March 2012

One of the popular questions in front of management thinkers across the world has been how much to focus on “Strategy” and how much on “Execution” ?

On the Strategy side, management gurus have been propounding various types and nuances of strategic manoeuvers that businesses (and even nations !) should follow to maximize results. The likes of Michael Porter, Kenichi Ohmae, CK Prahlad have given various theories and have made competitive advantage, core competence part of non-management parlance.

And then there have been others like Larry Bossidy, Champy and Hammer (Business Process Re-engineering), who have stressed on benefits of extracting juice out of improving processes and executing strategic plans.

My view is that there is no one size which fits all in the above debate. One of the dimensions on which this question can be answered is the stage of growth of the economy and of the industry within that.

For fast moving economies like the BRICS economies and especially so for nascent high-growth industries* within these economies, I think there is still lot of juice left at the strategy level – corporate strategy and business strategy. There are shake-outs and consolidation waiting to happen. There are divisions not fitting in and ready to be hived off. There are USPs, positioning and competitive advantages yet to be developed. Lots to be done. So for such industries, we will get more bang for the buck by focusing on these levers. Of course, strategies have to be executed, processes can be re-engineered and there will be benefits from these too. But bigger wins will still come from Strategy.

The post-2008 world has further accentuated the above point with companies and even industries threatening to fold over. Smart, sharp thinking on strategic alternatives is required to survive, and thrive. More so now than before.

* By high-growth industries in the Indian context, I refer to telecoms, financial services, IT, ITES, bio-tech, Internet.