Balanced Scorecards and Strategy Maps

Many firms have reasonable strategies but fail in the marketplace because they fail to execute their strategies.  They fail to execute their strategies because their so-called leaders do not clearly communicate their strategies to those responsible for executing them (Bossidy, Charan, & Burck, 2002).  If a strategy is to be successful, the means to execute that strategy must be focused, clear, shared, and aligned.  This tutorial explains how to use balanced scorecards and strategy maps for developing, communicating, and executing a strategy.  This tutorial argues that leaders who cannot map their strategy do not understand it – and cannot execute it.  Kaplan and Norton recommend balanced scorecards and strategy maps with four perspectives in the sequence:  learning & growth - internal - customers - financial.  This paper argues that a causal map is a more general and simpler approach for creating and communicating a strategy.