FACTORS INFLUENCING THE STRATEGY IMPLEMENTATION PROCESS AND ITS OUTCOMES: EVIDENCE FROM SAUDI ARABIAN BANKS

Abstract

The competitive advantage of an organization is illustrated by the distinctiveness of its capabilities and how it uses these capabilities to achieve extraordinary profits or returns in comparison to other organizations. One of the most important capabilities that organizations can adopt is an effective and strategic decision-making process. Within the framework of strategy implementation, this study focuses on the factors that influence this process and on the outcomes of the strategy implementation stage of strategic decisions. The primary data for this research has been assembled from a questionnaire conducted with one hundred and twenty middle managers belonging to three highly successful banks in Saudi Arabia; these banks have recently had a particular strategic decision implemented. The subsequent statistical and econometric analysis of this data indicates that factors from three main groups significantly influence strategic decision outcomes, thereby determining successful strategy implementation. These factors are as follows: (i) process and personnel factors, including involvement and communication; (ii) project factors such as time and the priority of the decision; (iii) organizational factors, including top management support, religion, and organizational structure. Contrary to expectations, other cultural and external factors, such as resource allocation, people, commitment, and motivation, appear less significant with regard to the outcomes of strategic decisions. Further, it was also revealed that all the correlation coefficients are positive between independent factors and the outcomes.