Excitant > Case studies and examples: Overview

Client Stories, Case Studies

Examples of our Strategic Balanced Scorecard experience
and other Client Case Studies

These are just a few case studies from a much wider collection of client projects. With strategy being such an element of our work, many clients do not want their case studies made public and we respect that.

Case studies: Summaries...(click on link for more detail and downloads or videos)

Case study summary	Sector	Application	Balanced Scorecard Generation
1) Cascading strategy for a manufacturing company: Managing uncertainty, Joined up working and developing a technology road map. A fourth Generation Strategic Balanced Scorecard roll-out - video case study Strategic Balanced Scorecard in Manufacturing (Unite Modular Systems)	Manufacturing	Market & Manufacturing strategy	4th
2) Engaging staff, implementing a regional strategy and demonstrating performance to the Board. The design and implementation of a Third Sector, Fourth Generation Balanced Scorecard. A Social Services Strategic Balanced Scorecard. Dimensions Balanced Scorecard Example (Dimensions)	3rd Sector/ Commercial Social Care	Regional Strategy roll-out	4th
3) Improving strategic (Board) and tactical (Management) reporting in a charity, using the Modern Balanced Scorecard approach at the . Balanced Scorecard in a Charity (Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund)	Charity	Strategy & Board Reporting	4th
4) Creating growth through synergy . Using the Balanced Scorecard to align strategy and identify synergy as companies are acquired across an International Technology Group. Strategy and Synergy Example: (Anglian Water Technology Group)	Utility. Project Engineering & Innovation	Strategy & Synergy across Business Units	3rd
5) Strategy implementation, transformation and changing incentives. Using the Strategic Balanced Scorecard approach to support strategy and change in a Water Utility. Strategy and Transformation Example (Anglian Water)	Water Utility	Transformation. Changing Incentives	3rd
6) Managing uncertainty and a changing environment. Two contrasting case studies demonstrating the role of the Tangible Future in Fourth Generation Balanced Scorecards. Managing uncertainty example (Peterborough City Council and Unite Modular Systems)	City Council & Manufacturing	Future thinking, Monitoring external environment	Contrasting 3rd & 4th Generation
7) Changing working practices and breaking down silos, through a comprehensive roll-out of Strategy Maps and Scorecards across a City Council. City Council Strategic Balanced Scorecard Example (Peterborough City Council)	City Council	Strategy roll-out. Joined up working	3rd & 4th
8) Capturing the strategy and identifying cost savings, for a major retailer using strategy maps and the balanced scorecard. Retailer Balanced Scorecard example (Boots the Chemist)	FTSE100 Retailer	Strategy, cost reduction & new product development	3rd
9) Aligning purpose, risk and reward partnership/consortium. A consortium wanted to ensure it was aligned. Articulating their joint strategy, identifying risk and reward and resolving issue. Aligning purpose, risk and reward partnership/consortium. (Consortium bidding for London Underground Contract)	Bid consortium, Alliance. Infrastructure.	Alliance alignment. Risk & reward	3rd
10) Improving Strategy, Management focus & performance in the NHS:  Helping management team set out their direction and strategy to become clearer about what they needed to deliver. Uses a Strategic Balanced Scorecard approach. Management Focus and Strategy Mapping in the NHS. (Leicester, Northampton & Rutland Workforce Development Confederation)	NHS Strategic Health & Workforce Development	Strategy: Management and alignment.	3rd & 4th
11) Improving management team dynamics in a small entrepreneurial team. Even in a close team in the same office , there can problems with team dynamics, concerns over who should work where, mis-matches of workload and some ambiguity over areas of responsibility. Improving Team dynamics in an entrepreneurial organisation. (Entrepreneurial Service Company)	Service company	Strategy & Team dynamics	3rd
12) IT Strategy in the Banking Sector. This short case study describes the formulation and of an IT Strategy for the IT department of an international bank. Using an IT Balanced Scorecard for an IT Strategy. (A more detailed version is available by request.)	Retail Banking	IT Strategy Aligning to organisational strategy	3rd
14) Aligning risk and reward in a consortium. A consortium asked us to help them align risks and rewards during their bid process, This case study explains the approach we took to aligning risks and rewards before it was too late in the bid process. Aligning risk and reward in a bid team	Bid team. Consortium or partnership	Aligning risks and rewards	Various
15) They don't get the strategy!. From the Chief Executives position the problems seems to be, "they don't get the strategy". However the problem went much deeper. Strategy only stick with support from the top.	Retail	Management communication of their strategy	Various
16) How do we learn as a management team? Team meetings focused on understanding and analysing results and measures and reviewing performance. The main question was, "Why are they not delivering?" The strategic and business planning process is a massive one off event delivered in a a tablet of stone. How management meets determines the learning process	Management team behaviour	Moving to a learning strategy	4th
More) Diagnosing Strategy Diseases: Almost every organisation has a strategy in some form or another, so that is not the problem. Many fail for various reasons. The problems usually lie mainly in the planning, detailing, communication and execution. So if the organisation were a living organism, with a disease, what would it be like?  Here are some examples of those diseases and their symptoms. It is a light-hearted look, with a serious message. What prevents strategy happening and how to overcome them	Series of Cameo case study	Strategy execution, alignment and management behaviours	Various

See below for more information and where you can follow links to the specific case studies...

Case studies: Detail...

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1) Cascading strategy in a manufacturing company: new markets, Joined up working and technology road map, using a Fourth Generation Strategic Balanced Scorecard

Keywords techniques: Tangible Future, Strategy maps, Balanced Scorecard, Technology road map, joined up working
Keywords: Application: Design and Manufacturing, new markets, uncertain environment, developing technology.

The manufacturing division of this FTSE350 company wanted to break into new markets, serve existing markets better and create joined up design and manufacturing. being an innovative company they decided they would use a Fourth Generation Balanced Scorecard approach to help them capture, refine and cascade their strategy through the organisation. The Managing Director also believed it would also help the management team work better together, take a wider view and help the teams below them develop their capability.

This case study describes the techniques behind the approach using a Tangible future to map our the environment, assumptions and pressures on the business. Using strategy map and scorecards to capture the strategy, ensuring that the drivers of change and leading indicators where clear. Using a technology road map to set out what new technologies were needed during design and manufacturing to address the new and existing markets.

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2) Dimensions: Designing and implementing a Third Sector, Fourth Generation Balanced Scorecard.

Keywords techniques: Fourth Generation balanced scorecards, Strategy maps, Ownership and adoption, Judgement & Evidence
Keywords: Application: Social Services, Third sector, Regional Strategy, Comparing regional performance, Board reporting.

This case study describes the design, use implementation and use of a fourth generation balanced scorecard at Dimensions. Dimensions is a commercial organisation, in the third sector, providing outsourced social services for people with Learning Disabilities. Dimensions helps people with learning disabilities to live the lives they want. We helped them develop a regional strategy map and balanced scorecard that reflects their strategy, helps Regional Directors to manage their regions better and works through to the services to ultimately improve the lives of the people they support. This is an extensive case study of a fourth generation balanced scorecard that can be applied to commercial, public sector and Social Service organisations.

Dimensions fourth generation balanced scorecard case study (Includes written case study and detailed video case study.)

 

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3) Strategy implementation, transformation and changing incentives, Using a Balanced Scorecard

Keywords: Strategic balanced scorecards, Strategy maps, Ownership of executives, changing incentives and rewards
Application: Water industry, Commercial organisations, Regulation & de-regulation

In this series of three video case studies, Phil Jones, of Excitant Ltd interviews Steve Lunn.  Steve explains how he has used the Balanced Scorecard Management approach to support two strategy and transformation projects while at Anglian Water.  Phil originally introduced the approach to Steve and his team. 

Part 1: Strategy, Balanced Scorecard and engaging a team
If you have ever wondered how to get engagement in a team this will interest you. In part one, Steve talks about how he used the balanced scorecard to engage the customer services directorate in the new strategy, where they addressed them focus of the team and joined up working across the organisation.

Part 2: Transformation, Balanced Scorecard, Engagement and change.
If you have ever wanted to engage an executive team, this video will help. In part two, Steve explains how he later used the approach as a part of a larger transformation project across the whole company. This provides a good view of how to engage the management team, engaging the wider stakeholders,  

Part 3: Transformation, Balanced Scorecard, Incentives & rewards.
If you have ever considered revising the incentive and reward structure in your organisation, then this video will give you some sound advice. In part three Steve describes how the ground was prepared during the transformation project so that incentives and rewards could be changed successfully. This included Executive rewards and also the rewards of the rest of the organisation.

Read more and watch the Balanced Scorecard for strategy and transformation video case studies

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4) Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund Balanced Scorecard. Using the Fourth Generation Balanced Scorecard in a Charity.

Keywords techniques: Fourth Generation balanced scorecards, Strategy maps, Ownership and adoption, Judgement & Evidence
Keywords: Application: Charity, Third sector, Managing funds, Beneficiaries, Board reporting, Charity effectiveness and performance.

There is a need to demonstrate effectiveness and performance across the charity sector. But how do we do it? How do we demonstrate the efficacy of our projects and activities? How do we demonstrate value to our beneficiaries? How do we demonstrate to the Trustee Board that the strategy is being executed? The usual answer is to immediately look for ways to measure performance.

At the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund (the Fund), they took a more subtle approach: an approach that involved maps of their strategy and a modern, strategic, balanced scorecard. The Fund went beyond simply attempting to measure activity and results. They moved to clearly showing what they are doing and how those activities will deliver results. Even in an innovative, lean, charity like the Fund, the techniques used and the process of developing these modern balanced scorecards has had positive effects.

This case study explains the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund’s approach and the benefits the Fund has identified from their charity balanced scorecard: This case study describes using a modern Balanced Scorecard approach to improve the effectiveness and performance of a charity. This is also available as a shorter article from "Trust and Foundation News", the journal of the Association of Charitable Foundations (ACF), June 2009.

Read the case study, "Introducing a modern balanced scorecard in the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund"

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5) Managing uncertainty using the Strategic Balanced Scorecard Approach:

Two contrasting case studies demonstrating the role of the Tangible Future in Fourth Generation Balanced Scorecards.

Keywords techniques: Future thinking, Strategy formulation, Fourth Generation balanced scorecards, Tangible Future, Developing Management Consensus, anticipating uncertainty and risks.
Keywords: Application: City Council balanced scorecard, Manufacturing Company balanced scorecard, Management team meetings, monitoring the external environment.

This paper provides two contrasting case studies for the future thinking stage of modern balanced scorecard development. One provides a fifteen year view from the perspective of a city council. The other provides a five year view of a manufacturing company's market. Both use a detailed picture of the future (Tangible Future) to build a common understanding amongst the management team before setting the rate of ambition for the strategy, strategy map and balanced scorecard. This is first case study is typical of third generation balanced scorecards using what sometimes gets called a destination statement or future statement.

In the second, case study, the Tangible Future is also used to identify the assumptions and uncertainties in the environment and market. This expanded the management team's balanced scorecard, so they could monitor the external environment, to ensure their strategy was still appropriate, as their strategy was implemented. This is a part of Excitant’s Fourth Generation Balanced Scorecard approach.

Using a Tangible Future: Two contrasting case studies.

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6) Using Balanced Scorecards to create growth through synergy across an International Group of Technology Companies:

Keywords techniques: Strategy map, Strategy mapping, Cascading strategy maps, Measures that tell the story, Creating synergy.
Keyword Application: Engineering and Technology, Innovation, International Group, creating growth, Synergy amongst companies.

This detailed case study describes how strategy maps were used to design the balanced scorecards for a newly formed group of international technology companies. This group of companies grew from £80m to £210m over five years. The approach identified where synergy was available from amongst the various companies. The balanced scorecard was then designed to ensure that the synergy was exploited.

This case study highlights some of the core principles of a modern, strategy map based balanced scorecards. If you apply the principles that these strategy maps use, you will have an effective tool to communicate and manage your strategy.

This case study is designed to demonstrate how strategy maps are used to discuss strategy, create ownership and how they evolve during that process. A testament to their ownership and adoption, this client was still using the same structure of strategy map and balanced scorecard five years later.

International Technology Company Balanced Scorecard synergy Case Study (pdf)

International Technology Company Balanced Scorecard Cascade case study (Video)

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7) Savings costs whilst articulating the Strategy in a Major Retailer: Strategy Mapping and Strategic Balanced Scorecards

Keywords: Retail Strategy and Balanced Scorecard, Strategic balanced scorecard, Strategy maps, Corporate Balanced Scorecard, Themes and strategy, project alignment, organisational alignment and cost savings

Application: Retail Balanced Scorecard, Executive team, Corporate objectives, Corporate strategy map. Managing growth and cost savings

This video case study describes some of the work with the Executive team of a major retailer which helped then clarify their strategy and identify substantial cost savings from amongst their projects.

Want to save your organisation money through better alignment. Watching this video you will learn about how to design a corporate strategy map and also how to align projects so that you can identify which are strategic and which not. In this case the alignment of £100m of projects identified £40m that were not strategic and were candidates for being cut. This provided an excellent cost saving opportunity for the retailer at a time when they were looking for cost savings.

In response to the actions of competitors and to address the problem, "They don't get the strategy" the Chief Executive decided they wanted a corporate Balanced Scorecard that would eventually cascade down to all their retail outlets.

Corporate Retail Balanced Scorecard and Cost Savings Case Study

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8) City Council Balanced Scorecard. Changing working practices through a comprehensive roll-out of Strategy maps and Scorecards across a City Council

Keywords: techniques: Balanced Scorecard, Strategy map, Tangible future, cascade, Management team facilitation
City Council Balanced Scorecard, Joined up working, Breaking down silos

We helped this City Council to develop a third generation balanced scorecard across all their departments including Education, Environmental services, Community services, Contract services, and the Chief Executive's office.

Our approach introduced joined up working across the council. Rather than re-organising the management team and their staff were encouraged to work across departmental silos in a joined up manner, with shared balanced scorecard objectives. Strategy maps were used to cascade the overall approach through to each department.

This case study includes the Audit Commission's positive comments on the approach. This case study was also documented in Public Servant magazine.

Using a modern Balanced Scorecard approach to eliminate silos and communicate the strategy, in a city council

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9) Aligning purpose, risk and reward in a bid consortium.

A consortium of five organisations were bidding for a large and prestigious public-private initiative. We were brought in by one organisation to help the bid manager ensure the partners were aligned. We helped them develop an overall strategy and discuss where issues were causing under performance.

A strategy map was used to explain how risks were being shared.

The consortium brought together five organisations, with differing skills and contributions, to the table. This was a big opportunity for them all, with high pay-offs, high bid costs and various risks to be managed. However, the overall bid manager recognised that problems were brewing. The consortium members disagreed on both means and ends, as well as contribution, risks and rewards. Even within individual companies, there were differences. We were asked to help the consortium make explicit their joint and individual objectives so they could align them. Our role was to help the key players confront these issues amongst themselves so they could start to resolve them.

Aligning purpose, risk and reward in a partnership or consortium

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10) Helping a Management team focus on their strategy and what matters.

Strategy mapping in the NHS: Improving strategy, focus and performance in the NHS. Helping a management team set out their direction and strategy and become clearer about what they needed to deliver, using a Strategic Balanced Scorecard.

The client was the Workforce Development Confederation (WDC) of a Strategic Health Authority (SHA). This WDC had a budget of over £100m for training and developing health professions within its region. WDCs support a wide variety of health trusts in their area and are frequently pulled in many directions with limited budgets. WDCs have to look at the future demands on the workforce commission training for Health professionals. They also act like the HR department of its associated SHA, supporting the recruitment and retention of health care professionals, setting career development paths, supporting leadership and assisting with organisational change in the various health trusts.

The Chief Executive of the WDC described her need as:

1. Strategy: Help us focus on what matters, communicate it effectively and demonstrate progress and achievement.
2. Performance management role: Improve decision making for us and our partners
3. As a team: Develop our skills, capabilities and joint working. Help us create a greater understanding of each other's roles and contribution

Strategy mapping in the NHS

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Or simply, give us a call and we can talk about your requirements