Strategy That Works

How Winning Companies Close the Strategy-to-Execution Gap

Paul Leinwand, Cesare R. Mainardi

• Publisher: Harvard Business Review Press
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN:
  9781625275202
• eBook ISBN:
  9781625275219
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business Strategy
• Index: Business

How to close the gap between strategy and execution Two-thirds of executives say their organizations don’t have the capabilities to support their strategy. In Strategy That Works, Paul Leinwand and Cesare Mainardi explain why. They identify conventional business practices that unintentionally create a gap between strategy and execution. And they show how some of the best companies in the world consistently leap ahead of their competitors. Based on new research, the authors reveal five practices for connecting strategy and execution used by highly successful enterprises such as IKEA, Natura, Danaher, Haier, and Lego. These companies:• Commit to what they do best instead of chasing multiple opportunities
• Build their own unique winning capabilities instead of copying others
• Put their culture to work instead of struggling to change it
• Invest where it matters instead of going lean across the board
• Shape the future instead of reacting to itPacked with tools you can use for building these five practices into your organization and supported by in-depth profiles of companies that are known for making their strategy work, this is your guide for reconnecting strategy to execution.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• 1 Overcoming the Strategy-to-Execution Gap
• 2 Commit to an Identity
• 3 Translate the Strategic into the Everyday
• 4 Put Your Culture to Work
• 5 Cut Costs to Grow Stronger
• 6 Shape Your Future
• 7 Bold and Unafraid
• Appendix A: A History of Strategy
• Appendix B: The Capable Company Research Project
• Appendix C: Puretone Ways to Play
• Appendix D: Examples of Table-Stakes Capabilities
• Appendix E: Selected Bibliography
• Notes
• Index
• Acknowledgments
• About the Authors