What responsibilities do top managers have in strategy implementation?

What will be an ideal response?

This is an open-ended question with no clear-cut answer. One could easily argue that feasible strategies cannot be formulated unless top management takes a long and careful look at how the strategies might be implemented. The choice of a particular strategy, therefore, is partially based upon an assumption of how it will be carried out by people at lower levels in the corporation. Taking this view, one would conclude that top management must be as heavily involved in strategy implementation as it is in formulation.

One could also argue that top management should only have a general role in the development of implementation plans. If the assumption is correct that key strategy decisions made at the top will be carried out by those below to the best of their ability, it is logical to allow the implementers at the lower levels to "flesh out" general implementation plans made by top management. Since lower level managers are close to the "action", they have the knowledge necessary to decide specific programs, budgets, and procedures given general guidelines (policies) from the top. One can contend that neither top management nor the board has the time to get involved in details concerning sales peoples' commissions or the relocation of an assembly line in a plant.