Comment on the following: Strategy formulation and strategy implementation are not supplanting each other but supplementing each other.

Answer 6A(iv) Strategy formulation is largely an intellectual process whereas strategy implementation is more operational in nature. Strategy formulation requires good conceptual, integrative and analytical skills but strategy implementation requires special skills in motivating and managing others. Strategy formulation occurs primarily at the corporate level of an organization while strategy implementation permeates at all levels of the hierarchy. In fact, they are not supplanting each other but supplementing each other. In other words, they are not conflicting but contemporary to each other. The relation between strategy formulation and implementation can be best understood by their interdependence. There are two types of linkages between strategy formulation and implementation i.e. forward linkage and backward linkage. Forward linkage is concerned with the influence of the formulation on implementation. Strategy formulation has forward linkage with implementation in the sense that total implementation activities are geared according to strategy chosen for implementation. The nature and type of organizational processes and systems are conditioned by the strategy for its successful implementation. Thus, implementation is dependent upon formulation. Backward linkage, on the other hand, deals with the influence in the opposite direction. Strategy formulation has backward linkage with implementation as organization tends to adopt those strategies which can be implemented with the help of existing structure of resources along with some additional efforts.