INDIAN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT CALCUTTA

Post Graduate Executive Program in Management

(SM 239) Strategy Execution (1.5 Credits)
Term 4: 2015-16 Optional Course
Course Coordinator:
Prof. Ramya Tarakad Venkateswaran
(ramyatv@iimcal.ac.in, ext. 774, Room No K-507).
Permanent faculty member who will be teaching the course: Prof. Ramya Tarakad Venkateswaran
Guest faculty member who will be teaching the course: Top management profile.
Course pre-requisites, if any: None
Restrictions on course registration and criteria for restriction, if any: A maximum of 30 participants.
Course objectives:
Most companies believe that a winning strategy crafted carefully is a guarantee to success, however on an
average companies realize only 60% of the strategys potential value due to a failure of good execution.
Execution is a series of actions that involves many dynamic elements such as orchestrating teams,
resources, and structures, at different degrees of flexibility and willingness to adapt, and often at
considerable risk and significant requirements for follow-through in various forms. Standardizing a
process for execution is next to impossible, because execution is particular to each organizations context,
capabilities, culture and environment.
Strategy Execution introduces participants to the principles of effective strategy implementation. The
course addresses key concepts such as the triad of strategy-people-operations; supporting activities and
structures such as incentives, reviews, organizational structure, the role of leadership and organizational
culture, within the context strategic change, execution failure, and cross-cultural ramifications in strategy
implementation. Participants are also equipped with the essential tools and frameworks popular in
strategy execution.
The value proposition of this course is that it provides a combination of theoretical ammunition, rich
exposure to practitioner experience and is powered by hands-on sessions in using and critiquing the tools
of strategy execution.
Pedagogy:
Lectures, Cases
Evaluation method (weightages to various components):
Group Case Analysis and Presentation
Group Project Report (based on session 8(2))
Class Participation, Quiz
End-term Examination

10%
20%
20%
50%

SESSION OUTLINE
1

Topic: Introductory session.

Description: Overview of the concepts - Strategy formulation and implementation, organizational
ambidexterity, dynamic capabilities, power and politics, organizational resistance to strategy
implementation, the role of leadership.
Case: Gunfire at Sea, Video, HBS (2014), Product ID: 414707-VID-ENG
Readings:
The Execution Trap, HBS (2010)
Chapters 1 and 2 of Execution
Discussion Questions:
1. Which is more challenging implementing a new strategy when things are going well for the
firm or when the times are tough?
2. What are the elements of organizational resistance to strategy implementation? What did you
observe in the video, and what parallels do you draw in your organization?

Additional references:
Three Keys to Effective Execution, HBS (2008)
Process of Strategy Definition and Implementation, HBS (1999), Product ID: 399179-PDF-ENG
Topic: Aligning Strategy, People and Operations
Description: Discuss the gist of the book Execution; Congruence model, 7S model, leadership
behaviors.
Case:
Southwest Airlines, HBS (2006)
Readings:
From Strategy to Implementation: Seeking Alignment, HBS (2005)
Chapters 3, 5,6,7,9 of Execution
Discussion Questions:
1. What elements of successful execution can you observe at Southwest? What is inimitable about
the strategy implementation?

Additional references:
The Secrets to Successful Strategy Execution, HBS (2008)
People Side of Implementation: Getting the Right People on Board, HBS (2005), 5610BC-PDF-ENG
Topic: The role of leadership and organizational culture in strategy implementation
Description:
Highlights the fundamental tensions that leaders face when implementing a scale strategy: balancing
rapid growth and the need to leverage their organization culture as the firm evolves.
Case:
Leadership, Culture, and Transition at lululemon, Multimedia Case, HBS (2010), Product ID: 410705HTM-ENG

Readings:
Chapter 4 of Execution
Turning Great Strategy into Great Performance, HBS (2005)

Discussion Questions:
1. Peter Drucker stated Culture eats strategy for breakfast. Comment.

Additional references:
Interview of Edgar Schein: The Anxiety of Learning, HBR (2002)
Sections 1 and 2 of the book Culture Eats Strategy for Lunch.
What Is an Organization's Culture? , HBS (2006)
Topic: Executing Strategic Change
Description: Stages of change, treating execution of change as a step-by-step process rather than as an
outcome; the consequences of shortcuts that may bear immediate results; the role of everyday decisions
by managers in implementing change,
Case: Lululemon athletica (contd.)
Readings:
Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail, HBR (1995).
How Managers Everyday Decisions Create - or Destroy - Your Companys Strategy.
Grow by Focusing on What Matters 7: Implementation: An Inside View of the Organization, HBS
(2011), BEP055-PDF-ENG
Discussion Questions:

Additional references:
Implementation: Putting Your Plan in Motion, HBS (2002)
Topic: Tools and frameworks to facilitate execution
Description: Congruence model; 4DX model, Strategy maps; Balanced scorecard; Blue ocean strategies
Case:
Strategy Simulation: The Balanced Scorecard HBS (2014)
Readings:
Blue Ocean Strategy, Expanded Edition: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the
Competition Irrelevant, Build Execution into Strategy, HBS (2015), 0028BC-PDF-ENG

Additional references:
Blue Ocean Strategy Implementation Scenario Case: Tipping Point Leadership and Fair Process in
Action
Making Balanced Scorecard Work to Implement Business Strategies at Magic Technology, HBS (2012)
Strategy Maps, by Kaplan and Norton
Topic: Managing by Strategic Themes and Initiatives
Description: Breaking down strategy into a few themes; the challenges of implementing specific
strategic initiatives.

Case:
Infosys Consulting in 2006: Leading the Next Generation of Business and Information Technology
Consulting, HBS (2006)
Readings:
Managing by Strategic Themes, HBS (2007), B0709A

Book chapters from The 4 Disciplines of Execution

Discussion Questions:
Ensuring the Success of your Strategic Initiatives, HBS (2013)

Additional references:
Testing, Monitoring, and Adjusting Strategic Objectives Through Data Analytics at Northwestern
Mutual, HBS (2011)
Strategic Initiatives: Launching the Strategy into Motion, HBS (2008), Product ID: 7687BC-PDF-ENG
Planning the Campaign, HBS (2003)
Topic: The Office of Strategy Management
Description: Gets to the nuts and bolts of implementing strategy; what does it involve on a regular
basis?
Case: Participants to bring in their own strategy dashboards to class.
Readings:
Chapter 8 of Execution;
The Office of Strategy Management-The State of the Art, 2011, HBS (2011), B1101A-PDF-ENG
Using Dashboards to Revolutionize Your Performance Management System, Part 2:

Implementation
Discussion Questions:
Additional references:
Chapters from The 4 Disciplines of Execution
Kaplan, Robert S., and David P. Norton. The Office of Strategy Management. Harvard Business
Review 83, no. 10 (October 2005): 7280.
How to Stay on Course: Sensing and Responding to Deviations from Plan, HBS (2005), 5603BC-PDFENG
Action Plans: The Architecture of Implementation, HBS (2005), 5597BC-PDF-ENG
8

Topic: Strategy execution in cross cultural settings

Description: The compounded complexity of execution across culture, and frameworks to deal with
cultural differences.
Case:
(1) DaimlerChrysler: Organizing the Post-Merger Integration, HBS(2003)
(2) Exercises in the Strategy of Post-Merger Integration, HBS (2000)
Readings:

Gertsen, M.C., Soderberg, A., & Torp, J.E. Different Approaches to the Understanding of Culture in
Mergers and Acquisitions In Cultural Dimensions of International Mergers and Acquisitions, Walter de
gruyter, Berlin, New York, 1998: 17-38.
Discussion Questions:
The second case recounts the announced terms of five prominent acquisitions of the late 1990s, and asks
the student to suggest a preliminary strategy for integrating the target firm into the buyer. The five
acquisitions are America Online/Time Warner, British Petroleum/Amoco, Daimler-Benz/Chrysler,
Union Pacific/Southern Pacific, and Warner-Lambert/Agouron Pharmaceuticals. The objectives of the
case are: 1) to highlight the linkage of the post-merger integration approach with the strategic motives
for the acquisition; 2) to consider the range of possible challenges to successful post-merger integration;
3) to explore the varieties of integration strategy, especially surrounding decisions about autonomy of the
target company within the buyer, importance of interdependence between the buyer and target, and need
for speed of integration. The first case is illustrative towards this exercise.
Additional references:
9

Topic:
Description: Practitioner perspectives: GUEST LECTURE
Case:
Reading:
Discussion Questions:
Additional references:

10 Topic: Recap, integration, governance perspectives

Description: Review and integration of learnings along with perspectives on Strategy Execution and
Governance.
Case: None
Reading:
Governance and Strategy Implementation: Expanding the Board's Involvement, HBS (2002), BH082PDF-ENG
Discussion Questions:
Additional references:
The Execution Premium: Linking Strategy to Operations for Competitive Advantage by Robert S. Kaplan
and David P. Norton. Harvard Business Review Press, Boston, MA, 2008, p. 8.
End-term examination

Textbook, course material, reference books, cases:

1. The 4 Disciplines of Execution, by Chris Mcchesney, Sean Covey, Jim Huling, Rajan Kaicker
2. Bossidy, L., Charan, R., & Burrick, C. 2011. Execution: the Discipline of Getting Things Done.
Random House Business Books.
Reference books:
1. W. Chan Kim and Rene Mauborgne, 2005. Blue Ocean Strategy, Blue Ocean Strategy: How to
Create Uncontested Market Space and Make Competition Irrelevant. Harvard Business Press.
2. Clayton Christenson, Jeff Dyer, Hal Gregerson. 2011. The Innovator's DNA: Mastering the Five
Skills of Disruptive Innovators. Harvard Business Review Press.
3. Edgar H. Schein, 2010. Organizational Culture and Leadership. Jossey-Bass Business &
Management Series.
Reference articles:
1. Binns, Andy, J. Bruce Harreld, Charles OReilly III, and Michael L. Tushman. The Art of
Strategic Renewal. MIT Sloan Management Review 55, no. 2 (Winter 2014): 2123.
2. Gerstner, Louis V., Jr. Who Says Elephants Can't Dance? Leading a Great Enterprise Through
Dramatic Change. New York: HarperCollins, 2003.
3. Govindarajan, Vijay, and Chris Trimble. The Other Side of Innovation: Solving the Execution
Challenge. Boston: Harvard Business Review Press, 2010.
4. Heifetz, Ronald A. Leadership Without Easy Answers. Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard
University Press, 1994.
5. Kaplan, Robert S., and David P. Norton. Kaplan and Norton on Strategy Management, A BSR
Reader. Boston: Harvard Business Press Newsletters, 2010.
6. Lafley, A. G., and Roger L. Martin. Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Works. Boston:
Harvard Business Review Press, 2013.
7. Nadler, David, and Michael L. Tushman. Designing Organizations That Have Good Fit.
InOrganizational Architecture, edited by D. Nadler. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1992.
8. Neilson, Gary L., Karla L. Martin, and Elizabeth Powers. The Secrets to Successful Strategy
Execution. Harvard Business Review 86, no. 6 (June 2008): 6070.
9. OReilly, Charles A., III, and Jeffrey Pfeffer. Hidden Value: How Great Companies Achieve
Extraordinarily Results with Ordinary People. Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2000.
10. Pfeffer, Jeffrey, and Robert I. Sutton. Knowing What to Do Is Not Enough: Understanding the
Knowing-Doing Gap. In The Knowing-Doing Gap: How Smart Companies Turn Knowledge
into Action, by Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert I. Sutton. Boston: Harvard Business School Press,
2007.
11. Porter, Michael E., et al. HBRs 10 Must Reads on Strategy. Boston: Harvard Business Review
Press, 2011.
12. Simons, Robert L. Seven Strategy Questions: A Simple Approach for Better Execution. Boston:
Harvard Business Review Press, 2010.
13. Teece, David J. Dynamic Capabilities and Strategic Management: Organizing for Innovation and
Growth. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.
14. Tushman, Michael L., and Charles A. OReilly III. Winning Through Innovation: A Practical
Guide to Leading Organizational Change and Renewal. Boston: Harvard Business School Press,
2002.