The role of strategic leadership in effective strategy implementation: Perceptions of South African strategic leaders

Abstract

A review of the literature reveals that strategy implementation is
an important component of the strategic management process.
Research indicates that the ability to implement a strategy is viewed
as considerably more important than strategy formulation, and
that strategy implementation, rather than strategy formulation, is
the key to superior organisational performance. However, the high
failure rate of strategy implementation efforts is well documented,
and many barriers to effective strategy implementation exist. A lack
of leadership, and specifically strategic leadership, at the top of
the organisation has been identified as one of the major barriers
to effective strategy implementation. In turn, strategic leadership is
also viewed as a key driver to effective strategy implementation.
In the light of the identified problem, the primary objective of this
study was to investigate the perceived role of strategic leadership
in strategy implementation in South African organisations. The
conclusion is that strategic leadership positively contributes to
effective strategy implementation in South African organisations.