Strategy map concepts in a balanced scorecard cockpit improve performance

Abstract

In both academia and practice, strategy implementation generally receives less attention than strategic planning, although it is no less important. In our experimental study, we address the following research question: Do different cockpits result in different strategy-implementation decisions and different performance? By using a strategic-operations research perspective, we designed a strategy-implementation task as a closed-loop control task. An ambitious growth strategy placed in the context of a mortgage brokerage business had to be successfully implemented by deciding on price, employees and expenditures in Business Concept and Technology. Compared to two other tools, the balanced-scorecard strategy map cockpit was the interface that provided the most focused and useful information in support of participants when carrying out their tasks. By comparing business-reporting tools, we can state that our research has a theoretical, as well as a practical, contribution. Modeling the impact of management performance measurement is of great interest for both practitioners and management scholars.