Ernst & Young recently published the following report that identifies the top 10 strategic risks for some of the world's most important global industry sectors.

The E&Y business risk #7 directly identifies "Execution of strategic transactions" as a concern. The report elaborated that strategic risks often result from an attempt to take advantage of major opportunities. Nowhere is this more evident than in the area of transactions. Too often a move that seeks to quickly and significantly respond to an opportunity becomes an expensive and long-term risk in its own right.

There is a major risk that transactions undertaken in response to industry consolidation may fail to deliver, not because they are poorly conceived, but because of a failure to meet operational challenges. This was perceived as a high risk by analysts in a number of sectors including auto, asset management, media and telecoms. A banking panelist wrote, "Stakeholders expect M&A to very quickly have a positive effect on the bottom line and create synergies between the acquirer and the target. Required integration may challenge the people, process and technology of the combined entity. Stakeholder expectations may not be met or the deal may ultimately need to be unwound."

New types of strategic transactions including divestitures in real estate, spin-offs in auto and separation of telecom companies into utilities and service providers are driving further risk. While it is the big mergers that dominate the headlines, in some sectors, excellent execution of small and highly strategic transactions my have as great a competitive impact. Consumer products companies are, for example, using transactions more strategically to acquire innovation. Similarly, in asset management, firms are employing M&A in the hopes of "acquiring... talent that cannot be home-grown."

In addition to "Execution of strategic transactions", several of the other Top 10 Risks for Business identified by the Ernst & Young report are mitigated through improved Strategy Execution. Assigning associate level accountability reduces "Regulatory and compliance risk". Role transparency enables seamless replacement of retiring associates. Transitioning the leadership team, aligning the workforce and melding cultures of "Consolidated organizations" are part of closing a Strategy Execution Gap. Lastly, Project Management and Strategy Execution work well together to reduce the product development cycle and time to market required to satisfy "Consumer demand shifts".

It certainly appears there is a great deal of consensus that improving strategy execution in organizations remains a huge opportunity. So what is the value of a simple process that helps organizations execute their strategies by improving the effectiveness and productivity of each of their associates? Conversely, what is the cost to an organization for their failure to execute their strategy in a timely and efficient manner? We believe strategy execution is both the biggest challenge to an organization and their best opportunity improve their performance.