Identifying and Prioritizing Effective Factors in the Implementation of Strategy in Iranian Commercial Banks and its Consequences

Strategy implementation consists of three stages, which are of utmost importance in strategic management. Despite the importance of strategy implementation, it is less researched and developed than strategy formulation. In addition to scientifically identifying and introducing key and influential factors in the implementation of strategy in Iranian commercial banks, this paper seeks to share and prioritize the impact of these variables. Implications of the implementation and the challenges ahead are also briefly described. The research method is descriptive, and an applied and purposeful result is sought, and in terms of data it is quantitatively qualitative. The research strategy in the qualitative section employs the Grounded Theory, and in the quantitative part uses the Analytical Hierarchy Process. The coding technique used to analyze the qualitative section is based on Strauss and Corbin's Paradigmatic Model; the quantitative section is analyzed based on the paired comparisons and the analysis of the inconsistency rate. The research community consists of experts from commercial banks such as, Mellat Bank, Tejarat Bank, Melli Bank, Sepah Bank, Refah Bank, Mehre Eqtesad Bank and Ayandeh Bank. The sampling method is purposeful judgment accompanied by the Snowball Technique. Data collection tools are employed in the qualitative part of the interviews and document analysis is used in the quantitative part of the questionnaire. The findings of the study reveal 12 main factors, 9 challenges and 5 outcomes for implementing a strategy in the commercial banking sector of Iran. These outcomes are prioritized and allocated according to the importance of each one of them in strategy implementation.