Companies forge alignment in various ways—by breaking down silos, integrating systems, coordinating business unit activities to achieve objectives. This report, based on a survey of 86 corporations and more than 30 interviews with corporate senior executives in Europe and North America, identifies best practices in leading a successful alignment strategy from a senior management perspective.

Topics Covered:

• Different Approaches to Strategic Business Alignment (SBA)
• Factors That Enable or Inhibit Alignment
• SBA as a Challenge for Management
• Meeting the Challenges
• Does Less Aligned Mean Less Well Managed?
• Indicators of Strong Alignment
• Some Companies Remain Weakly Aligned—What are the Commonalities?
• Approaches to Achieving Alignment
• Strength of Alignment vs. Soft Approaches
• Building Alignment Within Different Organizational Contexts

Full Report Also Includes:

• Company Examples: Centex Corporation; a Healthcare Equipment Provider; Monsanto company; Nestlé, S.A.; Pfizer Inc.; and BP p.l.c.
• Profile of Survey and Interview Participants
• Key Recommendations
• 10 Tables and Charts