Challenges in Strategy Implementation

All too often, law firms dedicate substantial internal and external resources to a strategy
development process, but ultimately, fail to move the firm in the direction identified or
realize the benefits of their investment. Why is it that so many firms fail in strategy
implementation? The most common reasons include:

 Insufficient partner buy-in: In conducting strategic planning, firm leaders and partners
involved in the process develop a strong understanding of the business imperative behind the
chosen strategy and the need for change in order to achieve partner goals. However, partners
removed from the process may struggle to identify with the goals and strategies outlined by
firm leaders. These partners may not see a need for change, and without understanding the
background and rationale for the chosen strategy, these partners may never buy-in to strategic
plan and, as a result, will passively or actively interfere with the implementation process.
 Insufficient leadership attention: Too often, law firm leaders view the strategy development
process as a linear or finite initiative. After undergoing a resource intensive strategic planning
process, the firm's Managing Partner and Executive Committee members may find
themselves jumping back into billable work or immersing themselves in other firm matters,
mistakenly believing that writing the plan was the majority of the work involved. Within
weeks of finalizing the plan, strategies start to collect dust, partners lose interest, and
eventually, months pass with little or no reference to the plan or real action from firm leaders
to move forward with implementation.
 Ineffective leadership: Leading strategy implementation requires a balancing act - the ability
to work closely with partners in order to build cohesion and support for the firm's strategy,
while maintaining the objectivity required in order to make difficult decisions. Strategy
implementation frequently fails due to weak leadership, evidenced by firm leaders unable or
unwilling to carry out the difficult decisions agreed upon in the plan. To compound the
problem, partners within the firm often fail to hold leaders accountable for driving
implementation, which ultimately leads to a loss of both the firm's investment in the strategy
development process as well as the opportunities associated with establishing differentiation
in the market and gaining a competitive advantage.
 Weak or inappropriate strategy: During the course of strategic planning, the lack of a
realistic and honest assessment of the firm will lead to the development of a weak,
inappropriate or potentially unachievable strategy. A weak strategy may also result from
overly aspirational or unrealistic firm leaders or partners who adopt an ill-fitting strategy with
respect to the firm's current position or market competition. Without a viable strategy, firms
struggle to take actions to effectively implement the plan identified.
 Resistance to change: The difficulty of driving significant change in an industry rooted in
autonomy and individual lawyer behaviors is not to be underestimated. More often than not,
executing on strategy requires adopting a change in approach and new ways of doing things.
In the context of law firms, this translates to convincing members of the firm, and in
particular partners, that change is needed and that the chosen approach is the right one.
By developing an awareness of these hurdles and traps which lead to failure in
implementation, firms can learn how to adapt their approach and develop tools to assist them
in more successfully executing on their strategy.

Tools for Success in Strategy Implementation

As a first step in ensuring the successful implementation of the firm's strategy, firm leaders
must take early and aggressive action to institutionalize the strategy within the firm. The
Managing Partner, Chair, and other key leaders must demonstrate visible ownership of the
firm's strategy, communicating clearly with partners about the details, value and importance
of the strategy to the firm. Members of management should also seek input and support from
key opinion leaders and rainmakers early-on and request their help in championing the
strategy to other partners within the firm. Over time, such actions will assist in generating
buy-in among partners, leading to greater overall support for the strategic plan and the
changes inherent in its execution.

Having successfully sold the main tenets of a strategic plan to the partnership, firm leaders
must then reorient themselves around the task at hand: strategy implementation. This is where
the real work begins. To facilitate more effective execution, leaders should take the following
critical actions:

Implementation Support Structure: To support effective implementation, firm leaders

should ask the question: does the firm have the right leadership, governance and operational
structure required to support effective implementation? Are the right people serving in the
right places? Very often, firm leaders demonstrate the behavior of dynamic and influential
visionaries. However, such leaders may lack an attention to detail and the organizational
skills required to effectively drive day to day action. By assessing whether the firm has the
right people in the right places, a law firm can better ensure that visionary firm leaders are
appropriately supported by individuals who can get the daily actions of implementation done.
Implementation Planning: A fundamental and critical step in moving forward with strategy
execution involves planning. Implementation planning entails developing a detailed outline
of the specific actions and sub-actions, responsibilities, deadlines, measurement tools, and
follow-up required to achieve each of the firm's identified strategies. Implementation plans
often take the form of detailed charts which map the course of action for firm leaders over a
24-36 month time period. Achieving a level of detail in these plans provides for a tangible
and measurable guide by which both the firm and its leaders can asses progress in
implementation over time.
Alignment of Management Processes: Successful implementation of a law firm's strategy
also requires alignment of the firm's partner compensation system, performance management
approach, and other related practice group and client team management structures and
processes with the firm's chosen strategy. The most common (and perhaps critical) example
of a structure necessitating alignment is that of partner compensation. Very often firms adopt
strategic plans which require partner collaboration and teamwork in order to achieve success,
yet fail to modify the partner compensation system to reward such activities. Failure to align
management processes and structures with a newly adopted strategy frequently results in a
stall out of implementation efforts, as members of the firm direct individual behaviors to
align with the firm's historic rewards system, and not the newly stated strategy.
Measurement, Follow up and Accountability: A key component of success in
implementation involves holding firm leaders and partners accountable for actively driving
and supporting execution. Whether individuals are assigned discreet implementation
activities (e.g. hire lateral IP partner) or asked to participate in ongoing efforts to support
strategic initiatives (e.g. expand existing Energy clients), measurement and follow up is
required. What actions have been taken to expand work for existing Energy clients, and how
much new business has been generated from these efforts? By following up and assessing
progress in implementation at regular intervals (e.g. monthly or quarterly), firms can more
effectively determine whether current implementation activities and assignments are working,
or whether a different approach is needed. Such assessments are crucial in ensuring that
action is taken and progress is made on strategy execution.
Incorporating Organizational Learning: As an evolving and recurring process, effective
strategy creation and implementation necessitates ongoing review of the firm's chosen
 direction. The strategic planning process entails periodically evaluating the firm's strategy in
light of internal and external changes and incorporating lessons learned into the
implementation plan. This key component of strategy implementation ensures that the firm's
strategy remains dynamic and drives ongoing competitiveness in the market.
In the context of law firms, strategic planning represents a methodology for developing a
shared organizational view of the desired direction for the firm and outlining the process by
which the firm will move in that direction. For many firms, movement along the firm's
chosen strategy can be intensely challenging, and too often, implementation efforts fail. In
order to realize the potential and value in a firm's strategy, law firm leaders must dedicate
themselves to driving successful implementation. This requires planning, resources, time,
attention, leadership and courage. Yet, the investment in implementation is not without its
rewards. By focusing the necessary energy on implementation, your firm's strategy will no
longer be the one collecting dust. If implemented properly, your firm's strategy will be living
and breathing inside your firm and driving your firm towards market differentiation and
competitive advantage.

MERGERS AND ACQUISITION

Benefits of mergers and acquisitions
There are many advantages of growing your business through an acquisition or merger. These
include:

 Obtaining quality staff or additional skills, knowledge of your industry or sector and
other business intelligence. For instance, a business with good management and process
systems will be useful to a buyer who wants to improve their own. Ideally, the business you
choose should have systems that complement your own and that will adapt to running a larger
business.
 Accessing funds or valuable assets for new development. Better production or distribution
facilities are often less expensive to buy than to build. Look for target businesses that are only
marginally profitable and have large unused capacity.
 Your business underperforming. For example, if you are struggling with regional or
national growth it may well be less expensive to buy an existing business than to expand
internally.
 Accessing a wider customer base and increasing your market share. Your target business
may have distribution channels and systems you can use for your own offers.
 Diversification of the products, services and long-term prospects of your business.A
target business may be able to offer you products or services which you can sell through your
own distribution channels.
 Reducing your costs and overheads through shared marketing budgets, increased
purchasing power and lower costs.
 Reducing competition. Buying up new intellectual property, products or services may be
cheaper than developing these yourself.
 Organic growth, ie the existing business plan for growth, needs to be accelerated.
Businesses in the same sector or location can combine resources to reduce costs, remove
duplicated facilities or departments and increase revenue.
 The most common reason for firms to enter into merger and acquisition is to merge their
power and control over the markets.
  Another advantage is Synergy that is the magic power that allow for increased value
efficiencies of the new entity and it takes the shape of returns enrichment and cost
savings.
 Economies of scale is formed by sharing the resources and services (Richard et al,
2007). Union of 2 firm’s leads in overall cost reduction giving a competitive
advantage, that is feasible as a result of raised buying power and longer production
runs.
 Decrease of risk using innovative techniques of managing financial risk.
 To become competitive, firms have to be compelled to be peak of technological
developments and their dealing applications. By M&A of a small business with
unique technologies, a large company will retain or grow a competitive edge.
 The biggest advantage is tax benefits. Financial advantages might instigate mergers
and corporations will fully build use of tax- shields, increase monetary leverage and
utilize alternative tax benefits.

Disadvantages: Following are the some difficulties encountered with a merger-

 Loss of experienced workers aside from workers in leadership positions. This kind of
loss inevitably involves loss of business understand and on the other hand that will be
worrying to exchange or will exclusively get replaced at nice value.
 As a result of M&A, employees of the small merging firm may require exhaustive re-
skilling.
 Company will face major difficulties thanks to frictions and internal competition that
may occur among the staff of the united companies. There is conjointly risk of getting
surplus employees in some departments.
 Merging two firms that are doing similar activities may mean duplication and over
capability within the company that may need retrenchments.
 Increase in costs might result if the right management of modification and also the
implementation of the merger and acquisition dealing are delayed.
 The uncertainty with respect to the approval of the merger by proper assurances.
 In many events, the return of the share of the company that caused buyouts of other
company was less than the return of the sector as a whole.

Role of Leadership in Strategic Implementation

 Communicating Plans
Strategic implementation begins with setting goals and communicating these to workers.
Prioritize your objectives, put resources at employees' disposal, explain the processes and,
above all, transmit your vision to your team. Communicating well means your listeners
comprehend your words and are able to put them into action. For example, when
describing how to implement a new software program, use layman's terms when talking
to those who are not computer specialists. Give the information in small, digestible
chunks and test understanding before moving on.
 Giving Out Assignments
Proper delegation helps guarantee a smooth implementation of business strategy. The
manager charged with strategic implementation must be able to pick out the people and
teams best able to move the project forward. Leading the implementation requires taking
pains to discover and test the abilities gifts of her staff. She should establish mini-leaders
over various segments of the process who understand the scope of the implementation.
 These people will report directly to the overall manager and will be responsible for
guiding their own groups. Pick enthusiastic, imaginative and people-oriented employees
for these roles.
 Monitoring Execution
Participate in all avenues of the strategic implementation. Ask questions while observing
what your employees do in order to understand all the processes involved. Ask your
group leaders for weekly progress updates. Keep abreast of the problems that arise and
handle them expeditiously. Document the process carefully so you and others can refer to
the literature for future ventures. Be flexible. If something does not work well in the way
you have designed it, find other avenues until you find something that works better.
Always take care not to micromanage your employees as you monitor the processes but
instead be an involved leader who joins in the work to make it better.
 Encouraging Staff
Your attitude will prove contagious for the staff. If you are energetic and willing to give
your best to the company, others will follow suit. When encouraging your staff you need
to be a consistent role model who stays on tasks, works to solve problems and keeps to a
schedule. You want your employees to emulate your behavior without having to lecture
them on what how to act and perform in the workplace. For example, if you are always on
time and get to work quickly on the implementation process, your staff will understand
the need to do so as well. Create a culture of encouragement by praising hard work,
passionate exhibitions and creativity in individual efforts. Your staff will appreciate the
recognition.
Product/market evolution matrix
Hofer’s Portfolio Matrix is a tool used in the field of marketing; it belongs to the group
of portfolio matrixes. It facilitates the graphic visualisation of the competitive position of a
company for each of the individual phases of the life cycle of the market branch. On the
vertical axis the competitive position of the company is mapped, whereas on the horizontal
axis the individual phases are entered. The circles represent the size of the branch and the
turquoise sections of the circles show the market share of the company.
Hofer matrix is one of the tools used to determine the assessment of the Competitive
position of the company, as determined by its internal and external factors.

In Hofer matrix, we can characterize groups of products:

 Products A - Dilemmas that have chance of success with appropriate marketing strategies
and financial aid
 Products B - Winners, require appropriate marketing strategies and financial aid, if
company has limited resources for advertising managers must make a choice between
products A and B
 Products C - Potential losers, the weak position, the sector in the growth phase -
managers should make additional analyses to rule out the possibility of going through the
shock phase
 Products D - despite the current difficulties can become market leaders or profitable
producers
 Products E and F are profitable, so it is possible to introduce other products in the phase
of shock and generate considerable profits
 Products G and H are the losers are in the exit phase of the market, ahead of the full
withdrawal managers should use strategies for "gathering the harvest"