Lawrence G. Hrebiniak - Making Strategy Work: Leading Effective Execution and Change

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Leading Effective Execution and Change

Second Edition

Lawrence G. Hrebiniak

Vice President, Publisher: Tim Moore
Associate Publisher and Director of Marketing: Amy Neidlinger
Executive Editor: Jeanne Glasser
Operations Specialist: Jodi Kemper
Marketing Manager: Megan Graue
Cover Designer: Chuti Prasertsith
Managing Editor: Kristy Hart
Senior Project Editor: Lori Lyons
Copy Editor: Geneil Breeze
Proofreader: Sarah Kearns
Indexer: Lisa Stumpf
Senior Compositor: Gloria Schurick
Manufacturing Buyer: Dan Uhrig

2013 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Publishing as FT Press
Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458

FT Press offers excellent discounts on this book when ordered in quantity for bulk purchases or special sales. For more information, please contact U.S. Corporate and Government Sales, 1-800-382-3419, .

Company and product names mentioned herein are the trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Printed in the United States of America

First Printing June 2013

ISBN-10: 0-13-309257-7
ISBN-13: 978-0-13-309257-8

Pearson Education LTD.
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Library of Congress Control Number: 2013935246

I truly believe that if General Motors had incorporated Dr. Hrebiniaks proposals at any time over the past 15 to 20 years, the picture of General Motors today would be extremely different.

James P. Powers, Strategic Planning,
General Motors Corporation (Ret.)

I am a big Larry Hrebiniak fan. In his book he offers a comprehensive, disciplined process model for making strategy work in the real world. All of us owe him our thanks.

Ken Blanchard, Coauthor of
The One Minute Manager and The Secret

Strategy is the starting point, but without implementing actions, even the best laid plans remain just that. In Making Strategy Work, Hrebiniak provides a powerful and persuasive field manual for execution by laying out the logic, order, and essence of the strategic decisions that must follow.

Michael Useem, Professor of Management and Director of the Center
for Leadership and Change at the Wharton School,
University of Pennsylvania

Terrific...I have read all the handbooks, guides to, and roadmaps, but in this book Larry has create the worlds first Strategy Implementation GPS...spot on.

Gordon Peters, founding Chairman, CEO,
Institute for Management Studies

In memory of Donna, who left us much too soon, but who still lives in pleasant memories.

Lawrence G. Hrebiniak, Ph.D., has emeritus status at the University of Pennsylvania. Professor Hrebiniak was a member of the faculty of the Department of Management of The Wharton School for 36 years, where he taught courses in strategic management in the Wharton M.B.A. and Executive Education Programs. He still is very active in the Wharton Executive Education arena, teaching and working with managers in the area of strategy implementation or execution.

Dr. Hrebiniak held managerial positions in the automobile industry prior to entering academia, which provided him with valuable real-world experience. He is a past President of the Organization Theory Division of the Academy of Management. For more than two years he was one of a handful of Wharton faculty members providing commentaries on the Wharton Management Report, a TV program on the Financial News Network.

Professor Hrebiniaks most notable research of late has been in the area of strategy execution. He has consulted with or participated in executive development work with scores of companies, profit and not-for-profit alike, both inside and outside the U.S. He facilitated many of Jack Welchs legendary Work-Outs. Based on his research and experience with strategy implementation, he developed integrated processes that help make strategy work in different organizations, across different industry settings. He is still active as a researcher and consultant.

Dr. Hrebiniak has authored seven books and numerous professional articles. This book, the second edition of the best-selling Making Strategy Work, reflects his experience as a manager, consultant, and educator in creating a culture of execution and facilitator of the execution process in complex organizations.

This book continues a critical, needed focus on strategy execution or implementation in complex organizations. Since the original publication of Making Strategy Work in 2005, increasing numbers of managers have come to realize the importance of execution for effective performance and competitive advantage. These managers supported and validated the original facts and findings in the research underlying this book and, more importantly, provided valuable feedback that has strengthened the new edition of Making Strategy Work.

The original version of this book differentiated itself in important ways:

It was empirically based, building on the insights and experiences of managers involved in the difficult task of strategy execution, as well as my research and consulting work in this area. No armchair musings or war stories here; rather, the book reflected the views of practicing managers and their actual experiences with a challenging management task.

It was action or decision oriented, with an eye to actual outcomes or results. It suggested ways to attain the results promised by sometimes lofty strategic plans.

It presented an integrated approach to execution. It showed how key factors are interdependent and how they work together to achieve desired strategic and operating outcomes.