Conceptualizing and measuring the “strategy execution” construct

Abstract

While there is abundant research on how to formulate strategies and several models of strategic positioning have been advanced, there is still scant academic research about how to conceptualize and measure strategy execution. In fact, most of the (relatively scarce) literature on strategy execution has been produced in consultancy-like style and directed to a practitioner audience, but not oriented to theory development. In this paper, we propose a conceptual and operational model of the strategy execution construct and test it in a sample of 276 firms. The conceptual model, which was developed with the help of top-level executives and academicians specialized in strategy and organizational studies, comprises causes (actions to be implemented in order to execute the strategy) and consequences (results expected from such actions). The empirical assessment of the measurement model indicates that several dimensions of strategy execution are intertwined and that a second-order structure better represents the phenomenon. © 2018