Strategy maps: the essential link between the balanced scorecard and action

2015 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 34-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rainer Lueg
Keyword(s):  
Balanced Scorecard ◽  
Strategy Execution ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Strategy Maps ◽  
The Balanced Scorecard ◽  
Top Managers ◽  
Action Strategy ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Balanced Scorecards ◽  
Strategy Map

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to show how the use of Strategy Maps substantially improves the implementation success of balanced scorecards (BSC). The BSC is supposed to translate strategy into action. Strategy maps support this by showing cause-and-effect chains. But what does this mean for strategy execution in practice? To achieve better BSC implementations, the author uncovers pitfalls and names the remedies. Design/methodology/approach – The author summarizes the most important findings from initially over 1,000 studies that have dealt with the BSC from 1992 to 2012. Findings – BSC implementations that use a sophisticated Strategy Map appear to be successful. Strategy maps foster a better understanding of the BSC among employees, create greater commitment and less resistance and are superior to the BSC itself in communicating how to achieve strategic goals. Also, strategy maps facilitate managers’ evaluation of the relevant environment. Nevertheless, the common measure bias is a usual pitfall: top managers have a tendency to use their own strategic targets as a yardstick for lower-level employees. Originality/value – This paper helps managers understand the most recent developments on strategy maps. In particular, the author highlights that causalities do not exist in organizations in the same way as there are “laws” in physics. Instead, organizations need to customize their BSC to their way of doing business.

scholarly journals A practitioner’s guide to the design of strategy map frameworks

2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 334-351 ◽  
Author(s):  
Syrus Islam
Keyword(s):  
Balanced Scorecard ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Strategy Execution ◽  
Design Features ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Strategy Maps ◽  
Measurement Framework ◽  
Map Design ◽  
Prior Literature ◽  
Strategy Map

Purpose The purpose of this study is to synthesise the prior literature on strategy maps to develop a practitioner’s guide to the design of strategy map frameworks. Robert Kaplan and David Norton introduced the strategy map in their 2000 Harvard Business review article. A strategy map visually represents how the critical elements of an organisation’s strategies are linked together. In an organisation’s strategy execution process, a strategy map complements a performance measurement framework such as the balanced scorecard. Design/methodology/approach This is a technical paper, which primarily builds on the prior literature on the strategy map design. In particular, this study reviews 41 publications on strategy maps in the period 2000-2015, including observation of 333 strategy map frameworks. Findings This study develops 14 design principles across seven features of a strategy map framework. This study also identifies a significant lack of empirical research on strategy map design features and principles. Research limitations/implications Future research could examine whether and why various design features and principles could exert different or same effects (e.g. decision-relevance). Practical implications The developed design features and principles can be used by practitioners as guidance for developing customised strategy maps for their organisations. Originality/value This paper contributes to the literature by serving as a “one-stop shop” for both practitioners and researchers seeking a comprehensive understanding of the current state of the strategy map design features and principles.

The balanced scorecard: comments on balanced scorecard commentaries

2012 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 539-545 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert S. Kaplan
Keyword(s):  
Balanced Scorecard ◽  
Strategy Execution ◽  
Personal Writing ◽  
Strategy Formulation ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Balanced Scorecard ◽  
The Past ◽  
Personal Experiences ◽  
Practical Implications

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to provide the author's insights about five papers written in this volume about his published work on the balanced scorecard (BSC).Design/methodology/approachThe author's comments are based on his personal writing, teaching, speaking about, and implementing the BSC during the past 20 years.FindingsThe author finds that academic commentary on the BSC often ignores its role in strategy execution.Research limitations/implicationsThe commentary is unique to the author's personal experiences and may not be generalizable to other scholars who have not shared the same experiences.Practical implicationsThe paper may help scholars better understand the role of the BSC for strategy formulation, communication and implementation. It may also aid them in teaching the BSC to students and executives.Social implicationsThe paper discusses how the BSC can be used in public sector applications, as well as for companies that want to internalize environmental, social and community objectives in their strategies.Originality/valueThe paper reflects the personal views of the author; it is original to him.

Proposing a strategy map for coastal urban project success using the balanced scorecard method

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (10) ◽  
pp. 2993-3030
Author(s):  
Truc Thi-Minh Huynh ◽  
Chau Ngoc Dang ◽  
Long Le-Hoai ◽  
Anh-Duc Pham ◽  
Truong Duy Nguyen
Keyword(s):  
Balanced Scorecard ◽  
Success Factors ◽  
Project Success ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Asia Pacific ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Balanced Scorecard ◽  
Strategy Map ◽  
Urban Project ◽  
Social And Environmental Performance

PurposeThis study aims to develop a strategic framework for the success of coastal urban projects in Vietnam, which is one of the Asia Pacific countries significantly affected by climate change.Design/methodology/approachA questionnaire was used to collect data from practitioners in Vietnam. Principal component analysis (PCA) technique was used to identify critical success factors (CSFs) of coastal urban projects. A strategy map for the success of coastal urban projects was also proposed using the balanced scorecard (BSC) method.FindingsThis study identified 41 project success factors that could contribute to project success, and thence, extracted 11 CSFs for coastal urban projects using the PCA technique. In addition, 11 key performance indicators (KPIs) for coastal urban projects were listed and their linking with project success factors and CSFs was explored. Furthermore, a strategy map for the success of coastal urban projects was proposed using the BSC method. The strategy map included five perspectives: learning and growth, internal processes, social and environmental performance, financial performance, and stakeholders' satisfaction.Originality/valueThis study identified 11 CSFs for coastal urban projects and proposed a strategy map for the success of coastal urban projects.

Strategic scenario analysis combining dynamic balanced scorecards and statistics

2019 ◽  
Vol 69 (9) ◽  
pp. 1881-1902
Author(s):  
Enrico Supino ◽  
Federico Barnabè ◽  
Maria Cleofe Giorgino ◽  
Cristiano Busco
Keyword(s):  
Scenario Analysis ◽  
Balanced Scorecard ◽  
Success Factors ◽  
Implementation Process ◽  
Strategy Formulation ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Research Perspective ◽  
The Balanced Scorecard ◽  
Balanced Scorecards ◽  
Model Reliability

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the way in which system dynamics (SD) can enhance some key success factors of the balanced scorecard (BSC) model and support decision-makers, specifically in analyzing and evaluating the results of hypothetical scenarios. Moreover, the paper aims to emphasize the role played by statistics not only in validating the SD-based BSC, but also in increasing managers’ confidence in the model reliability. Design/methodology/approach The paper presents a case study, developed according to an action research perspective, in which a three-step approach to the BSC implementation was followed. Specifically, the first step requires the development and implementation of a “traditional” BSC, which is refined and transformed into a simulation SD model in the second step. Last, the SD-based BSC is combined with statistics to develop policy making and scenario analysis. Findings The integration of BSC and SD modeling enables the development of a comprehensive approach to strategy formulation and implementation and, more importantly, provides a more reliable basis upon which to build and test sound cause-and-effect relationships, within a specific BSC. This paper exemplifies how an SD-based BSC can be used – and perceived reliable – to evaluate different scenarios and mutually exclusive policy effects in a multidimensional approach. In particular, this study illustrates how to forecast and depict trends for financial and non-financial indicators over the simulation period, with reference to three different scenarios. Originality/value This paper contributes to the ongoing debate on the BSC by exploring whether a combination of SD and statistics may enhance the BSC system’s advantages and facilitate its implementation process and use for decision-making and scenario analysis.

scholarly journals How are strategy maps linked to strategic and organizational change? A review of the empirical literature on the balanced scorecard

2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 439-446 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rainer Lueg ◽  
Pernille Julner
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Change ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Balanced Scorecard ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Empirical Literature ◽  
Sustainable Change ◽  
Strategy Maps ◽  
The Balanced Scorecard ◽  
Strategy Map ◽  
The Common

Proponents of the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) emphasize that the BSC translates strategy into action, but that Strategy Maps are a crucial mean to sustainable change. This literature review investigates how Strategy Maps are linked to strategic and organizational change. We aim at a better understanding of BSC implementations, gaps in practice, as well as remedies. Built upon the theoretical framework of Kaplan and Norton, we conduct a systematic literature review of initially 332 empirical studies between 1992 and 2013. We find that only 15 studies have dealt with the topic of Strategy Maps. Yet, BSC implementations that actually use Strategy Maps appear to be rather successful. Strategy Maps induce sustainable change, foster a better understanding of the BSC, facilitate evaluations of the external environment, create greater commitment, lower resistance, and are superior to a stand-alone BSC in communicating strategy. Nevertheless, we identify the common measure bias as a usual pitfall that leads to inappropriate evaluations of lower-level actors. We assert that BSC implementations need a Strategy Map to be successful. We also highlight that there has been only little research on the topic, and that present findings might be inconclusive due to the confined range of methodology (single-organization case studies).

Finding Balanced Scorecards for Business Driven IT Service Portfolio Management

2012 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas Györy ◽  
Anne Cleven ◽  
Falk Uebernickel ◽  
Walter Brenner
Keyword(s):  
Portfolio Management ◽  
Balanced Scorecard ◽  
It Management ◽  
The Balanced Scorecard ◽  
It Service ◽  
Service Portfolio ◽  
Management Concepts ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Balanced Scorecards ◽  
Flexible Management

During the last decades information technology (IT) management has changed. Starting from being a costly and rare resource, IT has evolved into a vital enabler for almost any kind of business today. This development demands for highly flexible management concepts allowing the business to actively control and govern IT performance. A widely used approach for multi-dimensional performance measurement in the context of IT management is the Balanced Scorecard (BSC). The authors aim at investigating the state of the art of IT BSC use through a comprehensive literature analysis. They also evaluate the adaptability of the different types of this concept to the most recent developments in IT management.

Balanced Scorecard – a strategic management system of the higher education institution

2015 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 167-176 ◽  
Author(s):  
Myroslava Hladchenko
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Strategic Management ◽  
Balanced Scorecard ◽  
Management System ◽  
General Framework ◽  
Education Institution ◽  
Higher Education Institution ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Balanced Scorecard ◽  
Balanced Scorecards

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to focus on the comparative analysis of the Balanced Scorecards of four higher education institutions and aims to define the general framework of the Balanced Scorecard for the higher education institution which concerns: the structure and elements of the Balanced Scorecard; development of the Balanced Scorecards on the different levels of the management system of the higher education institution; definition of the main functions of the Balanced Scorecard which it performs in the process of the strategic management of the German higher education institutions. Balanced Scorecard is analyzed as a strategic management system that translates a higher education institution’s strategy into a comprehensive set of performance measures that provides a framework for a strategic measurement and management system. Design/methodology/approach – The comparative content analysis of the Balanced Scorecards of one Austrian and three German higher education institutions – Johanes Gutenberg University Mainz, Münster University of Applied Sciences (Fachhochschule Münster), Cologne University of Applied Sciences (Fachhochschule Köln), Montan University Leoben. Findings – Using a comparative analysis of the Balanced Scorecards of four higher education institutions this paper argues that Balanced Scorecard provides a systemic view of the strategy of a higher education institution. It ensures a full complex framework for implementation and controlling of the strategy and sets a basis for further learning in the process of the strategic management of the higher education institution according to the scheme “plan-do-check-act”. Research limitations/implications – This paper provides a basis for the substantial further work on the development of the general framework of the Balanced Scorecard for the higher education institution. Practical implications – The framework presented in this paper can be used as the basis for the development of general framework of the Balanced Scorecard of the higher education institution. Social implications – The framework presented in this paper can be used as the basis for the development of general framework of the Balanced Scorecard of the higher education institution. Originality/value – This paper indicates the particularities of the structure and elements of the Balanced Scorecard, its development in the different levels of the management system of the higher education institution.

The fate of the balanced scorecard: alternative problematization and competing networks

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tharusha N. Gooneratne ◽  
Zahirul Hoque
Keyword(s):  
Control Systems ◽  
Balanced Scorecard ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Management Control ◽  
Sri Lankan ◽  
Specific System ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Balanced Scorecard ◽  
Study Approach ◽  
System Data

Purpose This paper aims to report on an empirical investigation of the fate of the balanced scorecard (BSC) approach in an organization. Design/methodology/approach Building on actor-network theory and using a qualitative case study approach, this study analyses how across time certain actors attempted to build a competing network in the organization to gain support for their underlying rationales for replacing the BSC with a budgeting system. Data were collected using interviews, observations and archival data from a Sri Lankan commercial bank. Findings This paper finds that despite the enthusiastic journey with all its potentials to be a sustainable accounting innovation, the attraction towards the BSC innovation by the organization appeared to be temporary because the BSC knowledge claims that were advanced by its promoters had not been widely accepted by those involved in the practice. Such a consequence of innovation diffusion appeared to be the result of the failure of the innovation promoters in coordinating the heterogeneous interests of various actors involved in the practice. This study concludes that the BSC failed to be sustained, amid varying ideologies and interests of powerful actors across time and opponent actors’ perceived deficiencies in its adapted design attributes. Research limitations/implications Although the findings relate to a Sri Lankan case, they offer important insight into how parallel, competing networks advocating different control systems may exist in an organization, and that the sustainability of a specific system may depend upon the efforts and the relative power of the advocators of that system. Practical implications This paper sheds useful insights for practitioners on the effective implementation of accounting innovations and managing management control systems in organizations amid tensions associated with competing networks. Originality/value The outcomes enhance the knowledge of how multiple networks operating in an organization could compete with one another, with the result that one network may fall apart while another network gains prominence in the corporate landscape across time, amid varying interests of key actors, their actions and interessement devices used.

Institutional contradiction and BSC implementation: comparative organizational analysis

2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 414-440 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nizar Mohammad Alsharari ◽  
Riyad Eid ◽  
Ali Assiri
Keyword(s):  
Balanced Scorecard ◽  
Relevant Literature ◽  
Implementation Process ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
Organizational Analysis ◽  
Accounting Systems ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Balanced Scorecard ◽  
Exploratory Investigation ◽  
Dialectical Perspective

Purpose This paper aims to explain institutional contradictions in the balanced scorecard (BSC) implementation process between organizations, which successfully implemented BSC. The purpose of this paper is to identify a comprehensive set of potential determinants influencing the successful implementation of BSC. Design/methodology/approach This study is an exploratory investigation into the BSC implementation based on a dialectical perspective. It uses the triangulation of data collection including interviews, documents and surveys. This also includes a comprehensive scrutiny of the relevant literature; a comprehensive analysis of case studies of BSC implementations in four organizations; and interviews and documents evidences that have already implemented or are in the process of implementing BSC. Findings The BSC was successfully implemented in the organizations, when the accounting systems introduced in these organization had already been institutionalized, that is, accepted and used on day-to-day basis. The dialectical perspective postulates that for change to become institutionalized in the organization, it needs to overcome the problem of embedded agency. This process of change is possible due to the accumulation of institutional contradiction that enables human praxis to introduce change (Seo and Creed, 2002). Research limitations/implications There is a need to empirically test and refine the proposed factors and explore relationships among the various variables by collecting data from organizations that have already implemented BSC. Practical implications The findings of this study are important and relevant to all the different-sized organizations in the different sectors and industries. This study also makes a significant contribution to society in general. Originality/value This paper contributes to the literature on organizational and accounting change that emphasis the crucial role that institutional contradiction plays in the process of BSC implementation. The findings of this study will help management in making crucial decisions and in resource allocations that are required to make the BSC implementation a success.

Developing a strategy map for environmental consulting firms

2018 ◽  
Vol 67 (5) ◽  
pp. 916-934 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naqi Sayed ◽  
Camillo Lento
Keyword(s):  
Balanced Scorecard ◽  
Customer Value ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Causal Link ◽  
Active Management ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Consulting Firms ◽  
Strategy Map ◽  
Environmental Consulting ◽  
Structured Approach

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify key performance indicators (KPIs) for environmental consulting firms, explore their causal linkages and develop a strategy map around the balanced scorecard (BSC) perspectives. Design/methodology/approach Relevant KPIs are identified through interviews and secondary data. Causal relationships between KPIs are explored by using the decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) method to analyze survey responses from senior partners and industry experts. Findings The results suggest that the learning and growth perspective plays a pivotal role for consulting firms. In addition, and contrary to views held by some, internal process perspective can play a significant cause factor role for service businesses. Among the KPIs which were identified as important, acquiring new skills/techniques, increased customer value proposition, personnel utilization, new product solutions and start to end solutions as KPIs exhibited both cause and effect characteristics. Practical implications The results isolate core KPIs which self-reinforce, complement each other and form a feedback loop. Active management and monitoring of these KPIs is likely to result aid a consulting firm in achieving strategic objectives. The strategy map developed in this study can also serve as a reference point for similar businesses. Originality/value This is the first known study to develop a strategy map for a consulting business by adopting a structured approach and identify causal link among BSC perspectives and their respective KPIs. The study provides further empirical evidence for usefulness of a structured approach such as the DEMATEL.

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