Join Amazon Prime and get unlimited Free One-Day Delivery. Already a member? Sign in.

 

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
   
More Buying Choices
42 used & new from £6.77

Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
   
Strategy-Focused Organization, The: How Balanced Scorecard Companies Thrive in the New Business Environment
 
 

Strategy-Focused Organization, The: How Balanced Scorecard Companies Thrive in the New Business Environment (Hardcover)

by Thomas H Davenport (Author), David P Norton (Author) "THE ABILITY TO EXECUTE STRATEGY ..." (more)
4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
RRP: £24.99
Price: £23.74 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
You Save: £1.25 (5%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In stock.
Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk. Gift-wrap available.

Only 3 left in stock--order soon (more on the way).

Want guaranteed delivery by Wednesday, July 15? Choose Express delivery at checkout. See Details
31 new from £16.13 11 used from £6.77
Other Editions: RRP: Our Price: Other Offers:
Unbound Order it used

Frequently Bought Together

Strategy-Focused Organization, The: How Balanced Scorecard Companies Thrive in the New Business Environment + Balanced Scorecard, The: Translating Strategy into Action + Strategy Maps: Converting Intangible Assets into Tangible Outcomes
Price For All Three: £65.62

Show availability and shipping details


Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Balanced Scorecard, The: Translating Strategy into Action

Balanced Scorecard, The: Translating Strategy into Action

by Robert S Kaplan
4.3 out of 5 stars (19)  £22.89
Strategy Maps: Converting Intangible Assets into Tangible Outcomes

Strategy Maps: Converting Intangible Assets into Tangible Outcomes

by Robert S. Kaplan
5.0 out of 5 stars (5)  £18.99
Alignment: How to Apply the Balanced Scorecard to Corporate Strategy

Alignment: How to Apply the Balanced Scorecard to Corporate Strategy

by Robert S Kaplan
4.7 out of 5 stars (3)  £21.24
Execution Premium. Linking Strategy to Operations for Competitive Advantage

Execution Premium. Linking Strategy to Operations for Competitive Advantage

by Robert S Kaplan
£22.94
Key Performance Indicators (KPI): Developing, Implementing,and Using Winning KPIs

Key Performance Indicators (KPI): Developing, Implementing,and Using Winning KPIs

by David Parmenter
5.0 out of 5 stars (2)  £22.49
Explore similar items

Product details

  • Hardcover: 416 pages
  • Publisher: Harvard Business School Press; illustrated edition edition (1 Oct 2000)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 1578512506
  • ISBN-13: 978-1578512508
  • Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 16.4 x 3.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 153,878 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #9 in  Books > Business, Finance & Law > Management > Balanced Scorecard
  • See Complete Table of Contents

Customers Viewing This Page May Be Interested in These Sponsored Links

  (What is this?)
Strategy Scorecard
   Prophix.co.uk/Reporting    Powerful Scorecard and Dashboard Reporting Tools. Free Demo. 
Balanced Scorecard
   www.leadershipconnections.co.uk    Training and consultancy to deliver results from the balanced scorecard 
Are you strategy focused?
   www.beyondplanning.co.uk    How to improve your organization's focus on its strategy and results 
  
 

Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review
In their previous book, The Balanced Scorecard, Robert Kaplan and David Norton unveiled an innovative "performance management system" that any company could use to focus and align their executive teams, business units, human resources, information technology and financial resources on a unified overall strategy--much like businesses have traditionally employed financial management systems to track and guide their general fiscal direction. In The Strategy-focused Organisation, Kaplan and Norton explain how companies like Mobil, CIGNA and Chemical Retail Bank have effectively used this approach for nearly a decade, and in the process present a step-by-step implementation outline that other organizations could use to attain similar results. Their book is divided into five sections that guide readers through the development of a completely individualised plan created with "strategy maps" (graphical representations designed to clearly communicate desired outcomes and how they are to be achieved), then infused throughout the enterprise and made an integral part of its future. In several chapters, for example, the authors show how their models have linked long-term strategy with day-to-day operational and budgetary management, and detail the "double loop" process for doing so, monitoring progress, and initiating corrective actions if necessary. --Howard Rothman

Product Description
In today's business environment, strategy has never been more important. Yet research shows that most companies fail to execute strategy successfully. Behind this abysmal track record lies an undeniable fact: many companies continue to use management processes-top-down, financially driven, and tactical-that were designed to run yesterday's organizations.

Now, the creators of the revolutionary performance management tool called the Balanced Scorecard introduce a new approach that makes strategy a continuous process owned not just by top management, but by everyone. In The Strategy-Focused Organization, Robert Kaplan and David Norton share the results of ten years of learning and research into more than 200 companies that have implemented the Balanced Scorecard. Drawing from more than twenty in-depth case studies-including Mobil, CIGNA, Nova Scotia Power, and AT&T Canada-Kaplan and Norton illustrate how Balanced Scorecard adopters have taken their groundbreaking tool to the next level. These organizations have used the scorecard to create an entirely new performance management framework that puts strategy at the center of key management processes and systems.

Kaplan and Norton articulate the five key principles required for building Strategy-Focused Organizations: (1) translate the strategy to operational terms, (2) align the organization to the strategy, (3) make strategy everyone's everyday job, (4) make strategy a continual process, and (5) mobilize change through strong, effective leadership. The authors provide a detailed account of how a range of organizations in the private, public, and nonprofit sectors have deployed these principles to achieve breakthrough, sustainable performance improvements.

Presenting a practical, proven framework steeped in rich case study experience, The Strategy-Focused Organization helps solve a universal management problem-not just how to formulate strategy, but how to make it work. Building on one of the most revolutionary business ideas of our time, this important book shows how today's leaders can shape their own companies to meet the challenges and reap the rewards of a new competitive era.

Robert S. Kaplan is the Marvin Bower Professor of Leadership Development at Harvard Business School. David P. Norton is President of Balanced Scorecard Collaborative, Inc.



See all Product Description


Inside This Book (Learn More)
First Sentence
THE ABILITY TO EXECUTE STRATEGY. Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Search inside this book:

Suggested Tags from Similar Products

 (What's this?)
Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
Check a corresponding box or enter your own tags in the field below
strategy
preparedtogrow
kpi
deremiah book club
cba7000
bussiness intelligence
balanced scorecard
agropreneur

Your tags: Add your first tag
 

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

Strategy-Focused Organization, The: How Balanced Scorecard Companies Thrive in the New Business Environment
58% buy the item featured on this page:
Strategy-Focused Organization, The: How Balanced Scorecard Companies Thrive in the New Business Environment 4.6 out of 5 stars (5)
£23.74
Strategy Maps: Converting Intangible Assets into Tangible Outcomes
16% buy
Strategy Maps: Converting Intangible Assets into Tangible Outcomes 5.0 out of 5 stars (5)
£18.99
Balanced Scorecard, The: Translating Strategy into Action
13% buy
Balanced Scorecard, The: Translating Strategy into Action 4.3 out of 5 stars (19)
£22.89
Key Performance Indicators (KPI): Developing, Implementing,and Using Winning KPIs
7% buy
Key Performance Indicators (KPI): Developing, Implementing,and Using Winning KPIs 5.0 out of 5 stars (2)
£22.49

 

Customer Reviews

5 Reviews
5 star:
 (4)
4 star:    (0)
3 star:
 (1)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.6 out of 5 stars (5 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Best Practices in Organizational Communication, 3 Feb 2001
By A Customer
The Strategy-Focused Organization clearly deserves more than five stars. It is one of the ten most important business books of the past decade. The book successfully outlines an enormous improvement in communications practices for making important changes in for profit and nonprofit organizations. The communications stall is the most prevalent one in most organizations. Application of the authors' ideas can bring about a significant improvement in our society.

This book is an interim report on the application of the authors' concept, the Balanced Scorecard (introduced in 1992 and described in the book of the same name, published in 1996). The purpose of the book is to provide "a roadmap for those who wish to create their own Strategy-Focused Organization . . . [by employing the Balanced Scorecard]."

If you don't know what the Balanced Scorecard is, let me briefly describe it for you. A Balanced Scorecard adds several important measures to the ones normally found in the accounting system, designed to measure those areas where performance most directly and powerfully affects strategic position. Such areas include innovation, organizational learning, effectiveness in key tasks, and performance with key audiences like customers. The measures are chosen to reflect the systematic effects of how the organization's overall value and performance are improved, and are displayed in a Strategy Map that communicates those ideas to one and all. In doing so, the Balanced Scorecard is the applied solution to many of the issues raised about how to establish a learning organization in Peter Senge's The Fifth Discipline.

Most new business concepts do not last long enough to warrant a study on their effectiveness. The ones that do, like reengineering a few years ago, usually display more problems than successes. The Balanced Scorecard concept is the exception. The results have been very positive for almost all those who have employed it.

The key seems to lie in having everyone in the organization have a more complete understanding of what the organization is trying to accomplish. As such, the authors have actually uncovered something much more significant than a strategy communications process. Harvard Business School Professor and accounting guru (Activity-Based Costing) Bob Kaplan and consultant David Norton have uncovered a best practice in how to communicate any important message in an organization. Although the book does not address that latter point, discerning readers will quickly spot it. Presumably the authors will too at some point, and a future book will begin to address this important application.

The focus of this book is on how Balanced Scorecard "adopting companies used [it] . . . to implement new strategies." The finding is that with "their new focus, alignment, and learning, the organizations enjoyed nonlinear performance breakthroughs." This is quite remarkable because organizations have reported in the past that implementing new strategies is one of the most difficult tasks they ever take on. Studies cited by the authors point to one problem being that most people in the organization are never clear on what the new strategy is. So if careful coordination and purposeful change are required, the speeding relay team may instead drop the baton along the way.

The Balanced Scorecard provides for a fundamental strategic control mechanism in the same way that the budget provides an operational control. The Balanced Scorecard is at the center of the organization's business planning, getting feedback to improve learning about how to proceed and then translating the organization's vision for each employee. This feedback is critical because most initial concepts for strategy are flawed in fundamental ways. As the authors point out, strategies should be treated as hypotheses, rather than as commandments written permanently in stone. Only by uncovering those flaws and correcting them does a new strategy have a good chance of succeeding.

The book features a lot of case histories that explain what the most successful organizations have done to apply the Balanced Scorecard. These are particularly valuable for making the key elements of the Balanced Scorecard clearer. For example, the book contains many pages of Strategy Maps for different organizations. These maps connect financial, customer, internal process, and learning objectives in an explicit description of how improvement in each area is connected to each other one, and to the organization's overall objectives. Without these detailed examples, it would be very hard to grasp the heart of the communications process involved here.

These financial and nonfinancial metrics can then be used to create personal objectives for each person in the organization for contributing to the ultimate success. Management by objectives measures and compensation systems can be connected to the new strategy in this way.

The research emphasizes several important themes:

(1) Translate the strategy into operational terms

(2) Align the organization to create necessary synergies

(3) Make strategic initiatives everyone's everyday job

(4) Make strategy a continuing process

(5) Mobilize change through executive leadership

I especially found the surveys helpful for describing what was different about the effectiveness of organizations using the Balanced Scorecard. They outperform the other companies by about 100 percent in having everyone in the organization understand what the organization's strategy is.

The book also contains a very helpful section of frequently asked questions about the Balanced Scorecard.

Let me be sure that you understand what the limitation of the Balanced Scorecard is. If you conceptualize a strategy that is not as good as one that your competitor develops, you will still be vulnerable to losing ground until such time as you reconceptualize your strategy. The Balanced Scorecard can help you realize that that task is needed and provide some clues, but this process will be most helpful to those who excel at conceiving of pre-emptive strategies that their organizations have advantages in implementing.

After you have finished reading, sharing and applying these lessons, I suggest you think about where else people need better communications processes. Then abstract the elements of this model to apply in those circumstances as well.

Get where you want to go more rapidly!

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars A good read if you have read the previous books, 5 Dec 2000
Kaplan and Norton continue the exploration of the balanced scorecard with a good exposisition of the balanced scorecard in strategy implementation. The ideas of the text are good and the examples sound. There are only two areas of possible weakness. The first is the need to understand the previous book - having not read it in a year I found it useful to refer back, the second is the focus of industries - which are by on large manufacturing, while in a consultancy environment the score card is a useful tool
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Best Practices in Organizational Communication, 22 Aug 2004
By Professor Donald Mitchell "Jesus Makes Me a P... (Boston) - See all my reviews
(TOP 10 REVIEWER)      
The Strategy-Focused Organization clearly deserves more than five stars. It is one of the ten most important business books of the past ten years. The book successfully outlines an enormous improvement in communications practices for making important changes in for profit and nonprofit organizations. The communications stall is the most prevalent one in most organizations. Application of the authors' ideas can bring about a significant improvement in our society.

This book is an interim report on the application of the authors' concept, the Balanced Scorecard (introduced in 1992 and described in the book of the same name, published in 1996). The purpose of the book is to provide "a roadmap for those who wish to create their own Strategy-Focused Organization . . . [by employing the Balanced Scorecard]."

If you don't know what the Balanced Scorecard is, let me briefly describe it for you. A Balanced Scorecard adds several important measures to the ones normally found in the accounting system, designed to measure those areas where performance most directly and powerfully affects strategic position. Such areas include innovation, organizational learning, effectiveness in key tasks, and performance with key audiences like customers. The measures are chosen to reflect the systematic effects of how the organization's overall value and performance are improved, and are displayed in a Strategy Map that communicates those ideas to one and all. In doing so, the Balanced Scorecard is the applied solution to many of the issues raised about how to establish a learning organization in Peter Senge's The Fifth Discipline.

Most new business concepts do not last long enough to warrant a study on their effectiveness. The ones that do, like reengineering a few years ago, usually display more problems than successes. The Balanced Scorecard concept is the exception. The results have been very positive for almost all those who have employed it.

The key seems to lie in having everyone in the organization have a more complete understanding of what the organization is trying to accomplish. As such, the authors have actually uncovered something much more significant than a strategy communications process. Harvard Business School Professor and accounting guru (Activity-Based Costing) Bob Kaplan and consultant David Norton have uncovered a best practice in how to communicate any important message in an organization. Although the book does not address that latter point, discerning readers will quickly spot it.
Presumably the authors will too at some point, and a future book will begin to address this important application.

The focus of this book is on how Balanced Scorecard companies used that resource to implement new strategies. The finding is that with the Balanced Scorecard, nonlinear success usually followed. This is quite remarkable because organizations have reported in the past that implementing new strategies is one of the most difficult tasks they ever take on. Studies cited by the authors point to one problem being that most people in the organization are never clear on what the new strategy is. So if careful coordination and purposeful change are required, the speeding relay team may instead drop the baton along the way.

The Balanced Scorecard provides for a fundamental strategic control mechanism in the same way that the budget provides an operational control. The Balanced Scorecard is at the center of the organization's business planning, getting feedback to improve learning about how to proceed and then translating the organization's vision for each employee. This feedback is critical because most initial concepts for strategy are flawed in fundamental ways. As the authors point out, strategies should be treated as hypotheses, rather than as commandments written permanently in stone. Only by uncovering those flaws and correcting them does a new strategy have a good chance of succeeding.

The book features a lot of case histories that explain what the most successful organizations have done to apply the Balanced Scorecard. These are particularly valuable for making the key elements of the Balanced Scorecard clearer. For example, the book contains many pages of Strategy Maps for different organizations. These maps connect financial, customer, internal process, and learning objectives in an explicit description of how improvement in each area is connected to each other one, and to the organization's overall objectives. Without these detailed examples, it would be very hard to grasp the heart of the communications process involved here.

These financial and nonfinancial metrics can then be used to create personal objectives for each person in the organization for contributing to the ultimate success. Management by objectives measures and compensation systems can be connected to the new strategy in this way.

The research emphasizes several important themes: (1) Translate the strategy into operational terms (2) Align the organization to create necessary synergies (3) Make strategic initiatives everyone's everyday job (4) Make strategy a continuing process (5) Mobilize change through executive leadership.

I especially found the surveys helpful for describing what was different about the effectiveness of organizations using the Balanced Scorecard. They outperform the other companies by about 100 percent in having everyone in the organization understand what the organization's strategy is.

The book also contains a very helpful section of frequently asked questions about the Balanced Scorecard.

Let me be sure that you understand what the limitation of the Balanced Scorecard is. If you conceptualize a strategy that is not as good as one that your competitor develops, you will still be vulnerable to losing ground until such time as you reconceptualize your strategy. The Balanced Scorecard can help you realize that that task is needed and provide some clues, but this process will be most helpful to those who excel at conceiving of pre-emptive strategies that their organizations have advantages in implementing.

After you have finished reading, sharing and applying these lessons, I suggest you think about where else people need better communications processes. Then abstract the elements of this model to apply in those circumstances as well.

Get where you want to go more rapidly!

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)


Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars The Perilous "Journey" to Breakthrough Performance

If you have not already read Kaplan and Norton's The Balanced Scoreboard, I presume to suggest that you do so prior to reading this book. Read more
Published on 25 Jul 2006 by Robert Morris

5.0 out of 5 stars Balanced Scorecard
This, and its predecessor, are two of the fundamental management books of all time. A 'must read'. As a bonus, they are even pretty readable!!!
Published on 21 April 2003 by alexheddell

Only search this product's reviews



Customer Discussions

 Beta (What's this?)
This product's forum (0 discussions)
  Discussion Replies Latest Post
  No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
  [Cancel]

   


Listmania!


Look for similar items by category


Feedback


Performance Dashboards...

Performance Dashboards: Measuring...

Tips, techniques, and trends on how to use dashboard technology to... Read more
£31.99 £27.19

Find similar items

 

More From Robert S. Kaplan

Balanced Scorecard, The...

Balanced Scorecard, The: Translating...

Here is the book-by the recognized architects of the Balanced... Read more
£26.99 £22.89

 

We've Got Converse

Converse
Stock up on your favourite styles with great deals on Converse shoes.

Shop Converse

 

Treat Someone

Amazon.co.uk Gift Certificates--available in any amount from £5 to £500 With an Amazon.co.uk Gift Certificate, you can get them what they want (even if you don't know what that is).

Learn more about Gift Certificates

 
Ad

Where's My Stuff?

Delivery and Returns

Need Help?

Your Recent History

  (What's this?)
You have no recently viewed items or searches.

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.

Look to the right column to find helpful suggestions for your shopping session.

Continue Shopping: Top Sellers

amazon.co.uk Amazon Home
International Sites:  United States  |  Germany  |  France  |  Japan  |  Canada  |  China
Business Programs: Sell on Amazon  |  Fulfilment by Amazon  |  Join Associates  |  Join Advantage
Customer Service  |  Help  |  View Basket  |  Your Account
About Amazon.co.uk  |  Careers at Amazon
Conditions of Use & Sale |  Privacy Notice  © 1996-2009, Amazon.com, Inc. and its affiliates