The Balanced Scorecard has transformed the way in which organizations track and steer their performance, and is now a popular tool among large companies.

What challenges arise when assembling a Balanced Scorecard for a business?

(See Kaplan, R. and Norton, D. 1996. The Balanced Scorecard, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, MA. See also www.balancedscorecard.org.)

Continue reading »

strategy+business explains how IT works best when tied closely to business goals, which using an Enterprise Architecture  helps ensure. Though the article explains little of what exactly an EA is, there’s plenty on the Web about it, including professional training and certification. An EA seems to rely on having a sound foundation of an ‘Operating Model’ of the business, which in turn ties together strategy maps, goals and policies.

But how do we ensure that operating model is indeed rigorous? I would start from a strategy dynamics analysis, which is theoretically rigorous, encompasses resources and capabilities, and can expand to incorporate business processes of whatever level of detail is required, but I guess most EAs don’t use that approach.

The article suggests that using EA to align technology with strategy is helpful, so it would be good to hear of any sources that clarify exactly how EA experts ensure they get a rock-solid strategic architecture on which to build.

A large Management Development community I track has been discussing how we could have prepared people better for the current troubles, and some have advocated the Balanced Scorecard [BSC]. I have used BSC in strategy teaching for some years, and come across BSCs in many companies. My impression is that, whilst it is a valuable extension to standard financial reporting systems, it has some limitations as a tool for managing strategy – limitations that the down-turn has exposed quite sharply.

Continue reading »

© 2012 Talking about strategy Suffusion theme by Sayontan Sinha