Reasons why strategic plans fail

There are many reasons why strategic plans fail, especially:

  • Failure to understand the customer
    • Why do they buy
    • Is there a real need for the product
    • inadequate or incorrect marketing research
  • Inability to predict environmental reaction
  • Over-estimation of resource competence
    • Can the staff, equipment, and processes handle the new strategy
    • Failure to develop new employee and management skills
  • Failure to coordinate
    • Reporting and control relationships not adequate
    • Organizational structure not flexible enough
  • Failure to obtain senior management commitment
    • Failure to get management involved right from the start
    • Failure to obtain sufficient company resources to accomplish task
  • Failure to obtain employee commitment
    • New strategy not well explained to employees
    • No incentives given to workers to embrace the new strategy
  • Under-estimation of time requirements
  • Failure to follow the plan
    • No follow through after initial planning
    • No tracking of progress against plan
    • No consequences for above
  • Failure to manage change
    • Inadequate understanding of the internal resistance to change
    • Lack of vision on the relationships between processes, technology and organization
  • Poor communications
    • Insufficient information sharing among stakeholders
    • Exclusion of stakeholders and delegates