The aim of this research was to explore empirically how firms create and implement strategic decisions (SD’s). The research was inspired by the need to understand further organizational process underpinning SD’s phenomenon and potentially contribute to the overall performance of firms. Previous research on SD’s has been focusing on the formal strategic planning approaches, which have been criticized for their highly prescriptive views of SD’s, separating creation from implementation, and focusing on the content and discrete elements rather than the holistic process. Despite all these studies, our understanding of the actual nature of the SD phenomenon from creation to implementation remains incomplete. Motivated by the need to look empirically and holistically at this very complex social phenomenon, this research problematizes the above aspects of SD’s literature and positions this research within a wider social and descriptive process based approach. The research employed qualitative and Analytic Induction (AI) methodologies, and addressed the above need in three projects. The objective of each project has evolved and lead to the emergence of the final findings, which suggest a possible answer to the overall research aim. The Scoping Study proposed a theoretical framework of successful SD’s implementation factors. Project 1 went further and investigated these factors empirically. Project 2 developed empirically the process of how people actually create and implement SD’s. In Project 3, this process was analysed through the theoretical lens of the sensemaking perspective and was applied by practitioners through an empirically tested diagnostic tool. This research has made a step towards a better understanding of SD’s in practice and contributed to the academic knowledge by proposing a different, yet viable descriptive process, which can improve the overall quality of the SD’s, and potentially lead to better performance.

The aim of this research is to explore the relationship between culture and climate as well as the significance of an organisation’s climate on cross-functional behaviour, activities and actions (who, what and when) which forms an integral part of strategy implementation and increasing performance. A key component of an organisational development is team work; which facilitates organisational learning, establish common goals and provide support to achieve these goals. Within the Organisation under investigation there has not been any research into the subject of the significance of the climate on cross-functional behaviour and activities, which is impacted by ‘coopetition’ - the simultaneous role of cooperation and competition within organisations. The research by means of qualitative research should provide some insight into the significance of and if climate impact cross-functional behaviour and activities in organisations. The research methodology included a customised survey which was developed to elicit answers to determine the climate and cross-functional behaviour and activities within the Organisation. Interviews were conducted with Operating Unit Executive Directors of the Organisation. The results indicate that the perceived current climate of the Organisation is not positive and that there is still silo-behaviour within the Organisation which is as a result of the culture of the Organisation, a culture which existed prior to Beyond 60 process. The research confirmed the overlapping relationship between culture and climate and that climate indeed impact cross-functional behaviour and activities at the Organisational and Operating Unit level. / Graduate School for Business Leadership / (M.B.A.)

Formulating consistent marketing strategies is a difficult task, but successfully implementing them is even more challenging. This is even more pertinent as marketing strategies quite often incorporate inherent conflicts between major breakthroughs and consolidation. Consequently, marketers need to balance exploratory and exploitative strategies. However, the literature lacks concrete insights for marketing managers as to how exploratory and exploitative strategies can be best combined. This paper addresses this issue by introducing a framework of multiple types of ambidexterity. Based on qualitative research, tools and procedures are identified to overcome marketing dilemmas and support strategy implementation by drawing on ambidextrous designs. (authors' abstract)

VCM es una empresa arequipeña que cuenta con treinta años de experiencia en el sector de la construcción en lo relacionado al vidrio como acabado de construcción. El artículo describe el proceso en la cual se definieron los lineamientos estratégicos clave y se propuso la herramienta del balanced scorecard para la evaluación y medición de sus objetivos a través de indicadores para poder contribuir con la sostenibilidad de la empresa. Para poder determinar estos objetivos, se ha realizado un análisis interno y externo. Para realizar el análisis externo se utilizó el modelo de las cinco fuerzas de Porter y la matriz de evaluación de factores externos (EFE). Asimismo, para realizar el análisis interno se utilizó el modelo de la cadena de valor y la matriz de evaluación de factores internos (EFI). Luego, se realizó un análisis FODA en el cuál se resaltó que la principal fortaleza es el servicio, la cual se concluyó que era su ventaja competitiva. Luego de este análisis, se determinó que la estrategia competitiva genérica es la diferenciación por el tipo de servicio y asesoría que brinda, viéndose reflejada en la ventaja competitiva. Para la construcción del balanced scorecard, se tomó en cuenta la perspectiva financiera, de clientes, procesos internos y de aprendizaje y crecimiento; planteando doce objetivos estratégicos para estas perspectivas. En el tablero de control, se determinaron los indicadores para cada objetivo y se proponen iniciativas estratégicas para cada uno de ellos.

The aim of this research is to explore the relationship between culture and climate as well as the significance of an organisation’s climate on cross-functional behaviour, activities and actions (who, what and when) which forms an integral part of strategy implementation and increasing performance. A key component of an organisational development is team work; which facilitates organisational learning, establish common goals and provide support to achieve these goals. Within the Organisation under investigation there has not been any research into the subject of the significance of the climate on cross-functional behaviour and activities, which is impacted by ‘coopetition’ - the simultaneous role of cooperation and competition within organisations. The research by means of qualitative research should provide some insight into the significance of and if climate impact cross-functional behaviour and activities in organisations. The research methodology included a customised survey which was developed to elicit answers to determine the climate and cross-functional behaviour and activities within the Organisation. Interviews were conducted with Operating Unit Executive Directors of the Organisation. The results indicate that the perceived current climate of the Organisation is not positive and that there is still silo-behaviour within the Organisation which is as a result of the culture of the Organisation, a culture which existed prior to Beyond 60 process. The research confirmed the overlapping relationship between culture and climate and that climate indeed impact cross-functional behaviour and activities at the Organisational and Operating Unit level. / Graduate School for Business Leadership / (M.B.A.)

Several empirical studies have investigated and established the effect of HR practices and systems on organizational performance. However, there has been little or no focus on the effect of the HR function on organizational performance in both human resource development (HRD) and human resource management (HRM) literature. The term human resource development and management (HRM&D) is utilized to represent scholarly and pragmatic considerations of both fields in representing the HR function. This study elaborates on ways in which organizations achieve the HR-firm performance linkage using the resource-based view of the firm as a theoretical framework. In order to do so, the study examined HRM&D function involvement in lean and quality strategy (LQS) implementation in four U.S. based distribution companies. A qualitative case study approach was utilized to answer the following research issues: 1) the role; 2) the extent of HRM&D involvement in LQS implementation and; 3) the effect on organizational performance. A total of 51 executives participated in the study. Qualitative analysis of data using the constant comparative method helped in understanding the distinctive ways firms achieved the HRM&D-firm performance linkage. Five interrelated components are macro-conditions, strategy (LQS), structure, cross functional performance, and organizational performance affecting HRM&D involvement in LQS implementation. The results suggest that organizations leverage external and internal resources for sustaining competitive advantage, thereby enhancing organizational performance. Further, it was found that the extent of HRM&D involvement in LQS was dependent on functional engagement between the Operations and HRM&D functions. Finally, based on empirical data gathered and verification, the following results emerged: (1) three distinctive levels of cross functional performance; interactions, alignment and integration between Operations and HRM&D illustrated the manner in which HRM&D functions are utilized by organizations espousing LQS; (2) stronger HRM&D-firm performance linkages are created by socially complex relationships influenced by environment and internal factors such as leadership, culture, strategy and structure, (3) strategic relevance of the HRM&D role increased involvement in organizational strategy implementation and, (4) potential resource based advantages for HRM&D function in achieving business partner status were isolated. The implications of the study are outlined.

Many management studies report poor implementation of organisational strategy into practice (Yukl and Lepsinger, 2007; Li et al., 2008) and the absence within the literature of the question of how to translate strategy into effective practice provides the encouragement for this study. There are suggestions that by adopting a project management approach, organisations can better implement their overall strategies, meaning that what they do is properly and totally aligned with their goals (Pellegrinelli and Bowman, 1994). However, recent studies have concluded that project management makes little contribution to the achievement of organisational objectives, and possibly causes failure in this respect (Young and Grant, 2014). That said, Young and Grant (2014) have not provided any detailed information on the reason for such failure. At the same time, some management studies have revealed a number of challenges that confront organisations when approaching strategy implementation. Given these observations, this study aims to explore how organisations in Saudi Arabia are practising project management. It does so by adopting a qualitative method, involving thirty (30) face-to-face semi-structured and unstructured interviews undertaken in two phases with five organisations from the banking, property development, and higher education sectors. Two exploratory case studies (IT and Construction) were used to investigate the translation challenges in respect of strategy and project management implementation. From these, the study has identified a number of challenges confronting the participating organisations, and shows these challenges to be inter-related. Furthermore, it arrives at an understanding of why these challenges arise by investigating how the practice has been translated in these organisations. The tools and materials which resulted as objects from the translation are used to establish common knowledge, but are insufficient to create a clear view of the strategy within the participating organisations. Three main challengers related directly to the translation of project management practice emerged, namely: change, individual influences, and the role of the objects. The study makes several recommendations to improve the translation concept so that strategy implementation and overall project management practice can be enhanced. Additionally, it makes recommendations for further research to continue the efforts in this field of enquiry.

Strategy and its successful implementation is the responsibility of all stakeholders in an organisation; however, thus far, most empirical research in the field of strategy has mainly focused on Boards of Directors or senior management. The dearth of research, as evidenced from the review of the literature concerning the roles of middle managers in strategy implementation, coupled with the disagreement of senior management on their importance, leaves room for discovery. Acknowledging the importance of middle managers’ roles and agreeing what is expected from them in strategy implementation prompts organisations to create the conditions to enable them for strategy implementation. These ideas led to this investigation by exploring what enables the roles and practices of middle managers in strategy implementation. This research adopts the interpretive research approach in an effort to investigate middle managers’ involvement in strategy implementation across three industrial manufacturing organisations in the Kingdom of Bahrain. Through the development of a conceptual framework incorporating aspects of roles, role expectations, practices and context, the thesis highlights the difference between the perception of roles and expectations and roles in practice. The chosen respondents were senior and middle managers. The main findings of the research showed that there exists a gap between the perception of senior managers and middle managers on the roles of middle managers and on aspects enabling their strategic agency; this resulted in an ‘implementation gap’, which can hinder the successful execution of organisation strategy. This thesis discovers that the issues of management are the same regardless of the geographic situation or cultures within which the organisations operate, and that there are lessons to be learned from each other. A conceptual framework emerged from the exploratory qualitative research which confirms and opens up new avenues in understanding the roles of middle managers in practice in the area of strategy implementation. The implications are a need to understand it more empirically and a need to bridge the gap in practice. Key words: Strategy implementation, Middle manager, Roles, Role expectations, Practices.

Originating in, and framed by, warfare, the term strategic management first appeared in the business literature in the 1950s (Carter et al., 2008). The term then started to gain more importance as organisations’ needs for implementing strategic changes increased significantly. Despite this importance, the concept is still considered to be under-developed, with complications arising from a wide variety of disciplines. In the early literature two major schools of thought could be identified: Porter’s economic deliberate content (Porter, 1979), and Mintzberg’s emergent process view (Mintzberg, 1979). The literature has shown that the majority of studies have mainly focused on large organisations, taking the traditional Porter’s content approach. However, relatively few cases have considered smaller organisations and/or explored cases from the contemporary process view, which is considered more realistic in today’s dynamic world, where extra flexibility and speed are paramount. This thesis builds on the work of Pettigrew (1987), who viewed strategy implementation (SI) as a process. His work is extensively analysed and some recommendations are made to strengthen his ‘Triangle Model’. These recommendations allow for the development of a primitive framework for SI. The framework provides a deeper understanding of contemporary SMEs and their surrounding contexts, and can be useful for future exploratory studies of undiscovered contexts and/or for organisations of differing sizes. The paucity of research on SI in SMEs in general, and particularly in the non-Western context (e.g. Middle East, and Gulf Cooperation Council), is the major motivation for this research adopting an interpretive, qualitative and exploratory approach. Using inductive semi-structured interviews, data have been collected on the SI process of SMEs in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). SMEs represent 96% of the country’s enterprises and contribute to almost one third of the national economic activity (Bokhari, 2013). Their development is a major concern of the Saudi government, which aims to reduce the dependency on the oil sector (Bokhari, 2013; Sfakianakis, 2014; McKinsey Global Institute, 2015). In addition, SMEs have the potential to contribute to reducing the accelerating unemployment rate among the ever increasing youth population (Bokhari, 2013).Theoretically, this thesis contributes to a deeper understanding of SI and its enablers/ barriers in the SME sector. Following the approach suggested by Stacey (1996a), Mintzberg et al. (1998), and Okumus (2001), this research provides a more holistic understanding of the SI process. It sheds light on the individual dynamics of strategy implementation, as well as the organisational and external environment perspectives. By exploring these factors over the longitudinal process of SI (including initiation, process, and outcome), this research contributes a SI framework based on Mintzberg’s (1979) and Pettigrew’s (1985a) emerging process view. In so doing, this research adds to the SI process literature at the individual level, as an epistemological tool, and does so in order to consider the dynamic nature of SMEs and the impact that non-controllable events have on their daily routines, on ontological ground (Hart, 1992). At the methodological level, evidence from multiple cases in different Saudi industries is provided, reflecting a developing country context, rather than the dominant Western views (Okumus, 2003; Van der Maas, 2008). From the empirical research, lessons are identified to inform owners of SMEs, policy makers and future research.

The aim of this research was to explore empirically how firms create and implement strategic decisions (SD’s). The research was inspired by the need to understand further organizational process underpinning SD’s phenomenon and potentially contribute to the overall performance of firms. Previous research on SD’s has been focusing on the formal strategic planning approaches, which have been criticized for their highly prescriptive views of SD’s, separating creation from implementation, and focusing on the content and discrete elements rather than the holistic process. Despite all these studies, our understanding of the actual nature of the SD phenomenon from creation to implementation remains incomplete. Motivated by the need to look empirically and holistically at this very complex social phenomenon, this research problematizes the above aspects of SD’s literature and positions this research within a wider social and descriptive process based approach. The research employed qualitative and Analytic Induction (AI) methodologies, and addressed the above need in three projects. The objective of each project has evolved and lead to the emergence of the final findings, which suggest a possible answer to the overall research aim. The Scoping Study proposed a theoretical framework of successful SD’s implementation factors. Project 1 went further and investigated these factors empirically. Project 2 developed empirically the process of how people actually create and implement SD’s. In Project 3, this process was analysed through the theoretical lens of the sensemaking perspective and was applied by practitioners through an empirically tested diagnostic tool. This research has made a step towards a better understanding of SD’s in practice and contributed to the academic knowledge by proposing a different, yet viable descriptive process, which can improve the overall quality of the SD’s, and potentially lead to better performance.