Innovative Applications of O.R. A methodology for supporting strategy implementation based on the VSM: A case study in a Latin-American multi-national Angela Espinosa a,b,⇑ , Ezequiel Reficco b,1 , Andrea Martínez b,1 , David Guzmán b,1 a Hull Business School, Hull University, Cottingham Rd., Hull HU6 7RX, United Kingdom b Los Andes School of Management, Calle 21 # 1-20, Bogota, Colombia article info Article history: Received 16 July 2013 Accepted 17 June 2014 Available online xxxx Keywords: (I) OR in developing countries (S) Complexity theory Problem structuring (P) Viability theory Organizational redesign abstract Soft OR tools have increasingly been used to support the strategic development of companies at operational and managerial levels. However, we still lack OR applications that can be useful in dealing with the ‘‘implementation gap’’, understood as the scarcity of resources available to organizations seeking to align their existing processes and structures with a new strategy. In this paper we contribute to filling that gap, describing an action research case study where we supported strategy implementation in a Latin American multinational corporation through a soft OR methodology. We enhanced the ‘Methodology to support organizational self-transformation’, inspired by the Viable System Model, with substantive improvements in data collection and analyses. Those adjustments became necessary to facilitate second order learning and agreements on required structural changes among a large number of participants. This case study contributes to the soft OR and strategy literature with insights about the promise and constraints of this soft OR methodology to collectively structure complex decisions that support organizational redesign and strategy implementation. Ó 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Dyson, Bryant, Morecroft, and O’Brien (2007) view the strategic development process as one that explicitly incorporates reflective engagement and analytical reasoning, supported by models to help assess and rehearse strategic options. Systemic and soft OR researchers have traditionally contributed to the development of strategic management through the provision of methods and tools. Nevertheless, there is still a pervasive scarcity of resources to assist managers in dealing with what has been called in the strategy literature the ‘‘implementation gap’’ (Atkinson, 2006). In particu- lar, the difficult task of adapting structures to the requirements of a newly agreed structure, has not been covered yet by any soft OR researcher. In this paper we present an example of a soft OR methodology, the ‘‘Methodology to support organizational Self-Transformation’’ (Espinosa & Walker, 2013), adapted and used for such a purpose in a Latin-American multinational corporation. In order to be fit for this purpose, the intervening consultants had to further develop the methodology. This was achieved through the use of mixed methods in data gathering and analysis, and by the innovative design of meetings and workshops to support strategic agree- ments. These new tools, sought to: (a) investigate the structural constraints that prevented effective strategy implementation in a large organization and (b) facilitate the emergence of a political consensus among members representing all levels of organization, on cultural, structural and technological changes to mitigate such existing constraints. In the final section, we reflect on the way that the innovations in methods and tools supported group learning, and provided improved reliability and robustness to the analyses. We close with a critical assessment of the experience, based on the feedback received from organization members through different assess- ments and suggest open paths for continued research in this field. 2. Literature review According to Mingers and White (2010), systems thinking and soft OR pioneers like Ackoff, Mintzberg, Pidd, Dyson and others have importantly influenced strategy theory developments. Particularly relevant is the Strategy Development Process (SDP) model from Dyson, Bryant, Morecroft, and O’Brien (2007) and Tomlinson and Dyson (1983), which presents a systemic view of the strategy http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2014.06.014 0377-2217/Ó 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. ⇑ Corresponding author. at: Hull Business School, Hull University, Cottingham Rd., Hull HU6 7RX, United Kingdom.Tel.: +44 1482 463814/+57 1 339 4949x2320. E-mail addresses: A.Espinosa@hull.ac.uk, am.espinosa240@uniandes.edu.co (A. Espinosa), e.reficco@uniandes.edu.co (E. Reficco), ac.martinez430@uniandes. edu.co (A. Martínez), ar-guzma@uniandes.edu.co (D. Guzmán). 1 Tel.: + 57 1 339 4949x2320. European Journal of Operational Research xxx (2014) xxx–xxx Contents lists available at ScienceDirect European Journal of Operational Research journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ejor Please cite this article in press as: Espinosa, A., et al. A methodology for supporting strategy implementation based on the VSM: A case study in a Latin-American multi-national. European Journal of Operational Research (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2014.06.014