Implementation; Managerial levers; Performance

Abstract The habitual mode of poor strategy implementation shaping the next round of strategy formulation weakens the subsequent planning cycle. Unfortunately, decades of company interactions consisting of research, teaching, and consulting suggest that strategy implementation has become a catchall of phrases and recommendations, with little clarity as to what comprises this necessary cornerstone of a capable organization. Strategists tend to use powerful terminology when referring to implementation efforts. Descriptors such as killers, confrontation, and engagement are linked with actions like conquering, blocking, tackling, and honing when discussing strategy implementation. Our contention is that implementation is a critical cornerstone or ally in the building of a capable organization, and the use of the appropriate levers of implementation is the pivotal hinge in the development of the organization. Ultimately, strategy implementation helps create the future, not inhibit it. # 2008 Kelley School of Business, Indiana University. All rights reserved.

If you give me a lever and a place to stand, I shall move the earth. Archimedes (287212 BC)

1. Implementation: The gap between formulation and performance

Mankins and Steele (2005) report companies realize only 63% of the nancial performance promised by their strategies. Kaplan and Norton (2005) attribute
* Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: victoria.crittenden@bc.edu (V.L. Crittenden), w.crittenden@neu.edu (W.F. Crittenden).

this strategy-to-performance gap, in part, to the fact that 95% of a companys employees are not aware of or do not understand their companys strategy. According to Johnson (2004), however, 66% of corporate strategy is never implemented. This suggests that the problem lies somewhere in the middle of this strategy-to-performance gap, with a more likely source being a gap in the formulationto-implementation process. If employees lack knowledge about the companys strategy, it is unlikely that proper implementation will occur, which in turn leads to poor nancial performance. Bonoma and Crittenden (1988) suggested that this habitual mode of poor strategy execution then

0007-6813/$ see front matter # 2008 Kelley School of Business, Indiana University. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.bushor.2008.02.003

302 shapes the next round of strategy formulation, thus weakening the strategy formulated subsequently. Without a doubt, the overall neglect of strategy implementation leads to poor performance both in the current execution and in future strategy formulation processes. Unless caught in time, the endless formulation-implementation-performance cycle leads to subsequent attempts at implementing a mistaken strategy. When this occurs, it is hard to tell if weak performance is due to good implementation of a bad strategy, or the result of poor implementation of a good strategy. Unfortunately, decades of research, teaching, and consulting interactions with companies suggest that strategy implementation has become a catchall of phrases and recommendations, with little clarity as to what comprises this necessary cornerstone of a capable organization. The catchall tends to boil down to rules or piecemeal components of implementation, usually with implementation being a necessary but evil component, rather than an overarching framework for guiding the implementation process. This transformation means the questions must change: What actually constitutes strategy implementation? Is strategy implementation an opponent, or can it be an ally for the organization?

V.L. Crittenden, W.F. Crittenden Strategists tend to use powerful terminology to describe the importance of implementation. Beer and Eisenstat (2000) use terminology such as killers, confrontation, and engagement. Mankins and Steele (2005) refer to conquering the gap between strategy and performance, and offer tactical specicity for conquering the formulation-implementation-performance process: keep it simple/make it concrete, debate assumptions/not forecasts, use a rigorous framework/speak a common language, discuss resource deployment early, clearly identify priorities, continuously monitor performance, and reward/develop execution capabilities. It is as though strategy implementation requires strategic warfare. Others, such as Porter and Harper (2003), use sports phrases such as blocking and tackling, and suggest that managers must hone their implementation skills. Our contention is that strategy implementation is not an opponent that needs to be conquered or tackled. Rather, strategy implementation is a critical cornerstone and ally in the building of a capable organization, and the use of the appropriate levers of implementation will be the pivotal hinge in the development of that organization. As such, we offer eight levers of strategy implementation. The ancient Greek mathematician Archimedes (287212 BC) suggested that levers make work easier by using a fulcrum to magnify ones effort against a force or resistance. Building upon earlier implementation work by Bonoma and Crittenden (1988), in conjunction with Thompson, Gamble, and Stricklands (2006) strategy execution process, our framework brings together critical structural and managerial skill levers necessary for the building of a capable organization. While this does not suggest that all eight levers are necessary for successful strategy implementation, the identication of the levers allows companies to identify strong and weak points that could impact the implementation process.

1.1. Strategy implementation: Opponent or ally?

Over the years, management strategists have offered considerable advice regarding strategy implementation. Beer and Eisenstat (2000) attempt to capture much of this advice in their description of the six silent killers of strategy implementation, with the idea being that managers who confront these killers, rather than using avoidance or managerial replacement techniques, could overcome them and therefore become a capable organization. The six silent killers were identied as 1. Top-down or laissez-fair senior management style, 2. Unclear strategy and conicting priorities, 3. An ineffective senior management team, 4. Poor vertical communication, 5. Poor coordination across functions, businesses, or borders, and 6. Inadequate down-the-line leadership skills and development.

1.2. Strategy research: Organizational stories

Data from two decades of company-based research provides insight into how companies have attempted, either successfully or unsuccessfully, to mesh their structural and managerial skills in their strategy implementation efforts. This project examined strategy implementation issues within the context of a company database comprised of 124 organizational stories. These organizational stories were derived from both primary and secondary sources. A total of 29 of the organi-

Building a capable organization: The eight levers of strategy implementation zational stories have been developed into fulllength case studies with varying foci, and 95 of the stories are now in use as short vignettes explaining how a particular business challenge was handled by the organization. This is not a longitudinal study. That is, companies were examined, and a case or vignette compiled for a particular point in time. While the companies in the story database can be viewed from a variety of perspectives, the traditional product (consumer, business-to-business, service, or nonprot) and market distinctions (International or U.S. based) are used to describe the companies. An epigrammatic overview of these 124 company stories, per the product and market perspective, is provided below, and then a brief description of the companies referenced in this article is given. 1. Consumer companies69 stories (9 internationally-based) 2. Business-to-business companies15 stories (5 internationally-based) 3. Service companies33 stories (3 internationallybased) 4. Nonprot companies7 stories (2 internationally-based) 1.2.1. Organizational stories: Consumers 1. Cutco Cutlery Corporation is the largest manufacturer and marketer of high-quality kitchen cutlery and accessories in the United States and Canada. Vector Marketing Corporation is the companys sales division. ALCAS Corporation is the parent company. 2. Founded in Quincy, Massachusetts, Dunkin Donuts operates franchise retail outlets offering coffee, donuts, and mufns. 3. Southern Home Developers (disguised name) was located in a rural town in central Arkansas. The company operated out of a small, corrugated metal production facility with a crew of ve men who built modules in the facility for transport to a housing site for nal assembly. 1.2.2. Organizational stories: Business-tobusiness 1. Floral Farms (disguised name) grows and markets fresh-cut owers. The company owns its own farms in Colombia, and its marketing organization is located in Miami, Florida.

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2. A global pharmaceutical company, Merck & Co., Inc. is dedicated to developing advances in products that will address unmet medical needs. 3. Navistar International Transportation Corporation operates in one principal industry segmentthe manufacture and marketing of medium and heavy trucks. This includes school bus chassis, mid-range diesel engines, and service parts. 4. OMED Medical Supplies is located in Athens, Greece. The company, a distributor of medical supplies to hospitals in Greece, was established in December of 2005 as a legal entity of single person/owner company (atomiki epihirisi). 5. Originally located in Newton, Massachusetts, Powrtron (disguised name) is a private, predominately family-held, company engaged in the manufacture and sale of electronic analog circuit modules, isolation ampliers, and power converters. 1.2.3. Organizational stories: Service Service provider e-Motion Software LP is headquartered in Bedford, Massachusetts. Its service is linked to the Oracle E-Business Suite of products. The company provides support that makes Oracle Applications more reliable, enhances the applications functionality, and increases the efciency of use in the Suite. 1.2.4. Organizational stories: Nonprot Based in Boston, Massachusetts, Battered Women Fighting Back! was an education and advocacy group that addressed the severity of domestic violence as a human rights violation. Its primary charge was to eradicate domestic violence in society and to promote human rights for everyone.

2. Implementation: Structures and managerial skills

Bonoma and Crittenden (1988) suggest that implementation is comprised of two main variables, structures and managerial skills. Structures provide the framework or conguration in which companies operate effectively. Managerial skills are the behavioral activities that managers engage in within the structures developed by the organization. Strategies are implemented through the structure, with managerial skills as key indicators of the successful or unsuccessful accomplishment of the implementation effort. Thompson, Gamble, and Strickland (2006)

304 liken these managerial skills to management tasks that arise in executing strategy. With research from these two sets of authors as a guide, eight levers of implementation are specied in the current research. Consistent with the research of Bonoma and Crittenden (1988), these eight levers are divided into structure and skills. Structural variables offer an implementation toolkit for identifying key levers that affect the formulation-implementation process and ensuring formulation-implementation-performance cycle. Within the capable organization framework suggested here, structural levers of implementation are 1. Actionswho, what, and when of cross-functional integration and company collaboration; 2. Programsinstilling organizational learning and continuous improvement practices; 3. Systemsinstalling strategic support systems; and 4. Policiesestablishing strategy supportive policies. Managerial skills are discretionary in nature and vary with individual perceptions and behavior. Skillrelated implementation levers in the capable organizations framework are 5. Interactingthe exercising of strategic leadership; 6. Allocatingunderstanding when and where to allocate resources; 7. Monitoringtying rewards to achievement; and 8. Organizingthe strategic shaping of corporate culture.

V.L. Crittenden, W.F. Crittenden or the merging of two companies in order for one or both to remain competitive in the marketplace. The database of company stories from our research is ripe with cross-functional integration issues. Companies such as Floral Farms and Southern Home Developers were deluged with cross-functional issues hindering the implementation of formulated strategies. Floral Farms grew and marketed freshcut owers. Developing new ower strains, and the growing and development of products, took place in South America, with product sales occurring in the United States via a Miami-based sales force. Not only did the employees in the two different countries speak different languages, but also neither geographic group made the effort to better understand the others functional priorities. Therefore, considerable effort was devoted to making sure production and sales worked in sync. In Floral Farms pursuit of a market orientation (formulated strategy), a consultant suggested that the two groups close the geographic distance by visiting each others ofces at least twice a year. By doing so, marketing would see the trials and tribulations of growing agricultural products, and production would see rsthand what it was like to respond to the demands of customers. The grand nale of these efforts was a company-wide strategy meeting in which the company was supposed to embark upon a new growth effort. After initial executive comments, this meeting was turned over to the marketing staff to set the stage for growth. Unfortunately, the nale did not end with the intended energizing big bang. Instead, it ended with a few brief comments by the production manager: You made a very nice presentation. Its too bad we cant increase output by the amounts you projected for the 12-month time period. We cant change production for any of the products for the next 11 months. Whats planted is planted. I will send you an overview of product availability for the upcoming scal period. Therefore, it was not the lack of an appropriately formulated strategy, but actions within the structure at Floral Farms that prevented a positive performance outcome. But what happens when the formulated strategy does not appropriately t with a companys crossfunctional ability to implement? Southern Home Developers depicts an example of a company that began to implement a formulated strategy of mass customization without the means for doing so. This company experienced early success with its modular home construction. Modular homebuilders build, deliver, and install a single-family dwelling for about

2.1. Structural levers

2.1.1. Actions: Fostering cross-functional integration and company collaboration Crittenden (1991) states that successful strategy implementation requires the input and cooperation of all players in a company. Three levels of strategy form a hierarchy of strategy within a company: corporate strategy, business strategy, and functional strategy. Successful strategy implementation, regardless of strategy level, requires the input and cooperation of every member of a companys workforce, whether the implementation involves the development and distribution of a new product,

Building a capable organization: The eight levers of strategy implementation half the cost of a site-constructed home in about 10-20% percent of the time relative to siteconstructed homes. Therefore, the competitive advantages are low price and short cycle times. The owner of Southern Home Developers decided to take orders for customized modular homes. That meant he was going to attempt a formulated strategy of mass customization. Unfortunately, cost overruns and longer setup times led to conict between the companys sales person and the manufacturing/set-up crew. Promises made by the sales person did not mesh with the companys manufacturing expertise. It was not clear that a mass customization strategy was even appropriate in a marketplace driven by low prices and short cycle times. Collaborations across companies occur in many of the company stories. Dunkin Donuts required signicant collaboration within its supply chain for the successful rollout of its new bagel product. With projected sales running high, the product volume promised by the supplier was not met, and caused signicant delays in the product rollout plan. Such delays were costly, and lost sales could not be recaptured. The aggressive rollout, however, was not supported by all functional areas within the company. Therefore, while experiencing supply problems with its collaborative partner, the company also faced I told you so objections internally. 2.1.2. Programs: Instilling organizational learning and continuous improvement practices Florida and Goodnight (2005) suggest that a companys most important asset is not its raw materials, transportation systems, or political inuence. Rather, these authors claim that a companys most important asset is its creative capitalthat is, the creative thinkers in the rm. From an implementation perspective, creative capital must be planned for in the rm, and will determine the strategies that are ultimately formulated and implemented. However, Schrage (2005) reports that hiring the right people is not sufcient in the implementation model, because as noted by one CIO, Even if you hire the right peopleand we think we dothey need to be in an environment that encourages them to be innovative in ways we can use. It appears, then, that organizational learning and continuous improvement must incorporate innovation into this implementation lever. Santos, Doz, and Williamson (2004) reinforce the importance of innovation in the implementation process when they describe the integrated innovation chain. This chain enables innovation to transcend local and national boundaries by encouraging companies to bring together global partners in the innovation effort.

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Innovation is at the heart of several of the company stories. In 2004, Merck was presented with an unprecedented challenge in its voluntary recall of Vioxx. It was not business as usual at Merck, given the considerable concern for the long-term impact of the legal decisions regarding Vioxx. Yet, amidst this uproar during tumultuous times, the companys sales people had to keep their spirits up and believe in the company that they represented. The sales force essentially needed to become better informed about the company as an innovative organization. In order to achieve this, the sales force in one geographic region was presented with an overview of the innovative efforts within the company, including new vaccines, HIV/AIDS international programs, improved products, tablet computers for the sales force, customization of information on the web, patient assistance programs, and licensing deals. The sales people learned how the company was developing innovative programs for continuous improvement, and that the company was not reliant on one product for long-term success. 2.1.3. Systems: Installing strategic support systems Ross and Weill (2002) suggest that companies that manage their information technology investments successfully will generate 40% higher returns than their competitors. Essentially, the strategic support system provides timely access to both qualitative and quantitative data about customers, human resources, revenues and costs, and inventory/order fulllment. Strategically, decisions have to be made about how much to spend, which business process to support, and which capabilities are needed company-wide versus function-wide. Tactically, the quality of information technology needed in the rm and security/privacy concerns are issues that arise in the implementation of the information technology itself. In conjunction with its action structural lever, Floral Farms utilized its systems lever in the development of a decision-support model to assist in making complicated cross-functional issues easier to understand. Mapping the cross-functional decision process into a decision-support system enabled managers to quantify subjective interactions and include situational aspects of marketing and production interactions into a more easily understood framework. Using the decision-support system as a means of understanding the possible consequences of individual marketing, joint marketing, and production decision-making showed that functionally anchored decision criteria gave poorer results than cross-functional decision criteria. Additionally, the development, operationalization, and discussion of

306 this strategic support system led to positive interfunctional discussions rather than negative confrontation. 2.1.4. Policies: Establishing strategy supportive policies Strategy-supportive policies envelop a collective pattern of day-to-day decisions and actions. Thompson et al. (2006) reinforce the notion of top-down or formal guidance regarding such behaviors and actions. Additionally, there should be consistency across geographically dispersed units. There is a tendency, unfortunately, to create policies in response to particular incidents rather than in response to a pattern of incidents. The end result is a list of things that should be done, which when viewed in total, does not support the companys overall mission and objectives. Additionally, policies tend to change with changes in management. The Powrtron companys management, in grappling with unprecedented problems of constrained capacity, was quick to respond with a new policy whenever a delivery problem arose. The responses ranged from a plan to move production to a larger facility to making delivery promises of 6 weeks or less. Although the company divided its customers into three tiers, it began treating all customers alike. The lack of strategy-supportive policies had, in essence, served to defeat strategic decisions about account management. Not only did this result in customer relationship problems, but reactive policy changes also incited conict among Powrtron functional management members and created a culture of unproductive conict. Unfortunately, the companys CEO delegated the handling of company interactions to his COO and was not visibly present during this intense time within the company, although he was the one who had made the inconsistent policy changes that led to considerable company instability.

V.L. Crittenden, W.F. Crittenden performance standards); and Level 5Executive (enduring greatness through personal humility and professional will). While not necessary to move sequentially through the hierarchy, an executive must possess all of the skills inherent in levels 1 to 4, as well as the characteristics of a level 5 leader. All ve levels of leadership were exhibited in the database. One particular level 5 leader stands out in the database of companies. After a few years of weak sales and unprotable effort at international expansion, Cutco Cutlery Corporation was starting to pull out of the downward spiral that had resulted in considerable layoffs. Bringing the company back into protability demanded effort from the entire workforce, but eventually the future began to look positive. In the summer of 2006, the CEO of parent company ALCAS Corporation planned to purchase a new car, but recognized that he needed to lead by example. He decided to intentionally purchase a car he would feel comfortable parking on the manufacturing facilitys lot next to those of many who were just being recalled to work. An in-depth review of all of the organizational stories shows that strategic leadership, whether it is conspicuous or not, is a critical implementation lever for building a capable organization. From the entrepreneur who worked days as a consultant while devoting nights and weekends to building eMotion Software LP, to the executive director and founder of Battered Women Fighting Back! who realized she might have reached the end of her leadership capabilities, all company situations exhibited the importance of the leadership lever in implementing strategy. 2.2.2. Allocating: Understanding when and where to allocate resources Resource allocation encompasses the use of major resources such as money, people, and capabilities. In addition to nancial resources, Montgomery (1992) identies resources such as physical capital (plant, equipment, geographic location, and access to raw materials), human capital (training, experience, judgment, intelligence, relationships, and the insight of managers and workers), and organizational capital (formal reporting systems, informal relationships within the rm, and relationships between the rm and its external environment). A startup company in Greece, OMED Medical Supplies, realized that resource allocation was probably its most critical implementation lever early in the companys existence. With nancial backing from family money, nancial resources were the most dominant capital that OMED possessed. Physically, the company did not manufacture products or store products in inventory. The fact that the

2.2. Managerial skills levers

2.2.1. Interacting: Exercising of strategic leadership Key responsibilities of leaders include direction, protection, orientation, managing conicts, and shaping norms (Heifetz & Laurie, 2001). Collins (2005) examines such responsibilities of leaders and offers a leadership hierarchy consisting of ve levels: Level 1Highly capable individual (contributions through talent, knowledge, skills, and work habits); Level 2Contributing team member (group objectives, and works effectively in group); Level 3Competent manager (organizes people and resources); Level 4Effective leader (vision and high

Building a capable organization: The eight levers of strategy implementation company was located in Athens provided considerable geographic capital because Athens is the center of much medical activity. Human capital was a major resource for OMED. The owners family has a strong medical background, with three physicians in the immediate family, including two located in Greece, and one in the United States. However, the rms organizational capital was questionable. There were no formal systems or structures in place while the owner covered all aspects of the business and ran the business from her home. Informally, however, the historical relationships the owner had within the industry due to her family connections allowed for organizational capital that otherwise would have taken considerable time to build. 2.2.3. Monitoring: Tying rewards to achievement Reward systems are generally divided into monetary and non-monetary incentives. Monetary incentives include such rewards as salary increases, performance bonuses, stock options, retirement packages, promotions, and various perks. Nonmonetary incentives include praise, constructive criticism, visible recognition, interesting assignments, job responsibility, and job security. According to Byrnes (2006), money is where the rubber meets the road, and good work should be rewarded, bad work should be penalized, and executive pay should depend on the entire corporations return on equity, which encourages team building. This is not unlike the incentive system at Vector Marketing Corporation, the sales and marketing arm of Cutco Cutlery Corporation, where sales managers receive tremendous nancial bonuses for outstanding sales. However, because they believe strongly in praise and visible recognition, Vector Marketing announces these bonuses at the year-end banquet. Therefore, not only do managers enjoy the nancial rewards of the bonuses, but they also receive external acknowledgement of their nancial success among their peers. Like many companies relying upon the strength of its sales force to drive sales, Vector Marketing realizes that it must use multiple types of rewards to encourage and motivate employees in a direct selling company that relies on a college-student sales force. The company prides itself on its cornerstones of people, products, and programs, and utilizes each of these elements in the monitoring lever to build a capable organization. 2.2.4. Organizing: Strategic shaping of corporate culture Chatman and Cha (2003) suggest that culture relates strongly to strategy implementation. They dene culture as a system of shared values (dening what is

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important) and norms (dening appropriate attitudes and behaviors). While an organizational culture is unique to each company, shaping corporate culture requires clearness in content, consistency in nature, and comprehensiveness in coverage. Schein (1996) proposes that there are three different types of cultures in an organization: (a) internal culture that is based on operational success, (b) engineering culture that drives the core technologies, and (c) executive culture that engages the CEO and immediate subordinates. Company culture came through loud and clear in the company database of organizational stories. The importance of internal culture was demonstrated, for example, at Floral Farms. Unfortunately, the internal culture driven by functional silos was a negative force in that company. This negativity with respect to internal culture can be juxtaposed with the positive internal culture of a company like Navistar International Transportation, where the lack of functional silos enabled the company to implement programs that resulted in positive marketplace results. Navistar implemented a strategy of mass customization, due largely to the companys actions and systems levers that were part and parcel of the companys engineering culture driving its core technologies. Within the company database, the impact of executive culture in companies of all shapes and sizes is evidenced. Battered Women Fighting Back! (BWFB), a nonprot organization, relied almost singularly on its executive director and founder to shape its culture as it was catapulted into national acclaim. The executive director and two lm comrades from Cambridge Documentary Films won an Academy Award for the best documentary lm. The director had worked in human rights organizations around the world, and had won numerous awards in the nonprot world. She was the backbone of the organization; however, she began to wonder if the culture she had instilled in the BWFB organization was enough to take it to a stronger level of operations. She recognized that while culture is a unique characteristic within all companies, it is also a powerful implementation tool for managers, and is reected in managerial decision-making.

3. Balancing the implementation levers

Strategy implementation is generally studied within the context of established organizations. While the eight levers that assist in building a capable organization can also serve as barriers in any organization, it was evident in the organizational stories that

308 established rms are generally able to overcompensate with another lever to reduce the impact of a weak lever. When a company is in the early stages of startup, however, it is imperative that the entrepreneur or CEO understands how each of the levers relate to the companys strengths and weaknesses. Unless identied, a weak lever can negatively feed the endless formulation-implementation-performance cycle that leads to subsequent attempts at implementing a strategy highly dependent upon that weak lever. The idea of building a capable organization via an understanding of the eight levers of implementation was examined at OMED Medical Supplies, the startup company in Greece referred to earlier. The sole proprietor launched her business in January of 2006, and the company was just beginning to contact both potential customers and suppliers at that time. Model assessment within a startup company has two major objectives: (a) It allows the in-depth examination of the eight levers within the context of one company, and (b) it facilitates the development of the levers as an analytical tool for a startup company to use in identifying levers that might serve as barriers to the companys long-term success. Managerially, model assessment enables the proprietor to better understand her internal strengths and weaknesses when it comes to the notion that implementation might truly drive the strategy formulation process. Over a 2 month period, we worked with the proprietor of OMED Medical Supplies to examine each of the eight levers within the context of her startup company. After an in-depth analysis of each of the eight levers, it was evident that the proprietor was relying largely on her managerial skills in the early stages of company development. There was uncertainty surrounding the rewards lever, but this was likely due to the fact that there were no monetary or people interactions at that stage of development. It became immediately apparent that the weak links in the companys implementation efforts rested within the structural levers. While the company was going to be dependent upon collaborations with suppliers, no mechanisms or strategic support systems had been put in place to facilitate such interactions, nor had the company invested time, energy, or dollars in the pursuit of such technology efforts. Additionally, while company suppliers were governed by regulations surrounding ISO certication and CE Marking (compliance within the European health, safety, and environmental protection legislation), the proprietor had established no policies related to her own operation within these supplier boundaries. Of the four structural levers, the owner

V.L. Crittenden, W.F. Crittenden believed that organizational learning and continuous improvement practices were strengths, yet she had not engaged in any benchmarking efforts related to continual improvement. Overall, using the levers as a managerial tool allowed for the identication of efforts that would facilitate formulation and implementation efforts, and for the identication of forces of resistance that could inhibit the implementation process. Unless weak levers were identied, overcome, or worked around, they would ultimately constrain future strategy formulation efforts. For this startup company, it was found that the proprietor was playing on managerial skills that tended to be discretionary in nature. The ritualized activities that have to be formally embedded in an organization are what the proprietor had been overlooking in her startup efforts. While building a capable organization does not necessarily require use of all eight levers equally, a capable organization has to have a clear understanding of each levers role and its impact on the organizations ability to succeed. It is only when an organization understands the capabilities of each lever within the organization that it can determine the right amount of leverage. For example, the actions lever was weak at Floral Farms, an organization that had been in business for many years. Even with attempts to strengthen this lever, it was only through the successful parlaying of the systems lever that the company was able to become stronger in its efforts to implement a market orientation strategy. Another well-established company, Cutco Cutlery Corporation, appears to have a clear understanding of each lever, and to have found its own unique blend of structural variables and managerial skills that enables it to have success in marketplace. A startup company, OMED Medical Supplies, is attempting to build each of the eight levers into the fabric of the organization.

4. Strategy implementation: An ally

Strategy implementation helps create the future. As an ally and not an opponent, the implementation process works side-by-side with the formulation process, and such collaboration leads to plans that are nancially, socially, and ethically responsible strategies for a company. Successful implementation of a well-formulated and appropriate strategy will enable a company to become better and better over time, therefore achieving its longer-term vision of a good mission, good planning, and overall corporate success. The eight levers of implementation identied here provide organizations with an

Building a capable organization: The eight levers of strategy implementation evaluative opportunity to determine which levers are working well, which levers need to be downplayed due to inherent weakness, and which levers need to be improved given marketplace conditions.

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