Lawrence Hrebiniak

Dr. Hrebiniak is a Emeritus Professor in the Department of Management at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a member of the Strategy Group. He has been on the Wharton faculty since 1976 and teaches courses in competitive strategy and strategy implementation in the Wharton M.B.A. and Executive Education programs. Over the years, he has been the recipient of several awards for teaching excellence, most recently in 2008 for his MBA course, "Competitive Strategy."

Dr. Hrebiniak held managerial positions in industry prior to entering academia, and has had considerable consulting experience. He is a past president of the Organization and Management Theory Division of the Academy of Management. He has been a reviewer and member of the Editorial Review Board for a number of academic and professional management journals. For two years, he was one of four Wharton faculty providing commentaries on the "Wharton Management Report," a program that appeared daily on national television on the Financial News Network.

Lawrence G Hrebiniak, Making Strategy Work: Leading Effective Execution and Change (2nd Edition) (2013)

Lawrence G Hrebiniak, Making Strategy Work (2008)

Lawrence G Hrebiniak, The Mismanagement of America, Inc (2008)

Lawrence G Hrebiniak (2006), Obstacles to Effective Strategy Implementation, Organizational Dynamics, Vol 35.

Abstract: Formulating strategy is one thing. Implementing it throughout the organization ... well, that's the really challenging part. Unfortunately, most managers plan effectively, but fall short when identifying, confronting, and eliminating the major obstacles to strategy execution. This article identifies the major obstacles to execution success. It presents data from managers actively involved in strategy implementation in their companies, thus providing information from individuals with experience in the execution process. The article then develops a model of implementation and an approach to managing change that, together, can help managers make strategy work more effectively.

Lawrence G Hrebiniak, Making Strategy Work: Leading Effective Execution and Change (2005)

Lawrence G Hrebiniak, Implementing Strategy: An Appraisal and Agenda for Future Research (2001)

Lawrence G Hrebiniak, The WeForce in Management: How to Build and Sustain Cooperation (1994)

Lawrence G Hrebiniak (1990), Implementing Strategy: Making the Plan Work, Chief Executive, Vol 55.

Abstract: Formulating strategy is very difficult, but the more problematic task confronting the chief executive officer (CEO) is the successful implementation of strategy. To implement strategy successfully, attention must be paid to a number of issues or problems. These include: 1. the strategy itself, 2. structure, 3. coordination requirements, 4. incentives, 5. controls, and 6. culture and politics. Corporate, business, and functional strategies must be consistent. Agreement among key decision makers is easier to reach when strategies and their underlying causeeffect relationships are clear. The CEO must be concerned with a number of areas that are important for strategy implementation, such as: 1. encouraging sound planning, 2. carefully considering the role of structure, 3. knowing what incentives support, 4. encouraging market surveillance, and 5. exercising leadership. Communication is crucial. The CEO should stay close to important stakeholders whose support of the strategic management process is vital.

Lawrence G Hrebiniak (1985), Organization Adaptation: Strategic Choice and Environmental Determinism, Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol 30.

Abstract: The prevailing assumption in recent literature is that strategic choice and environmental determinism represent mutually exclusive, competing explanations of organizational adaptation. The present paper, in contrast, argues that choice and determinism are independent variables that can be positioned on two separate continua to develop a typology of organizational adaptation. The interactions of these variables result in four main types: (1) natural selection, with minimum choice and adaptation or selection out, (2) differentiation, with high choice and high environmental determinism and adaptation within constraints, (3) strategic choice, with maximum choice and adaptation by design, and (4) undifferentiated choice, with incremental choice and adaptation by chance. These types influence the number and forms of strategic options of organizations, the decisional emphasis on means or ends, political behavior and conflict, and the search activities of the organization in its environment.

Lawrence G Hrebiniak, Implementing Strategy (1984)

Past Courses

MGMT782 STRATEGIC IMPLEMENTATION

This course is directed toward the attainment of five interdependent objectives 1) to develop an understanding of strategy implementation in complex organizations; 2) to understand how organizational planning, design, control and human resource decisions are interdependent and critical to successful implementation; 3) to develop a sensitivity to the "realities" of strategy implementation in "real world" organizations; 4) to obtain a deeper understanding of your personal management style and how it may help or hinder strategy implementation; and 5) to become a better communicator and implementer of strategy. To meet these course objectives, the emphasis will be on learning powerful ideas about how to be systematic in strategy implementation efforts, making use of research about case problems, class discussions, in class exercises, and student presentations. Much of the learning will take place in group discussions outside the classroom in preparation for the time we meet in the classroom.

• Recipient of the Core Teaching Award for Excellence in Teaching in the Wharton MBA Program, 2008
• Recipient of the MillerSherred Award for Excellence in Teaching, 1994
• Nominated for Anvil Award for Teaching, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, 1994
• “Who’s Who in Finance & Industry” Beta Gamma Sigma, Red Key, Sphinxhead, 1988
• Nominated for Anvil Award for Teaching, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, 1988
• Nominated for Anvil Award for Teaching, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, 1985
• Nominated for Anvil Award for Teaching, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, 1981
• Nominated for Anvil Award for Teaching, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, 1979

Got a New Strategy? Don’t Forget the Execution Part 07/31/2013

Knowledge @ Wharton

• Will Xerox’s Spinoff Unlock Value for Investors?, Knowledge @ Wharton 02/10/2016
• Oil’s Financial Depletion: What’s Ahead for Energy Firms?, Knowledge @ Wharton 01/20/2016
• Will Dell’s Big Leap into the Cloud Pay Off?, Knowledge @ Wharton 10/21/2015
• What’s Behind Google’s Alphabet Restructuring?, Knowledge @ Wharton 08/14/2015
• Back to the Future: GE’s Retooling into an Industrial Powerhouse, Knowledge @ Wharton 05/12/2015
• Crafting a Questionable Future: Will a Successful IPO Ruin Etsy?, Knowledge @ Wharton 03/11/2015
• Lessons from RadioShack: To Stay on Top, Figure Out What Got You There, Knowledge @ Wharton 02/10/2015
• Back to the Future: When the CEO Returns, Knowledge @ Wharton 11/25/2014
• Will Microsoft Change the Game with Its Mojang Acquisition?, Knowledge @ Wharton 09/23/2014
• Smoke Signals: What the ReynoldsLorillard Merger Means for the Tobacco Industry, Knowledge @ Wharton 07/30/2014
• Nadella’s Challenge Is to ‘Reinvent Productivity’ — and Microsoft, Knowledge @ Wharton 07/23/2014
• ‘Trying to Recapture the Magic’: The Strategy Behind the Pharma M&A Rush, Knowledge @ Wharton 05/28/2014
• Sony at a Crossroads: Why ‘Muddling Through’ Is No Longer Enough, Knowledge @ Wharton 05/16/2014
• Alibaba’s IPO: What’s behind the ‘Thousandpound Gorilla’?, Knowledge @ Wharton 05/14/2014
• The Price of the GM Recalls: Advice for Mary Barra, Knowledge @ Wharton 04/09/2014
• Lenovo’s Bid to Become the Last Hardware Giant Standing, Knowledge @ Wharton 02/26/2014
• Comcast/Netflix: Unwinding the Latest Traffic Jam, but at What Cost?, Knowledge @ Wharton 02/25/2014
• Quick Take: What’s Up with Facebook’s WhatsApp Deal?, Knowledge @ Wharton 02/21/2014
• Will the Next ‘Golden Age of Television’ Take Place Online?, Knowledge @ Wharton 10/18/2013
• After Facebook and Groupon Stumble, a Cautious IPO for Twitter, Knowledge @ Wharton 09/25/2013
• Got a New Strategy? Don’t Forget the Execution Part, Knowledge @ Wharton 07/31/2013
• Yahoo Continues Its Search for a New Identity, Knowledge @ Wharton 06/19/2013
• Infosys CoFounder Murthy Returns to Right the Floundering Firm, Knowledge @ Wharton 06/03/2013
• P&G’s Returning CEO: Will the Gamble Pay Off?, Knowledge @ Wharton 05/28/2013
• Is Apple on the Ropes?, Knowledge @ Wharton 04/24/2013
• Blackberry’s Z10: It’s All About the Keyboard, Knowledge @ Wharton 03/27/2013
• Can RIM Reinvent Itself?, Knowledge @ Wharton 02/04/2013
• Facebook’s New ‘Social Jobs’ App — Like or Dislike?, Knowledge @ Wharton 11/20/2012
• Why Softbank’s Sprint Deal Is a Highwire Act, Knowledge @ Wharton 10/16/2012
• How GM’s Reorganization Could Do More Harm Than Good, Knowledge @ Wharton 08/21/2012
• US Airways and American Airlines: On Board for a Merger?, Knowledge @ Wharton 08/06/2012
• Zynga’s Potentially Losing Game, Knowledge @ Wharton 07/30/2012
• A Big Mac Setback, Knowledge @ Wharton 07/26/2012
• As Mayer Brings the Pizzazz, Yahoo Waits for the Magic, Knowledge @ Wharton 07/17/2012
• The Murdoch Factor in News Corp.’s Split Personality, Knowledge @ Wharton 07/03/2012
• Dimon’s Apology: Too Little, or Just Right?, Knowledge @ Wharton 06/15/2012
• Has Procter & Gamble Made Some Bad Bets?, Knowledge @ Wharton 04/30/2012
• Changes Needed at Avon Are More Than Cosmetic, Knowledge @ Wharton 04/25/2012
• Starbucks Moves to the ‘Espresso’ Lane in China, Knowledge @ Wharton 04/11/2012
• Starbucks Moves to the Express(o) Lane in China, Knowledge @ Wharton 04/03/2012
• The M&A Market: All the Right Conditions, but No Buyers, Knowledge @ Wharton 03/28/2012
• Vertical Integration Works for Apple — But It Won’t for Everyone, Knowledge @ Wharton 03/14/2012
• Warren Buffett’s Big Secret, Knowledge @ Wharton 02/29/2012
• The $100 Billion Facebook Question, Knowledge @ Wharton 02/02/2012
• Can New Leadership Get RIM Back in Motion?, Knowledge @ Wharton 01/24/2012
• Under New Leadership, Will Yahoo Find Its Way?, Knowledge @ Wharton 01/18/2012
• Return of the Founder, Knowledge @ Wharton 01/17/2012
• The Race for the Digital Dashboard Is On, Knowledge @ Wharton 01/10/2012
• The Microsoft Effect: Will Google Become What It Fears?, Knowledge @ Wharton 12/20/2011
• DingDong! A Changing Market Sends Avon Calling for a New CEO, Knowledge @ Wharton 12/16/2011