The Black Box of Implementing Strategic Decisions

Abstract

In trying to strike the necessary balance between the two main processes of strategic decision (i.e., between making and implementing decisions), many researchers have moved their focus toward strategic implementation, which has become a growing trend in the strategic decision literature. Nonetheless, the strategic decision implementation process remains a mysterious black box, and researchers are still looking for an answer to the challenging question of “What are the core activities in implementing strategic decisions?” Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to plug this gap in the literature by conducting an extensive review of the literature on strategic decision implementation to understand this process better. The present research revealed three phases for conducting the SD implementation process and identified a number of factors inside each phase. Moreover, the paper proposed several future research avenues and implications for both researchers and managers.