Strategic Map: Transforming Intangible Assets into Tangible Outcomes

Author: Robert S. Kaplan / David P. Norton / Liu Junyong / Sun Wei
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-06-01
Features: The Strategy Map is the pinnacle of the brilliant and pioneering work of Kaplan and Norton. The Balanced Scorecard they developed has revolutionized performance measurement. In this book, they have clearly and rigorously integrated several key tasks in the field of management. I have been looking forward to this book for a long time. — Arnoldo C. Hax, Professor of the Slon Chair, MIT Sloan School of Management Today, business leaders face the challenge of creating value through innovative methods while perfectly executing strategy. For these leaders, The Strategy Map is a must-read. — Venessa Khaitan, President and Co-founder, New Profit Corporation In The Strategy Map, Kaplan and Norton provide managers with a powerful and practical management toolkit. Their innovative tools enable managers to maintain control over complex business environments while focusing on key issues, successful methods, and strategic execution. — Chris Zook, Bain & Company Generally speaking, more than 75% of a company's market value comes from intangible assets that traditional financial indicators cannot capture. The masters Kaplan and Norton believe, "If you can't measure it, you can't manage it." In 1992, they proposed a revolutionary performance measurement system—the Balanced Scorecard—enabling businesses to quantify key intangible assets, such as human capital, information, and culture. In 1996, the publication of their masterpiece, The Balanced Scorecard: Translating Strategy into Action, marked the establishment of Balanced Scorecard theory. The Balanced Scorecard theory is not rigid. With the advancement of practice, the theory system has been continuously developed and refined. Harvard Business School Press published the sequels to the Balanced Scorecard, Strategy-Centered Organizations and The Strategy Map: Translating Intangible Assets into Tangible Outcomes, in 2000 and 2004, respectively. These three works have been translated into 21, 18, and 5 languages, respectively. At this point, the Balanced Scorecard theory has formed a rigorous logical system of "describing strategy, measuring strategy, and managing strategy." The three works have different focuses. The Balanced Scorecard focuses on strategic measurement, Strategy-Centered Organizations focuses on strategic management, and The Strategy Map focuses on strategic description. Today, thousands of companies worldwide have adopted the Balanced Scorecard and achieved remarkable results. They do not just use it as a measurement system but as a strategic management system. When 70% to 90% of strategic action plans fail, companies using the Balanced Scorecard consistently achieve rapid and successful execution of their strategies. So, how do they do it? Based on their work with over 300 organizations over the past twelve years, Kaplan and Norton have created a new tool—the Strategy Map, which is as important as the Balanced Scorecard. Just as "if you can't measure it, you can't manage it," Kaplan and Norton believe, "if you can't describe it, you can't measure it." In this book, Kaplan and Norton use dozens of case studies from various organizations to vividly demonstrate how to create customized strategy maps to enable organizations to: · Clarify strategy and communicate it to all employees; · Identify the key internal processes that drive strategic success; · Align investments in human capital, technology, and organizational capital for maximum impact; · Reveal strategic flaws and take corrective actions early; · Provide the missing link between strategic planning and strategic implementation, offering a blueprint for describing, measuring, aligning intangible assets, and achieving excellence.