A new study by Forbes Insight, in associatioin with SAP show executives clearly agree that aligning strategy and operations is essential to their companies’ success, but many organizations still face significant barriers that may prevent them from achieving this. Executives on both sides of the strategy/operations aisle are concerned that strategic priorities may be out of sync with operational realities, in particular in critical areas such as risk management and talent allocation and retention. Intensifying this split are the sudden shifts companies have had to make to deal with the impact of the global recession and resulting economic volatility.