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Growth through Synergy

A Strategic Balanced Scorecard for an International Technology Group

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 case study demonstrates how strategy maps are developed and used by working through an example from a commercial organisation. This group of technology companies planned to grow from £80m to £210m over five years. through acquisition, organic growth and synergy between the companies. 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.

For those who may never have used a strategy map alongside a balanced scorecard, this case study provides a detailed example. For those familiar with strategy maps, this case study demonstrates how to use strategy maps to elicit strategy, developing themes of a strategy map, and how to cascade a set of strategy maps across a group. The strategy maps also show the use of the fourth generation values perspective. The example also shows how measures can be chosen to ensure they tell the story of the strategy just as well as the strategy map.

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

Most case studies describe the finished strategy map. You might call that the “here a miracle happened” approach. In contrast, this case study describes the thinking behind how and why the strategy maps were designed, introduced and developed in the way they were. They deliberately expose the iterative nature of the development of the set of strategy maps.

In all strategy map design you have to think about two things:

  • The content of the strategy map – that is the reflection of the organisation’s strategy
  • The process of strategy mapping, which is how you elicit the strategy, develop ownership of the strategy maps and ensure they are used to bring about change and improvement.

The approach of this case study is designed to help you understand how to think about your strategy maps and the strategy mapping process.

This case study demonstrates 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 five years later.

International Technology Company Balanced Scorecard Case Study

There is a video version of this international technology company balanced scorecard case study here