Implementing corporate strategy: A case study of a selected South African state-owned enterprise

Abstract

Despite the significant importance of strategy implementation in the performance of State-Owned Enterprises (SOE), the activities for strategy implementation in the commercial state-owned enterprises remain relatively unknown. SOEs play a strategic role in the development of a state. As such, this research study explores the strategy implementation activities within a commercial state-owned enterprise in South Africa. The aim of the study is to contribute towards an understanding of the corporate strategy implementation activities in a commercial SOE. As such, the research is limited to a single case study of a commercial SOE that is listed under Schedule 2 of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) of 1991. Through a central question and associate sub-questions, data was collected from five executive managers. Pseudonyms are used for both the organisation and the executive managers who participated in the data collection process. The executive managers are experienced in the state-owned enterprises operations. The key findings of the study highlight that strategy execution relies on rational/formal formulated corporate strategy. In addition, strategy formulation is a multi-stakeholder consultative process including the state representative. The factors of activities for implementing strategy include reward systems, effective communication, and the allocation of resources. In addition, there are obstacles that are linked to strategy implementation such as, budget constraints, lack of managerial skills, lack of commitment to strategy and ineffective communication. To sum up, the research contributes to the growing body of literature on the implementation of corporate strategy in state owned enterprises.