Making Strategy Work: Leading Effective Execution

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Wharton Executive Education
Dates Location Tuition
- Making Strategy Work: Leading Effective Execution
Philadelphia
$9,700
- Making Strategy Work: Leading Effective Execution
Philadelphia
$9,700

This program was formerly called Implementing Strategy: Leading Effective Execution

The devil is in the details. Even a great strategic plan can be destroyed by poor implementation. Successful implementation requires an understanding of the "big picture," as well as all the sequential steps that lead to it.

Making Strategy Work gives you a broad view of implementation and a thorough understanding of each piece of the implementation process so you can make more informed decisions on efficiency and effectiveness. You will learn how to properly align corporate structure with corporate strategies and how to integrate strategy formulation and implementation by focusing on five core areas:

  1. Strategy Implementation Model: Equip your organization to adapt to change by developing a model of appropriate structures, objectives, controls, integration mechanisms, and incentives for implementing your strategy.
  2. Strategic Change: Understand the stages of implementation, forces for and against change, and ways to overcome resistance to change; and develop structures and tactics to implement change.
  3. Human Resources and Strategy Implementation: Integrate HR policies with strategy implementation needs.
  4. Strategy and Structure: Understand how strategy affects structure and how the choice of structure affects efficiency and effectiveness.
  5. Incentives and Controls: Discuss ways to motivate and control performance, including methods to achieve effective coordination.

You will gain a framework in which to effectively develop and execute your next strategic plan. With this wider overview of strategy, you will be better prepared to ask the right questions as you build and implement future strategies.

Tuition for Philadelphia programs includes lodging and meals. Prices are subject to change. Program consultants are available to provide more information on course specifics and discuss how this program might meet your needs. Please contact them by e-mail or by telephone at +1 215.898.1776. Plan your stay.


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We focus on looking ahead by using real-time case studies with current strategy implementation techniques. You will get a broad perspective of overall strategy formulation and implementation. You will develop clear, measurable incentives and tie them directly to strategic performance. Very few MBA courses address cross-functional issues related to implementation or the framework for thinking about implementation; this course is designed to fill that gap. Faculty will also be available to give feedback on a business plan you bring.

Session topics for the Making Strategy Work: Leading Effective Execution Program

  • A Model of Strategy Implementation
  • Managing Strategic Change
  • Strategy and Organizational Structure
  • Integrating Short- and Long-Term Operating Objectives
  • Managing Human Resources
  • Developing Effective Incentives and Controls
  • Implementing Diversification Strategies

About the Book

UPENN-10495_Wharton_CommonSpot_Development_1Making Strategy Work: Leading Effective Execution and Change

Formulating strategy is one thing. Executing it throughout the entire organization... well, that's the really hard part. Without effective execution, no business strategy can succeed. Unfortunately, most managers know far more about developing strategy than about executing it — and overcoming the difficult political and organizational obstacles that stand in their way. In this book, Wharton Professor Larry Hrebiniak offers a comprehensive, disciplined process model for making strategy work in the real world. Hrebiniak shows why execution is even more important than many senior executives realize and sheds powerful new light on why businesses fail to deliver on even their most promising strategies.

Download the introduction and chapter one.

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Program Logistics

Program does not officially begin until Monday morning, but hotel accommodations will be provided on Sunday evening. Program will conclude with lunch on Friday.

Even managers with MBAs and many years of experience in formulating strategy can learn the finer aspects of putting strategy into action. Anyone moving into a position that will require strategic planning will also have the opportunity to consider the whole process of developing and implementing strategy.

We encourage companies to send cross-functional teams of executives to leverage the application and value of the program. Additional group benefits are available when four or more participants attend a program.

Gain a framework in which to effectively develop and execute your next strategic plan. Integrate your strategy and implementation processes. Be prepared to ask the right questions as you build and implement future strategies. You will:

  • Ensure that your corporate structure is in alignment with current corporate strategies.
  • Increase your organization’s ability to adapt to change.
  • Manage resistance and conflict and maximize resources.

Lawrence G. Hrebiniak, PhD LAWRENCE G. HREBINIAK, PhD
Faculty Director
Associate Professor of Management
The Wharton School

Larry Hrebiniak's courses focus on competitive strategy and strategy implementation. His extensive research has encompassed competitive strategy, the fit between strategy and structure, methods of achieving coordination in geographically dispersed firms, controls in the strategy implementation process, and strategic adaptation as organizations change over time to remain competitive. Larry has consulted with leading companies around the world, including AT&T, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Chase Manhattan, DuPont, General Electric, General Motors, Isuzu, and Johnson & Johnson. He is the author of Making Strategy Work: Leading Effective Execution and Change (Wharton School Publishing, 2005), Implementing Strategy (New York: MacMillan, 1984) and The We-Force in Management: How To Build and Sustain Cooperation (New York: Lexington Books, 1994).
Adam Grant ADAM M. GRANT, PhD
Professor of Management
The Wharton School

Recently named one of the world’s top 40 business professors under 40 by Poets and Quants, Prof. Grant’s expertise covers leadership, organizational change, employee motivation and engagement, negotiations, collaboration and team effectiveness, personality and self-awareness, and networks and social capital. He has taught and consulted for clients including Google, IBM, Merck, the Royal Bank of Scotland, the NFL, and the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture among many others. He makes extensive use of experiential learning methods in his teaching and is the recipient of Wharton’s Excellence in Teaching Award.

Prof. Grant has received numerous awards for his research, which has been featured in bestselling books such as Drive: The Surprising Truth about What Motivates Us and Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking. His research has also been featured in outlets like The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Time Magazine, USA Today, CNN, the Financial Times, Harvard Business Review, and Freakonomics.

Prof. Grant received his PhD and MS from the University of Michigan in organizational psychology and his BA from Harvard University, magna cum laude with highest honors in psychology and Phi Beta Kappa honors.
Mario Moussa, PhD MARIO MOUSSA, PhD
President, Moussa Consulting
Senior Fellow, Wharton Executive Education
University of Pennsylvania

Co-author of The Art of Woo: Using Strategic Persuasion to Sell Your Ideas, Mario Moussa directs and teaches programs for hospital leaders and physicians, corporate security managers, and energy and banking executives. He teaches negotiation, influence, strategy, change, and corporate culture and is co-director of Wharton's Strategic Persuasion Workshop: The Art and Science of Selling Ideas. Previously, he was a principal at CFAR, Inc., a management consulting firm that began as a Wharton research center. A specialist in large-scale organizational change initiatives, he has consulted to many of the world's leading corporations, universities, and foundations, including United Health Group, PNC Bank, the Georgetown University Medical Center, and State Farm Insurance. He has published widely in the field of organizational dynamics, power, and influence.
undefined JOSEPH RYAN, PhD
Founder and President, True North Advisory Group
Adjunct Professor of Management,
The Wharton School

Professor Ryan has been affiliated with Wharton since 1991 and teaches in the MBA, Executive MBA, and executive education programs, including programs jointly offered with Wharton's alliance partner, INSEAD. He works with executives as an advisor on strategy and change management assignments. He is also a frequent speaker at industry conferences. His teaching, consulting, and research interests include strategy implementation, strategic alliances, leading and building high-performance organizations, strength-based leadership, service management, and best practices in change management and executive education.

Dr. Ryan has held management positions in strategic planning, business development, and organization development with GE, GTE, and ARAMARK. He has also worked as a consultant in the Kepner Tregoe Strategy Group and at the Wharton Center for Applied Research.

He holds an MBA and a PhD from the University of Pennsylvania and attended the GE Crotonville executive education program.

 "Outstanding faculty ... classes took place in a remarkable, relaxed setting. Great colleagues leading to a very significant exchange of experiences."
— Managing Director, Mail Order Music Club

"If more people could do this, my company would be far better off or the business environment would be a lot more competitive."
— Manufacturing Consultant, High-Tech Manufacturer

"I will be better equipped to handle M&A and strategic development programs within my organization."
— Director, Health Organization

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