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Customer Reviews
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practical  2008-03-02
As you should expect from a book that claims to 'make strategy work' this book for me does exactly that. Make it work. It borrows principles and concepts from other major works over the recent years, like Good to Great from Jim Collins and elaborates on them in several chapters, most of them focusing on singular subjects that prevent the strategy from working: culture, leadership, behavior, structure etc.
I personally like the mix of conceptual models and basic tips and tricks, but this can also lead to a middle of the road book that the more practical-minded or the more academic might not fancy. Take your pick.
Solid book 2007-10-19
Keeping implementation in mind when creating strategy is a sound strategy. Packed with excellent case studies, Making Strategy Work is a fine guide for managers and leaders to get things done. I recommend this book along with Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't, starting with the "Who" then moving on to the "What".
What makes strategy really work ?  2007-04-10
Considering the high ranking and the established name of Warton School, I bought this book. Whether you like this book or not, depends mainly on what you are looking for.
The author says, making strategy work is more difficult, than finding a suitable strategy for the business you are in. Following my own experiences I doubt this. How many companies do we really know, that have a sound strategy that can be simply expressed and proofed right by many years of succes? Go to the shopfloor and ask your employees simple things as e.g. why your customers buy from you and what your business is or should be about. Although the author does not focus on how to build a strategy and covers the aspects of strategy implementation, a good strategy will first of all decide, whether any implementation has a chance for success.
A good strategy gives you answers on:
1.) Who are we and where are we actually (not only internal view) ?
2.) Where do we go ?
3.) Why will we be succesfull ?
Answering this questions will cope with the core question of strategic marketing as positioning and differentiation as well. Implementing any longterm strategy is mainly dedicated to leadership, preliminary people development around core competencies and step by step project management by having easy and consistant measures defined.
There are to many basic statemants in this book and definitions - just common sense. Focus on analysing your current external position and the internal view, the strategy definition and the strategy implementation will be much easier. Change has mostly to do with communication and telling the story as it is, the rest relays on your leadership and how convincing the need for change is. Eliminate the "jerks" and develop the "right" people and your strategy will move forward. The question about the "right" people is linked to change management and leadership, but non of this books will provide you the answer of this question.
Even though softfactors are important, any book about making strategy work should first of all rise a few questions what preliminary answers on important questions need to be on hand?
Best Regards,
Oliver
Superb 2006-07-31
"Making Strategy" contains tons of topics, case studies, and specific methods to improve the implementation aspect, after planning and, how to make change and then manage the change. Each chapter has several detailed related sub-chapters.
Chapters:
1. Strategy Execution is the Key
2. Overview and Model: Making Strategy Work
3. The Path to Successful Execution: Good Strategy Comes First
4. Organizational Structure and Execution
5. Managing Integration: Effective Coordination
and Information Sharing
6. Incentives and Controls: Supporting and Reinforcing Execution
7. Managing Change
8. Managing Culture and Culture Change
9. Power, Influence, and Execution
10 Summary and Application: Making Mergers and Acquisitions Work
Hrebiniak first notes the education system where minds are molded. MBA programs focus on the formulation of strategy and functional planning: competitive strategy, marketing strategy, financial strategies, and so on. Execution gets little attention. Most managers delegate the implementation of plans to the employers under them. A key point in this book is that planning and execution are interdependent. Execution is a process, and it involves more people than just strategic planning does.
Many factors influencing who and how things get done emanate from the organizational power structure, the leadership climate, style of approach, and centralization vs. decentralization.
Some of the companies and examples listed are Johnson & Johnson, Citibank, South West Airlines, Phillip Morris, 7-up, ABB, GM, Dell, Kraft, and more. Case studies and Hrebiniak's personal experiences add relevant points and examples.
When certain companies such as Microsoft interviews applicants they are generally not concerned with academic achievements (grades) or professional accomplishments but instead focus on how the applicant, if hired, would fit in and jell with the team he/she would be joining. This is called "cultural due diligence." And Hrebiniak emphasizes that within companies culture is not homogeneous. Even moreso when M&As occur. Or, when a company has different and autonomous decentralized Strategic Business Units (SBUs) producing vastly different products in different markets (e.g. Johnson & Johnson).
This is a helpful book on how to do things more efficiently and effectively. One quote I recall from the first page of this book is, "The problem with poor performance typically is not with planning, but with doing." And this goes for about everything. The questionnaire in the back is a survey and is helpful to those who conduct it and those who respond. "Making Strategy Work" is highly recommended.
Does Make Strategy Work! 2006-07-07
I have been somewhat confused by complicated strategy map like approaches. I love the simplified and common-sense approach to making strategy work presented by Dr. Hrebiniak. One can use it in developing strategy for execution, and improving success rate of strategies from 10%. I plan to use it in making strategies for business intelligence and innovation work!
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