
If “the essence of strategy is choosing what not to do,” as Michael Porter famously said in a seminal HBR article, then the essence of execution is truly not doing it. That sounds simple, but it’s surprisingly hard for organizations to kill existing initiatives, even when they don’t align with new strategies. Instead, leaders keep layering on initiatives, which can lead to severe overload at levels below the executive team.
IMD Professor Michael D. Watkins, along with Rose Hollister, recently carried out research for the article, Too Many Projects. Their research indicated the seven causes of initiative overload, as well as provided a step-by-step process to guide leaders.
In this new IMD Research and Knowledge video series, IMD faculty explore the surprising results from recently-published influential, research-based articles, and spell out the main learning points for business leaders.
If you think your organization is taking on too many initiatives and suffering as a result, you are almost certainly right.
Watch the video and find out what you can do about it.
Research Information & Knowledge Hub for additional information on IMD publications
Assortment optimization presents a complex challenge for retailers, as it depends on numerous decision factors. Changes in assortment can result in demand redistribution with multi-layered consequences. This complexity is even more pronounced for ...
Mature organizations lose their vitality. Complex organizations lose their responsiveness. Successful incumbent market leaders, because they are typically both mature and complex, lose their charm, and become endangered. Not surprisingly, there ha...
A "radar chart" is proposed to visualize where the company needs to improve. It can also be used to support the discussion of any group of executives on the reasons for failure of most strategic initiatives; they may do that by assessing their own...
in European Journal of Operational Research August 2025, vol. 324, no. 3, pp. 799-813, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2025.01.035
Research Information & Knowledge Hub for additional information on IMD publications
in I by IMD
Research Information & Knowledge Hub for additional information on IMD publications
Research Information & Knowledge Hub for additional information on IMD publications
in I by IMD
Research Information & Knowledge Hub for additional information on IMD publications
in I by IMD
Research Information & Knowledge Hub for additional information on IMD publications
in I by IMD
Research Information & Knowledge Hub for additional information on IMD publications
Research Information & Knowledge Hub for additional information on IMD publications
Research Information & Knowledge Hub for additional information on IMD publications
Research Information & Knowledge Hub for additional information on IMD publications
Research Information & Knowledge Hub for additional information on IMD publications