This study explores the link between strategy positioning and implementation by evaluating how adopting bundles of monitoring tools or practices affects profitability once a firm has chosen a strategy. We adopt an attention-based perspective to propose that profitability for a firm with an efficiency-seeking strategy is enhanced when the monitoring tools or practices comprehensively cover critical outputs expected from the strategy rather than focusing on the individual selection of specific tools or practices. We test this proposition in a panel dataset of 43 firms -763 data points- pursuing efficiency-seeking strategies. We found that the profitability effect of adopting monitoring tools or practices focused on three critical dimensions, i.e., target defining, controlling, and operations improving, is higher than adopting tools that do not cover these three dimensions simultaneously. In addition, we observe that the level of a firm's diversification moderates the effect of implementing monitoring tools or practices on financial performance.
