Strategy Implementation Challenges and Possible Solutions

Strategic management literature shows a groundswell of scholarly and practitioner concern about strategy implementation failure rates, which are as high as 90%. Such unacceptably high levels of strategy implementation failure can be traced to a myriad of challenges emanating from all layers of the business environment. This paper focuses on establishing the challenges faced in strategy implementation and extends to prescribing solutions to the attendant challenges as inductively derived from literature. To that end, the study employed a rapid review methodology to balance the triad of timeliness, the validity of results and methodological rigour. The results of the review suggest that strategy implementation efforts are weighed down by challenges that emanate from both the internal and external environment. Furthermore, results suggest the implementation of a complementary mix of interventions that include leadership development programmes, adequate resourcing, cultural change programmes, staff training, contingent communication frameworks, competitive remuneration, and deployment of advanced technology, restructuring, global management competencies and enhancing the adaptive capacity of organisations through the development of dynamic capabilities. The study recommends continuous monitoring and evaluation of strategy implementation efforts and the business environment to support strategic adjustments that ensure a dynamic fit between the strategies being implemented and the business environment.