by Abbie Lundberg

Business failure to execute strategy – looking for data

Opinion
Jun 26, 20071 min
IT Leadership

I’m doing research into the failure of companies to execute on their strategy. There’s a fair amount written on the topic, including work by David Norton and Robert Kaplan, but most of it points back to a 1982 Fortune article by Walter Kiechel that cited a study conducted among a bunch of management consultants that said 9 of every 10 companies with a well-developed strategy failed to execute on that strategy.

I don’t find it hard to believe that companies are better at developing strategy than executing on it, but I’m looking for more recent evidence — this stat that everyone keeps citing seems pretty moldy to be the basis for a whole body of study.  Anyone know of anything more current?