Closing the Strategy-to-Execution Gap in Retail Business
This paper examines the strategic challenges facing a retail company with excess store space and analyzes two options: renovating existing stores or repurposing space by introducing ancillary office tenants. Drawing on Mankins and Steele's strategy-performance gap framework, Gadiesh and Gilbert's emphasis on communication as a driver of organizational buy-in, and Neilson, Martin, and Powers's focus on information flows and decision-making authority, the paper argues that successful execution requires more than selecting the right strategy. It requires clear communication, carefully managed information flows, well-defined decision rights, and coordinated oversight — ideally led by a dedicated project manager — to ensure the chosen approach actually serves both the company and its target customers.
- Introduction: The Store Space Challenge: Two strategic options for excess retail space
- Identifying the Strategy-Performance Gap: Mankins and Steele's strategy-performance gap framework
- Communication and Organizational Buy-In: Communication as driver of strategy execution
- Information Flows and Decision-Making Authority: Who knows what and when matters most
- Executing the Strategic Change: Departmental roles, measurement, and HR alignment
- Conclusion: Managing Complexity Through Coordination: Project management as coordination and oversight mechanism
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What makes this paper effective
- It grounds a practical business scenario in well-known academic frameworks, giving the analysis both real-world relevance and theoretical credibility.
- It moves logically from problem identification (excess store space) through strategic options to the execution challenges each option entails, creating a coherent argument arc.
- It integrates multiple sources — Mankins and Steele, Gadiesh and Gilbert, and Neilson et al. — without allowing any single source to dominate, demonstrating balanced use of the literature.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates applied synthesis: it takes three distinct theoretical frameworks about strategy execution and maps each one onto a specific operational challenge facing the company. Rather than summarizing each framework in isolation, the writer shows how they build on and complement one another — communication leads to buy-in, buy-in depends on information flows, and information flows require clear decision-rights. This layered integration is a hallmark of graduate-level business writing.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens by defining the strategic problem and the two options under consideration. It then introduces the strategy-performance gap as the overarching framework, followed by focused sections on communication, information flows, and decision authority. The final section translates these concepts into practical execution guidance — roles, measurement, and project oversight — before a brief concluding synthesis. The structure mirrors a standard business strategy memo, moving from diagnosis to recommendation.
Introduction: The Store Space Challenge
The company faces a significant challenge relating to the size of its stores: it needs to use that space more efficiently. Two options are on the table. The first is to renovate existing stores in order to use the available space more effectively. The second is to repurpose that space by changing the company's positioning — broadening its product line or leasing the space to office tenants. The latter option has a certain appeal in that it optimizes the space for revenue generation, but it does not account for whether this shift will be perceived as a positive or negative shopping experience by the target audience. Notably, it is not necessarily desirable to adopt a Walmart-style mass-market approach when the company caters to the top 25% of income earners.
The company therefore needs to carefully visualize how each of these two strategies will play out before committing to either one.
Identifying the Strategy-Performance Gap
Mankins and Steele (2005) observe that a strategy-performance gap commonly exists between what organizations plan and what they actually achieve. They identified several areas where this gap tends to emerge: poor communication, inadequate resource allocation, poorly defined actions, organizational silos, and insufficient performance monitoring, among others. Understanding where this gap is most likely to appear is an essential first step before the company embarks on any significant strategic change.
Communication and Organizational Buy-In
Gadiesh and Gilbert (n.d.) identify communication as an essential component of translating strategy into action, arguing that effective communication enables buy-in to occur throughout the organization. In the present scenario, introducing ancillary services or office tenants will require buy-in from management team members who may view such a move as a distraction from the core business, as well as buy-in from customers. However, when senior management commits fully and communicates the initiative clearly and consistently, customers are far more likely to embrace the change themselves. As Gadiesh and Gilbert suggest, the quality of organizational communication directly shapes how strategy is received and executed at every level.
Conclusion: Managing Complexity Through Coordination
So there is a fairly high degree of complexity involved, but managing that complexity comes down to mapping out information flows, communication messaging and channels, and ensuring that the right people are making the right decisions with access to all the information they need. Having a dedicated person in place to guide this process — such as a project manager — will help significantly by providing the coordination and oversight mechanism necessary to keep all components of the strategy aligned and on track.
References
Gadiesh, O. & Gilbert, J. (n.d.). Transforming corner-office strategy into frontline action. In possession of the author.
Mankins, M. & Steele, R. (2005). Turning great strategy into great performance. Harvard Business Review. In possession of the author.
Neilson, G., Martin, K. & Powers, E. (n.d.). The secrets to successful strategy execution. In possession of the author.
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