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Alasdair Macnab, FCMA, CGMA, director of corporate services for the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, has adapted the Balanced Scorecard to create a new way of measuring the HR and financial costs of meeting strategic objectives. In this article he shares how his innovative approach, coupled with the Executive Strategy Manager, enable strategic objective budgeting. The system he has built offers insight into the input costs for each objective on the scorecard which can then be juxtaposed with the achievement of the objectives, realized through the associated measure performance.
Read the article at: http://www.cgma.org/Magazine/Features/Pages/Strategic-Objective-Costing.aspx
Balanced Scorecard,
BSC Hall of Fame,
Business Leadership,
Client Success,
Competitive Advantage,
Decision Making,
ESM Features,
ESM General Information,
ESM Tips and Tricks,
Innovation,
Operational Reporting,
Reporting,
Strategy Maps,
Sustainability
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Posted
2/8/12
@ 2:51 PM
by ESM Team ESM Team
Drs. Kaplan and Norton recently shared with us the future of the most powerful management concept of the past 75 years (according to Harvard Business School). As published in the CGMA inaugural issue a few days ago, the gurus lay out five key guidelines for this framework in the future:
1. Collaborate with external constituents, such as key suppliers, customers and alliance partners, to develop a strategy map that describes and communicates the strategic relationship; once developed, the map and scorecard are used to govern and guide the relationship.
2. Realize that cities and provinces, and even nations, around the world are using our framework for describing and communicating strategies for competitive advantage, and then successfully implementing their visions with our strategy execution system.
3. Use the strategy map as a jumping-off point for risk management, especially the identification and management of strategic risks.
4. Use the strategy map as a central change management tool.
5. Expand the role for analytics in the strategy execution system.
Read more at:
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Balanced Scorecard,
BSC Hall of Fame,
Business Leadership,
Client Success,
Competitive Advantage,
Decision Making,
ESM General Information,
Initiative Management,
Innovation,
Operational Reporting,
Reporting,
Risk Management,
Strategy Maps,
Sustainability
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Posted
2/8/12
@ 2:48 PM
by ESM Team ESM Team
The development team is putting the finishing touches on by far the largest iteration of the ESM6 build, measures. Pure agile gurus would have encouraged us to break this iteration up into 8 separate iterations given its size but because of our skilled developers, we were able to still pull off a long but very successful build! Unlimited data series, Excel based tables, in line data field calculations with compatible Excel fields, automatic target schedule setting, multiple measure charts per data set, data sourcing, and excel input/output for easy data management in ESM6 make this our biggest achievement yet.
Historically, ESM required final calculated numbers such as a target, actual, variance, and forecast. With ESM 6, if desired, those raw data calculations can be done right in ESM or easily sourced in from excel by the end user. We will also enable period groups for month to date, quarter to date and year to date summary series. This means you can track your total performance for a period in time without manual computations. Our measure charting enhancements should remove any restrictions users have felt in the past with complex measure calculations, roll up, and visual charting. We are very excited to get this out into beta testing later in 2012. Get ready!
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Imagine your strategic elements (themes, objectives, measures, driver measures, initiatives, initiative KPIs, and milestones) as an alignment “web” or “family tree” through which there are causal relationships. While some of these relationships are close, say 50-75% of their performance feed into the next element’s performance, others are distant, and perhaps say only have a 3-5% impact on another element from the same scorecard or from a cascaded scorecard. If there were only a way to represent that impact that would be wicked cool.
Now there is. The team has completed the build out of the ESM6 automatic performance status indicator setting iteration. If you want to in ESM6, you can activate this capability to have milestones and initiative KPI performance feed into the overall initiative performance. Initiative performance can then feed up into objective level performance. Similarly, driver measure and cascaded measure performance can feed up into strategic measures from both a performance status indicator level and at the raw data level. Strategic measures, cascaded objectives, and initiative performance indicators can then feed up into objectives and finally, objectives into themes. The ESM team is getting ready to automate your performance status indicators. Are you? We look forward to sharing this new capability with you soon.
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Now that the Execution Premium book by Drs. Kaplan and Norton has been out in the market for a number of years, let's take a look at the benefits that can be realized through the XPP implementation in your organizaiton. Let's take it a couple stages at a time. Stage 1 and 2 looked at Develop the Strategy and Translate the Strategy, stages 3 and 4: Align the Organization with the Strategy and 4: Plan Operations. Now let's look at stages 5: Monitor and Learn and 6: Test and Adapt. In these last two stages, strategy becomes part of the fabric of the organization's management process and governance model right alongside operational review meetings. A business intelligence capability nees to be formalized and linked to the strategy. As part of testing the strategy, new insights should be shared, and strategic and operational processes can be altered to ensure maximum effectiveness. This feedback loop brings you back to strategy refresh, translation and alignment, thus closing the loop on the XPP management system. Some of the benefits realized in these final stages include:
STAGE 5: MONITOR AND LEARN
- Develops a BI competency center to assure accurate, timely data to improve decision making
- Develops an analytic information architecture to harness data, information, and insight
- Creates a governance process and calendar to manage strategy as a process that delivers results
- Conducts strategy and operational review meetings to ensure strategy execution is on track
STAGE 6: TEST AND ADAPT
- Confirms effectiveness of the strategy
- Models business and operational processes to optimize ability to execute the strategy
- Analyzes results in order to make necessary modifications to achieve performance outcomes. Provides direction on what is working and what needs improvement
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Balanced Scorecard,
BSC Hall of Fame,
Business Leadership,
Client Success,
Competitive Advantage,
Decision Making,
ESM General Information,
Initiative Management,
Innovation,
Reporting,
Sustainability
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Posted
9/14/11
@ 3:42 PM
by ESM Team ESM Team
Now that the Execution Premium book by Drs. Kaplan and Norton has been out in the market for a number of years, let's take a look at the benefits that can be realized through the XPP implementation in your organizaiton. Let's take it a couple stages at a time. Stage 1 and 2 looked at Develop the Strategy and Translate the Strategy. Now let's look at stages 3 and 4: Align the Organization With the Strategy and 5: Plan Operations. In these stages, the strategy has been clarified with scorecards and strategy maps at the enterprise level so now they need to be cascaded down into the business and support areas to ensure vertical alignment. Individuals might employ personal Balanced Scorecards and development plans to link the performance review process with the strategy. A communication program around the strategy is also paramount. The organization can begin to link strategy to key processes, driver models, and dashboards. Rolling forecasts and dynamic resource allocation are often found around the operational planning step.
STAGE 3: ALIGN THE ORGANIZATION WITH THE STRATEGY
- Defines the corporate role so that organizational units receive strategic guidance & direction
- Cascades strategy maps and scorecards to ensure organizational alignment to the strategy
- Leverages synergies between corporate, SBU, shared services, and other units to ensure alignment
- Communicates the strategy so that everyone understands his/her role in executing it
- Aligns team and individual goals and incentives to ensure the behavioral changes required for success
STAGE 4: PLAN OPERATIONS
- Identifies critical processes required to execute the strategy
- Establishes cross-functional business teams to drive performance across organizational boundaries
- Develops rolling forecasts and dynamic resource allocation to link strategy and operations
- Implements driver based planning to identify the critical levers of performance
- Creates operational dashboards that identify the key performance indicators that drive performance
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Balanced Scorecard,
BSC Hall of Fame,
Business Leadership,
Client Success,
Competitive Advantage,
Decision Making,
ESM Development Team,
ESM Features,
ESM General Information,
ESM Tips and Tricks,
Initiative Management,
Innovation,
Operational Reporting,
Personal Balanced Scorecard,
Reporting,
Risk Management,
Software as a Service,
Strategy Maps,
Sustainability
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Posted
9/7/11
@ 2:25 PM
by ESM Team ESM Team
Now that the Execution Premium book by Drs. Kaplan and Norton has been out in the market for a number of years, let's take a look at the benefits that can be realized through the XPP implementation in your organizaiton. Let's take it a couple stages at a time. Stage 1 and 2 of 6: Develop the Strategy and Translate the Strategy. These stages are where the organization performs S.W.O.T. analysis, Gap and shift statements, identifies key overarching strategies, clarifies the mission and vision and key risks. Then the strategy is developed into Balanced Scorecards and strategy maps. Typically an Office of Strategy Management (OSM) or other like group/individual is tapped to manage the strategy implementation and execution.
STAGE 1: DEVELOP THE STRATEGY
- Defines how shareholder value will be created to achieve new levels of performance
- Identifies required changes from current to future state so the organization understands it
- Quantifies vision, values, mission, objectives, and risks so they are measurable
- Analyzes strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to determine course of action
- Formulates strategy so that the entire organization can execute it
STAGE 2: TRANSLATE THE STRATEGY
- Clarifies strategy with a strategy map to produce a one-page action plan that works
- Develops a Balanced Scorecard to specify objectives, targets, measures, and initiatives
- Identifies key risk indicators that must be managed to avoid failure to execute
- Focuses on initiatives with the greatest impact to accelerate time to results
- Allocates resources dynamically to produce the most effective outcomes
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Balanced Scorecard,
BSC Hall of Fame,
Business Leadership,
Client Success,
Competitive Advantage,
ESM Features,
Initiative Management,
Innovation,
Operational Reporting,
Personal Balanced Scorecard,
Reporting,
Strategy Maps,
Sustainability
|
Posted
8/31/11
@ 3:19 PM
by ESM Team ESM Team
Bain & Company released their 2011 Management Tools & Trends report with the Balanced Scorecard coming in at the 6th position. There were 11,000 respondents and the geographical makeup was 40% North America, 30% EMEA, 20% APAC and 10% Latin America. The usage in 2010 was 47% and the 2011 projected usage is 63%, mainly driven by emerging market executives who are seeking to improve their organization’s strategy execution capabilities.
ESM continues to make it's mark on earth, positively impacting governments and private organizations around the world with their ability to execute strategy.
The purpose of our trip to Kuwait was to install ESM, interface with government leadership, discuss project objectives, and create alignment between the process and technology so that the government is positioned well for success. Although the Balanced Scorecard and ESM has been heavily used within governments around the world, there have been very few implementations for the entire country's government. Kuwait Government is on the Vanguard with strategy execution and with it's implementation of the Balanced Scorecard program.
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Judging from recent interviews and articles, it appears Balanced Scorecard co-creator Bob Kaplan’s new favorite case study is Volkswagen Brazil. In particular, he is impressed with the company's ability to communicate strategy to its 22,000 employees.
Kaplan is particularly charmed by a Volkswagen robot that roams the corporate premises and “talks” to employees about strategy. Giga, who has the face of a VW Beetle’s hood and wheels as feet, makes star appearances at employee gatherings and also shows up in comic strips to affirm strategic goals for employees.
This thoughtful and creative approach to strategy communications humanizes the idea of strategy, makes it fun and accessible, and gets people talking about it. It has also contributed to a cultural change inside the company, which, in turn, enabled a major financial turnaround.
For companies that can't afford to build a robot, there is a less expensive and more interactive approach available—if interactivity is measured by the vibrancy of human-to-human, rather than human-to-robot, dialogue. With the right selection of social media tools, you can leverage your corporate intranet (or a 3rd party platform) and raise strategy communications to a whole new level. Let’s look at some of the more common social media tools to see how they can be used in the strategy communication process:
Blogs… for Strategy Execution
According to Wikipedia, “Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video.” If the purpose of your strategy communication intranet is to communicate strategy, you don’t want to let every employee blog on it (just as you wouldn’t let every employee on stage at a company meeting to discuss strategy). Only your CEO and other executives responsible for communicating strategic objectives should launch a blog series under the banner of strategy communications. Depending on how “young-at-heart” your executives are, they may create and post the blogs themselves. More likely, your communications department will manage the operations of the blog. For example, if an executive is more comfortable speaking than writing, your communication team can film him and post the video entries as a video blog.
Online Discussions…for Strategy Execution
Company employees can comment on executive blogs, but the primary purpose of the strategy blog is for leaders to broadcast the message to the field. An online discussion forum is different. Discussion forums are inherently a more democratic, interactive form of exchange. There is an expectation that the person who begins the discussion will carefully listen to responses and continue to engage as the discussion unfolds. The best discussions begin with an honest question and an appeal for help. These forum discussions are the perfect complement to a more structured application for Balanced Scorecard creation and control.
Private Groups Collaboration…for Strategy Execution
You might not be ready to communicate the strategy to the entire organization. For example, Scott Nadler describes ERM’s strategic communication program in stages, starting with a private discussion between a dozen executive insiders, then to a group of 40, and finally to all 3,000 at the company. The access rights to your online collaboration space should mirror this off-line reality. For example, you might choose to launch a private group for the 40 people inside your own intranet or as a private subgroup in a more public community such as Palladium XPC.
In summary, you have a great new set of inexpensive social tools to help you communicate strategy. If they are deployed carelessly, they will be a waste of time and a distraction. However, with the right matching of specific social tools and oversight to keep the discussions focused, you will find an effective new communication program. This channel will only become more powerful – even transformative -- as more “digital natives” come into the organization.
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Several of our product experts recently returned from Palladium’s 2010 Americas Summit, held this year in La Jolla, CA. It was a great conference – strong attendance, great speakers, and considerable insight to be gained from both the case studies presented, and personal conversation.
As our experts provided attendees with live demos, they recount numerous occurrences of present clients passing by, and joining in to offer first-hand testimonials. Thanks to them, and to all of you, for being such being such strong proponents of ESM. Hearing the stories of your successes is valuable to those looking for more information, and also makes us truly proud to be a supporting part of your strategy management programs.
Recurrent obstacles identified by attendees we spoke with included 1) employee engagement and 2) effective communication of strategy and strategic performance. As indicated in the third step of the XPP, Alignment requires organizations to align business units AND employees alike to the strategy. In doing so, they often times overlook the most critical component of alignment– communication. Communication is paramount in a Strategy-Focused Organization to develop buy-in and commitment to the strategy at an individual level.
Over the last decade, ESM has made addressing this commonly shared weakness a priority. In continually improving the product to support evolving need, two new features were released this month: a second generation release of ESM’s Personal Balanced Scorecard component – PBSC 2.0, as well as a capability for integrating ESM with SharePoint.
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Despite its value, most organizations' written, objective-level performance analysis is generally not very good. Most performance analysis does not explain the data, discuss its underlying causes and implications, or integrate it into a broader discussion of strategic performance and environmental trends. My recent reading of strategy review reports of a handful of Palladium Balanced Scorecard Hall of Fame for Executing Strategy® organizations proved to me that even exemplars of strategy execution sometimes fall short in their written performance analysis, thus missing valuable opportunities.
Fortunately, this problem can be remedied. Writing insightful, actionable performance analysis is a skill that can be learned. Through Palladium's work guiding dozens of organizations in strategy reporting, we've identified several common pitfalls in performance analysis that performance analysis writers need to learn to avoid.
Pitfall 1: Focusing Only on the Measure Data, without Explaining or Interpreting
Often, performance analysis merely regurgitates what the data already show, or simply explains the components of the corresponding measure(s). What good does that do? Analysis writers need to dig deeper for more contextual data that might explain the performance. What is the reason for the last period's measure performance? How do we explain any period to period trends? What does the measure's outcome tell you about the performance of its corresponding objective?
Pitfall #2: Omitting Qualitative Information
Numbers are concrete, and objective, and therefore make people more comfortable and confident. But they don't tell the whole story. And they can indeed mislead, whether inadvertently or not (think of all the ways statistics can be presented to support any side of an argument). Qualitative information can often reveal the reasons behind the numbers better than the deepest dive into the detailed data can. It would seem self-evident that qualitative information is a critical element for understanding what drives performance. Yet far too often, such information is absent in written analysis.
Pitfall #3: Ignoring the Reasons for the Performance Result
Sometimes all the analysis in the world won't yield a definitive explanation for a performance result. Yet even when there is no certain answer, it is always better to offer a hypothesis than to forgo explanation altogether. For decision makers, there is little that is more unsatisfying than to ask “Why” and be told “I have no idea.” Offering a thoughtful educated guess will at least get the conversation started.
Pitfall #4: Avoiding Any Discussion of Risk
No one likes to be the messenger of bad news, but addressing risk openly and accurately is the key to avoiding unexpected declines in performance and greater risk. Even in our age of heightened risk awareness, risk and strategy are still often viewed as separate areas, one involving all that could go wrong, and the other, all that an organization hopes for. In reality, the two are inextricably linked. The strategy represents a hypothesis of the way the business operates and what activities are crucial to attain the ultimate desired outcome. Each strategic objective is achieved by successfully managing its performance drivers. Since it's a given that there are specific risks that can impede each performance driver; why would such risks not be part of the strategic conversation?
Pitfall #5: Focusing on Details at the Expense of the Bigger Picture
For any number of reasons, performance analysis writers often delve into one aspect of an objective’s performance, overlooking the objective-level view. In fact, it is not uncommon for performance analysis to not even indicate whether the objective is being achieved. Writers must step back from all of the quantitative and qualitative data they have collected and approach objective-level performance analysis by first drafting a summary statement about the objective's overall performance.
To read the full length article, log into the ESM, select Resources: Libraries: BSR: Complete Issues: and select the following issues.
David McMillan, “Five Pitfalls of Writing Performance Analysis,” Balanced Scorecard Report, November – December 2010
…or…
David McMillan, with Barnaby Donlon, “How to Write Performance Analysis That Truly Enhances Decision Making,” Balanced Scorecard Report, November – December 2008
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This is the thought-provoking title of an article by David J. Collis and Michael G. Rukstad in the April 2008 issue of the Harvard Business Review. The authors’ argument is that “It’s a dirty little secret: Most executives cannot articulate the objective, scope, and advantage of their business in a simple statement. If they can’t, neither can anyone else.” This proves to be absolutely true. If executives can’t, no one else in the organization will be able to. And those organizations that don’t understand their strategy are unlikely to execute them successfully. As the HBR authors point out, failure to have a simple and clear statement of strategy can lead many organizations, executives and employees at all levels to become frustrated because no clear and articulated strategy exists for the company.
Many business leaders often think they have a strategic statement, when in reality it is anything but that. The strategy as the authors emphasize has three critical components - an objective, scope and an advantage. The first element of the strategic statement is the objective. Organizations tend to confuse their statements of values or their mission with their strategic objective. Strategic objective is not the initiative described in an annual budget, for example, "maximizing shareholder wealth by exceeding customer expectations….” Strategic objective is the reason why the organization exists. After the objective is formulated, the next thing to discuss is the advantage your organization offers. As the author states, competitive advantage is how do you do things differently, better, or more efficiently? Finally decide on the scope of the organization, what you are doing and what you are not doing. Putting together objective, advantage and scope gives a clear and concise strategic statement. A well-crafted strategic statement will be brief but clear to the employees inside the company as well as externally to the suppliers and customers of the business. Importantly, the strategic statement differentiates the business from the competition.
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Palladium’s research also involved surveying 101 organizations representing a wide range of industries in order to explore the relationship between their management practices and the performance results they have achieved. Among our most important findings:
IT, if aligned well with strategy, plays a very significant role in determining the ultimate chance of execution success. Integrated, end-to-end software solutions, together with operations governed by robust strategy management systems, constitute a proven method by which organizations and their entire business networks can achieve the Execution Premium. This Palladium white paper reviews the methodology used to align strategy to operations, drills into the three components of operational excellence and walks through how the 6 stage Execution Premium model can help organizations achieve healthy operational alignment. View this and other white papers at Palladium’s white paper site.
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I just came across an excellent account of the Balanced Scorecard effort undergone at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. In this paper, BSC champion and strategy director, Alasdair Macnab, along with Chris Carr and Falconer Michell from University of Edinburgh tell the implementation story. They focus their research on how the Balanced Scorecard approach can be successfully adopted for nonprofit businesses. The team also reviews why the Executive Strategy Manager was selected as the preferred solution and how it streamlined the data reporting and presentation while providing leadership and employees froma cross the organization critical line of sight into the strategy.
Key findings cited from the paper include:
Just as strategies are specific to an organisation, the balanced scorecard (BSC)/strategy map can and should be adapted to suit an individual organisation to leverage the full power of the BSC system.
• The effort and commitment required from senior management involved in transforming strategy management processes should not be underestimated as individuals/departments will become more accountable for their actions, particularly in the public sector, and resistance to change may be experienced as a consequence.
• If an effective costing system is developed, such as the one described in this report, management will see how their staff are directing their efforts, particularly important in knowledge based organisations.
• With their intimate knowledge of the organisation, the management accountant is well placed to become very involved or direct the transformation process to manage strategy execution leading to improved effectiveness/profitability of the organisation. In this way the management accountant becomes more of a strategic partner to the business.
• The research relates primarily to the practitioner who should find it helpful as the work is based on research subject to academic rigour but is translated into a pragmatic approach via the case study; thereby demonstrating its usefulness to a real organisation.
See:” Implementation of the balanced scorecard and an alternative costing system at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh,” available at the following link:
Access the full report here
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Balanced Scorecard,
BSC Hall of Fame,
Business Leadership,
Client Success,
Competitive Advantage,
Decision Making,
ESM Development Team,
ESM Features,
ESM General Information,
ESM Tips and Tricks,
Initiative Management,
Operational Reporting,
Reporting,
Risk Management,
Software as a Service,
Strategy Maps,
Sustainability
|
Posted
7/22/10
@ 11:43 AM
by ESM Team ESM Team
As I attend conferences and events around the globe promoting the Executive Strategy Manager as the Kaplan/Norton solution to drive rapid scorecard design, alignment, and best practice strategy management reporting I always hear the same question: Does this process add value?
We've blogged on a few studies that show the value of the BSC, including a
recent study on the value of the ESM application. I'm happy to see that 17 years after its creation, the BSC approach is stronger than ever, more widely used than ever, and with breakthrough results. The authors in this most recent study find three key benefit areas from applying the Kaplan/Norton BSC methodology as part of building a Strategy Focused Organization. I quote from the abstract: (1) a better translation of the strategy into operational terms, (2) the fact that strategising becomes a continuous process, and (3) the greater alignment of various processes, services, competencies and units of an organisation. Find additional information in the March 2009 European Accounting Review
here.
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In trying times like these many organizations fight to change strategy to adapt to new economic conditions. While these changes in strategic direction have clear implications for high-level objectives, management teams must also turn this strategy into unit and individual level action. Kaplan/Norton Balanced Scorecard methodology operates on the theory that while strategy is translated top-down, the real business value comes from bottom-up execution of strategy. The Executive Strategy Manager enables strategy execution by helping companies to translate strategy throughout the organization into day-to-day operations.
The Executive Strategy Manager delivers rich features that support the accountability, collaboration, and communication of your organization's performance and strategy. The application's user interface is intuitive and easy to navigate, making it ideal for strategy managers and executives alike; there is no need for specially trained IT support. By putting the right information at your finger tips, static performance data is transformed into actionable knowledge, enabling real-time decisions that drive results. The ESM is shaping the way organizations efficiently manage, execute, and communicate strategy to achieve breakthrough results.
Click here to try the FREE TRIAL of the Executive Strategy Manager!
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Rather than simply thinking about risk as a hazard to be avoided – a natural disaster or a fluctuation in the market or currency – companies should also think of risk as the flip side of the coin that is opportunity. This is the contention of a recent article on Harvard Business Publishing's website (they are also the publisher of the Kaplan/Norton Balanced Scorecard Report). Identifying strategic risk can allow companies to calculate how to advance in certain aspects of their business. Understanding it can help organizations to decide such things as what products their customers want, whether they should acquire another company, whether to pursue strategic alliances, or whether pursue a newly identified niche in the marketplace.
The article discusses several methods of strategic risk management, such as "double betting" to minimize the risk of obsolescence, and helping customers control their own risks. It is easy to imagine how an organization might use the Executive Strategy Manager's software for creating Balanced Scorecards to help identify key risk factors and opportunities. Possible strategic objectives could include "Manage Risk", "Identify Potential New Markets" or "Develop Alliances". Initiatives could stress such things as collection of client feedback, research and development, or fraud detection as ways to gauge and adjust to a changing marketplace. This will allow executives to see risk in a broader view as part of the overall organizational strategy, while also driving the execution of the strategy on the part of managers.
Click here to read the article.
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Harvard Business School Professor Rosabeth Kanter writes, "in good times, the temptation to accumulate can be indulged because growth masks inefficiencies." What about times like today? Kanter suggests that companies should consider shedding unnecessary product lines during lean times – often they are forced by circumstances to take this step. She gives several examples of companies that have gone through this, including Timberland, Gillette, and Ford. Complexity in corporate structure, within smaller business units, or within a product line will lead to problems more often than not.
Complexity leads to new costs - perhaps most often costs related to management or overhead - that are not always accompanied by corresponding profits. Kanter concludes, "when everyone else suffers from over-complexity, there is a market for products and services that simplify life." Palladium's Executive Strategy Manager is an excellent tool for organizations trying to achieve this kind of organizational streamlining.
Using the Kaplan/Norton Balanced Scorecard system, organizations can quickly identify which areas of their business are contributing, and which ones are not. The Executive Strategy Manager's can be used both to measure a corporation's overall success, or smaller business units within an organization. One of the ESM's most powerful features, one that relates directly to Professor Kanter's discussion, is its ability to create a cascaded alignment that shows how objectives and initiatives in a "child" scorecard affect the "parent" scorecard. This allows leadership to ensure that every business unit is contributing directly toward the execution of the organization's strategy.
To read the entire post by professor Kanter, click here .
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Creating alignment is a daunting task for many corporations, as individual business unit goals often create lines of conflict. While many corporations find getting aligned a struggle, maintaining alignment is an even bigger challenge. Drs. Kaplan and Norton have created an alignment "checkpoint" system to maintain continuity throughout an organization.
Citing the second law of thermodynamics which states entropy (disorder) continually increases, they emphasize a continual injection of new energy in the strategic alignment process. The Balanced Scorecard Concept (BSC) works to instill a lasting commitment to continuity by promoting both accountability and communication across business units. Managing alignment as a process within the BSC becomes continual as a result of these key goals.
The Executive Strategy Manager (ESM) is the only software endorsed by Kaplan and Norton to create these alignment "checkpoints." As the leading application in not only BSC creation but enforcement, the ESM enables alignment between business units and corporate methodology. ESM functionality allows shared objectives and initiatives to be cascaded between units of an organization. Kaplan and Norton are the leaders in strategy execution methodology and have chosen the Executive Strategy Manager as the only application to support their work.
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