Management Insight: For Better Business Strategy - Draw a Map

“For Better Business Strategy - Draw a Map,” Management Insight, Vol. 3, No. 1 (Spring 2007)

Successful business leaders have long recognized that having an effective strategy is critical to building a high-performing enterprise. Strategy is especially important for twenty-first century graphic communications companies. For the past several years, printing companies have been diversifying to offer an array of communications services in addition to “ink on paper.” Paradoxically, as printing companies diversify, they must also become more focused. For example, managers face more complex strategic decisions about what kinds of customers to target and what specific services to offer. It is this need to make difficult choices that makes effective strategy so important. This issue of Management Insight describes how managers can use strategy maps to develop and implement profit-building business strategies. Based on the framework of the widely-used Balanced Scorecard, a strategy map is one of the most powerful tools ever devised for formulating and executing strategy. Author G. David Dodd explains how and why a strategy map will lead a management team to create a strategy that is complete, cohesive, and executable, and he provides a detailed description of how you can build a strategy map for your business. For managers who want to drive faster growth and higher profits, this issue of Management Insight is a must-read.