What is more important - Strategy or Implementation ?

Thousands of young MBAs enter the industry every year - only to find they have been taught the strategic part of marketing which they will not have a chance to practice at least for the first five years of their professional life. 

The bigger and more reputed the company, the longer it will take them to come to a point in their career where they can practice what they learnt in the B school.

Virtually all marketing activity is unique (not repetitive) and can be carried out in 4 steps (1) Discover the situation through data collection (2) Diagnose the problem that needs to be solved through analysis (3) Design the solution through application of strategy (4) Deliver the solution through implementation. The paradox is that in the B Schools we teach them the first 3 parts but not the last part - and that precisely is the part the industry wants young MBAs to do at the beginning of their careers! 

New MBAs are first placed in "operations" before they get to work on strategy because it is the primary activity of the business and anyone who wants to ultimately lead the business at the highest level must know "operations" well. What is "operations" - the definition varies from business to business but generally the following are considered as "operations"

• Sales : customer contact or supervision of customer contact
• Support : helping customers, sales force, distributors, dealers
• Operations : produce and reach materials to those who need it
• Assistance : to their bosses in managing their jobs. 

If this is what the industry wants; why don't we teach these subjects in our Business Schools? There are two main reasons.

1. Operations are not in media limelight - the Brand Equities and Business Lines do not consider leaders in customer service, training, administration etc as protagonists of the industry. They hero-worship strategists, visionaries, missionaries and thought leaders. Ram Kumar of ICICI once said that many professors would be proud to say that they teach strategy but not many would like to identify themselves as teaching implementation? Implementation is just not fashionable! 
   
2. The second reason is more interesting. Our current education depends almost entirely on the written word in the text book and the texts can carry only explicit knowledge - the one that can be captured on paper, transmitted through writing and reading and evaluated through an examination. That is why we do not pay much attention to the subjects with a high amount of tacit knowledge because it cannot be easily captured into a  textbook. 

This has bothered me for the last several years when I taught at some of the B Schools around Mumbai like SPJIMR, NMIMS, JBIMS and MICA. I was fortunate in finding many professors who resonated with my plans of teaching "practice of marketing" and I began developing a systematic approach of teaching practice of marketing at S P Jain Institute,  NMIMS and at MICA. Prof M S Rao invited me to teach at his "Start Your Business" program at SPJIMR.  Prof Mala Shrivastava at NMIMS encouraged me to design and deliver a course on "Marketing Implementation". Prof Atul Tandon at MICA invited me to teach a thoroughly practical course on "Sales and Distribution".  The results in all cases were beyond my expectations. Many students said "now we will know what to do when we enter the industry". 

What is the main difference between strategy and implementation? From my perspective it is simply this : a strategy is about cerebral concepts, an implementation is about influencing the behaviour of people. The strategist thinks there is an absolute & correct answer and once it is found, the job is done - the implementation can be delegated down the line! The strategist spends 90% of his time in situation analysis and strategy formulation. The implementer is very different : he believes a startegy merely makes the outcome possible but it is the people who make the strategy happen. He believes that a strategy that does not excite and motivate people is a non-starter; even if perfect from a textbook viewpoint. A pragmatic strategist begins his search for "what to do" not only through data analysis but also through peeking into the hearts and aspirations and inclinations of the people who will carry it forward. Your reputation as an executive is built up not only by knowing the theory that goes into making the plan but equally importantly in knowing the people who will deliver the plan. As the book "Good to Great" says, the people come first and the strategy comes later in great companies.

The main issue in any implementation is whether you know who are the key people in your organization whose behavior you need to influence in order to get your plan implemented?  The key question he asks himself from the implementation perspective is whether he has created communications, mechanisms and organizational support  for these implementers to

1. ACCOUNTABILITY : (1) Make them feel they "own" the plan (2) Let it be clear who is responsible for implementing the strategy in a given region, account, location etc. Deciding a strategy and then not knowing who will action it is a non-starter!
2. STANDARDS : It should be clear what observable / behavioral outcomes need to be produced. Many times people understand the goal (example : to become customer centric company) but don't know what they need to do about it.
   
3. CONFIDENCE CREATION : People's confidence is high if they have done it before. If not, it can be built up by training. Ideally the people who will supervise them should take part in this training.  
4. CONSISTENT SUPPORT : (1) CULTURE : It helps if it becomes a part of "how we do things around here" - meaning there is plenty of informal chat and folklore around the required behaviors (example : how the boss caught him for not doing this) (2) CONNECTIONS : Other things in the company are connected with this .  
5. MOTIVATION : Personal consequences (reward or otherwise) are created and communicated.
6. COMMUNICATION AND FEEDBACK : goal setting and periodic previews and reviews happen based on this.
   

None of these 6 points are what glamorous theory and concepts are made of. Yet, these simple points make up for great execution.  

WHOSE BEHAVIOR  NEEDS TO BE INFLUENCED : First you need to be clear who are the key people in your company whose behavior you need to influence to get your plan implemented. Just because you have written a plan and sent to everyone does not mean it will get implemented. Just because someone's job description involves implementing your plan does not mean it will get implemented.

DO THEY FEEL A PART OF THE TEAM MAKING THE PLAN : If people feel that the plan was thrust on them, there is very little chance that people will behave in the way you planned. This does not mean everything should be the way every implementer wants it but you must ideally consult them before finalizing the plan. Many times most people not only feel good when they are consulted but also make valuable suggestions to improve your plan. If there are many people then you should consult their bosses and not they themselves. If they are good bosses, they will consult their people anyway. 

Generally the implementers themselves should be asked to make a plan because then this question becomes redundant. But occasionally situations may arise, particularly in the areas of strategic planning etc, that the management may think that only specialists can plan. In reality, the specialists should be put into a consulting roles and the implementers should be made to consult them so that the ownership rests with them only. Where this is not possible, the planners should definitely consult the implementers in any of the two ways : either the planners make the plan first and then run it past the implementers or it can be the other way too.

DO THEY KNOW WHAT OBSERVABLE OUTCOMES THEY NEED TO PRODUCE ? Many times your plans are wrapped in a strategic and theoretical language and the people at the operating level do not know what is actually expected out of them. If you are running a retail promotion, your own statement in the plan regarding customer behavior - "the availability is very important for customers during festive buying because they need to take home the product by evening that day" - is correct but I am sure the salesperson on the beat will not know what is he expected to do about it. You must clearly state that the "opening stock on the first day of the festival in every A class store should be at least equal to 10% of your monthly sales target or 50% more than the mast month's sale from that store - whichever is higher. Please compile this for each store and give it to the local godown by September 30th." Of course every small thing need not be specified but major operating actions of major implementers must be planned and communicated effectively.

HAVE THEY DONE THIS BEFORE? HOW CONFIDENT ARE THEY OF DOING WHAT YOU ARE ASKING? What is obvious and easy for you may not be so obvious and easy for all those involved in the implementation of your plan. Many plans fail because the standard actions, systems, materials, formats were not shown to the people who had to use them.


DO THEY KNOW WHAT SUPPORT WILL THEY GET? FROM WHERE? HOW? Do they know what resources they will get ? To continue the example of the retail promotion, do they know where they will get the tags and display materials, when will special products come and in what quantities, whether the store will remain open throughout the night to enable them to put up the display overnight? Most planners are happy to see the materials in their offices but it is a mistake. The plan will get executed only when all these materials come together in the field for every implementer and they know how to use them and are given an opportunity to do so.

DO THEY KNOW WHAT ARE THE PERSONAL CONSEQUENCES AWAITING THEM ?  Just because there is a circular or an e mail from you does not mean it will happen. Almost the whole organization is competing for implementation as far as the front line employee is concerned. His boss , his boss's boss, his HR Head, his Admn Head, his Regional Head, his Product Managers and his customers .... are all in line for his attention. He does those things where he clearly sees a positive payoff (benefit) or a negative payoff (scolding). You need to make sure that the implementer knows what these are - ideally this should be done through his boss. The payoff to the employees need not always be money; it can be recognition also.

WILL THE IMMEDIATE BOSS LEAD, GUIDE OR HELP? OR AT LEAST WILL NOT HARM ? The support from the immediate boss is very important. Ideally he should go all out and support. At the very least, he should not distract the employee from the behavior demanded by your plan.