Good strategy execution requires a team effort. All managers have strategy executing responsibility in their areas of authority, and all employees are participants in the strategy execution process.

When strategies fail, it is often because of poor execution—things that were supposed to get done slip through the cracks.

Putting together a talented management team with the right mix of experiences, skills, and abilities to get things done is one of the first strategy implementing steps.

In many industries, adding to a company's talent base and building intellectual capital is more important to good strategy execution than additional investments in plants, equipment, and capital projects.

The best companies make a point of recruiting and retaining talented employees—the objective is to make the company's entire workforce (managers and rank-and-fi e employees) a genuine resource strength.

Building competencies and capabilities is a multistage process that occurs over a period of months and years, not something that is accomplished overnight.

Building competencies and capabilities that are very difficult or costly for rivals to emulate has a huge payoff—improved strategy execution and a potential for competitive advantage.

Wisely choosing which activities to perform internally and which to outsource can lead to several strategy-executing advantages—lower costs, heightened strategic focus, less internal bureaucracy, speedier decision making, and a better arsenal of competencies and capabilities.

There are disadvantages to having a small number of top level managers micromanage the business either by personally making decisions or by requiring lower-level subordinates to gain approval before taking action.

The ultimate goal of decentralized decision making is to put decision-making authority in the hands of those persons or teams closest to and most knowledgeable about the situation.