Businesses are increasingly looking at human resources as a unique asset that can provide sustained competitive advantage. The changes in the business environment with increasing globalisation, changing demographics of the workforce, increased focus on profitability through growth, technological changes, intellectual capital and the never-ending changes that businesses are undergoing, have led to increased importance of managing human resources (Devanna, Fombrum, & Tichy, 1981; Wright, 1998).
Strategy has always been considered a critical success factor in all areas of human
activity. This has been a dominant viewpoint in theory and practice, not only in business enterprises but also in areas such as military action and diplomacy, politics and
government, personal development and career. In all these areas, it is widely recognized
that "strategy matters". The argument of course holds for a good strategy, appropriate for
given conditions, which can render superior outcomes or can even overcome deficiencies? Due to resource disadvantage and difficult environmental conditions.
Everybody wishes to learn from successful examples in order to understand which
strategy was followed and how this was applied in specific conditions. Particularly for
business enterprises we expect strategy to provide direction and cohesion of action
in the highly competitive and continuously changing business scene; to identify what type
of competitive advantage the enterprise should pursue, what activities and positioning
should select and how to implement the strategic choices.
Strategy formulation is only one part of the equation however; it is often in the details of implementation that business strategies get into difficulties. Implem ...