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212 PART 3 • STRATEGY IMPLEMENTATION

The strategic-management process does not end when the firm decides what strategy or
strategies to pursue. There must be a translation of strategic thought into strategic action.
This translation is much easier if managers and employees of the firm understand the busi-
ness, feel a part of the company, and through involvement in strategy-formulation activities
have become committed to helping the organization succeed. Without understanding and
commitment, strategy-implementation efforts face major problems.
Implementing strategy affects an organization from top to bottom; it affects all the
functional and divisional areas of a business. It is beyond the purpose and scope of this text
to examine all of the business administration concepts and tools important in strategy
implementation. This chapter focuses on management issues most central to implementing
strategies in 2010–2011 and Chapter 8 focuses on marketing, finance/accounting, R&D,
and management information systems issues.
Even the most technically perfect strategic plan will serve little purpose if it is not
implemented. Many organizations tend to spend an inordinate amount of time,
money, and effort on developing the strategic plan, treating the means and circum-
stances under which it will be implemented as afterthoughts! Change comes through
implementation and evaluation, not through the plan. A technically imperfect plan
that is implemented well will achieve more than the perfect plan that never gets off
the paper on which it is typed. 1

Doing Great in a Weak Economy. How?

Google

hen most firms were struggling in 2008, Google
W increased its revenues and profits such that
Fortune magazine in 2009 rated Google as their fourth
“Most Admired Company in the World” in terms of
their management and performance. Based in
Mountain View, California, Google’s first quarter of
2009 revenues grew 6.2 percent to $5.51 billion, fol-
lowed by $5.52 billion the second quarter. These results
widened Google’s lead in overall searches and online
advertising market share. Google owns both YouTube
and DoubleClick.
Google in 2009 began selling books online. This
related diversification strategy led Google to digitize
close to 10 million books by year’s end. Google most firms do, Google charges as little as they can bear.
cofounder Sergey Brin recently said, “Call me weird, but Thus Google obtains networks of people, millions of
I think there are a lot of advantages to reading books people, which strengthens its competitive position.
online. Today’s monitors have great resolution and you Google’s founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, each
don’t have to wait on the book to arrive once ordered.” have nearly 30 percent voting control of the firm and
Google does not charge people to use its search have established a golden rule that permeates Google’s
engine. Instead of charging what the market will bear as internal culture. The rule is to “Don’t be evil,” and this