Alignment: Using the Balanced Scorecard to Create Corporate Synergies

ov R The Bal M ie sequels are rarely as good as the original. So it is with Alignment by obert Kaplan and David Norton, the fourth book in a series that started with anced Scorecard a decade ago. The authors position the series as ‘the foundation for a new science of strategy management.’ This claim has to be based on the enormous success and popularity of their The Balanced Scorecard and Strategy Maps among businessmen and women. I have great difficulty seeing the contributions as ‘a new science of strategy management.’ Alignment is a great title for a book. The reason is that alignment of strategy with organization and management processes is important but hard to do. Alignment isn’t a new issue. The McKinsey 7S model in 1982 argued the need for alignment of strategy with structure, systems, staff, style (culture), skills, and shared values (Peters & Waterman 1982). When one sees an organization that is dysfunctional and underperforming, the lack of alignment is readily apparent. For example, when the computer industry changed in the early 1980s, IBM had an enormous challenge of alignment, away from the mainframe business model to software and services. This was a challenge taken on by a new outside CEO with a remit to change virtually every aspect of how the company operated. Observing a lack of alignment is only the first step in the process. How one obtains alignment is another matter. The alignment strategy and process outlined in the book is comprehensive. It involves ‘wiring up’ the multi-business company by developing strategy maps and balanced scorecards for each and everything—from corporate office to corporate support, corporate office to business units, business units to support, customers, and suppliers. The book provides a rich set of examples of organizations with the visual display of themes and initiatives. Readers of The Balanced Scorecard and Strategy Maps will be familiar with the displays. The case studies are interesting and varied. They range from the US Army and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to IBM Learning, Ingersoll Rand, and DuPont. As a communication device the alignment process will find its way into management meetings and strategy reviews