Despite decades of progress in strategy formulation research, organizations continue to struggle with translating strategic intent into realized outcomes. This persistent execution gap suggests that strategic failure is often less a problem of choosing the wrong strategy than of being unable to make chosen strategies work. Although strategy implementation has attracted increasing scholarly attention, existing research remains fragmented across disciplines, weakly theorized, and marginal within the strategic management canon. This article advances Strategic Implementation Studies (SIS) as a distinct and necessary domain of strategic management scholarship. Drawing on a selective synthesis of canonical and contemporary literature, we conceptualize strategy implementation as a multi-level, dynamic, and socially embedded process through which strategies are realized in practice. We clarify the conceptual boundaries of SIS, articulate its core assumptions and theoretical foundations, and propose an integrative framework centered on actors, actions, structures, and dynamics. We further outline a forward-looking research agenda and discuss implications for scholarship, practice, and management education. By rebalancing strategy research toward strategy realization, this article seeks to reposition implementation from a peripheral concern to a central theoretical problem in strategic management.
Keywords: Strategy implementation; Strategy realization; Strategic management; Implementation gap
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