The role of strategic leadership in effective strategy implementation: Perceptions of South African strategic leaders

A review of the literature reveals that strategy implementation is an important component of the strategic management process. Research indicates that the ability to implement a strategy is viewed as considerably more important than strategy formulation, and that strategy implementation, rather than strategy formulation, is the key to superior organisational performance. However, the high failure rate of strategy implementation efforts is well documented, and many barriers to effective strategy implementation exist. A lack of leadership, and specifically strategic leadership, at the top of the organisation has been identified as one of the major barriers to effective strategy implementation. In turn, strategic leadership is also viewed as a key driver to effective strategy implementation. In the light of the identified problem, the primary objective of this study was to investigate the perceived role of strategic leadership in strategy implementation in South African organisations. The conclusion is that strategic leadership positively contributes to effective strategy implementation in South African organisations.