Plan implementation dissonance: addressing the quandary of – how did they come up with that? created by Benjamin Nathaniel Carr

Responding to Manjit Yadav's (2010. The decline of conceptual articles and implications for knowledge development. Journal of Marketing, 74(January), 1–19) clarion call for conceptual articles, this article outlines what can and should be done to reduce the gulf between strategic planning and implementation. Within this article a conceptual frame of reference called Imbricative Analysis (IA) is put forth as a way of bridging that gulf by transforming tacit knowledge into a form which is more explicit. In succinct terms, an IA frame of reference provides a manager with a lens through which to look back at the developmental underpinnings of a strategic plan in order to improve the clarity of looking forward when implementing the plan. Believing that the performance of managers at all organizational levels can be made more effective given their adoption of IA, the author humbly offers three action-oriented suggestions as a means for advancing the use of an IA perspective. These suggestions also promote the type of dialogue and collaboration between academicians and practitioners which will benefit marketing students and the evolution of marketing as indicated by B. Nathaniel Carr II (2008