TITLE:
Translating Strategic Intent into Sustained Organizational Action: A Strategy-to-Action Framework
AUTHORS:
Donald O. Areguamen
KEYWORDS:
Strategy Implementation, Strategy Execution, Strategic Intent, Sustained Organizational Action, Behavioral Translation, Accountability, Execution Cadence, Performance Measurement
JOURNAL NAME:
American Journal of Industrial and Business Management,
Vol.16 No.10,
October
21,
2026
ABSTRACT: Many organizations develop clear strategies yet struggle to translate strategic intent into sustained organizational action. This conceptual study develops a Strategy-to-Action Framework explaining how strategic intent becomes recurring, aligned decisions and behaviors that persist across execution cycles and adapt through feedback. Drawing on contemporary strategy implementation literature and practice-oriented execution principles, the framework distinguishes sustained organizational action from implementation consistency, strategic progress, and organizational performance. It treats five mechanisms as differentiated but mutually recursive. Behavioral translation mediates the conversion of intent into role-specific action; system alignment, accountability, and ownership enable that conversion; execution cadence reinforces action over time; and feedback and measurement support learning and can prompt revisions to execution mechanisms or strategic intent. The study also distinguishes behavioral translation from communication, sensemaking, goal clarity, and managerial capability, and identifies contextual boundary conditions that affect the framework’s operation. Five revised propositions specify this causal logic for future empirical testing. Practical implications suggest that leaders can strengthen execution by defining observable behaviors, aligning systems and decision rights, assigning clear ownership, maintaining purposeful review rhythms, and using performance information to adapt. The framework contributes a process-oriented explanation of how implementation mechanisms combine to produce sustained organizational action rather than assuming that visible activity or implementation consistency alone demonstrates strategic progress.