A practitioner’s guide to the design of strategy map frameworks

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to synthesise the prior literature on strategy maps to develop a practitioner’s guide to the design of strategy map frameworks. Robert Kaplan and David Norton introduced the strategy map in their 2000 Harvard Business review article. A strategy map visually represents how the critical elements of an organisation’s strategies are linked together. In an organisation’s strategy execution process, a strategy map complements a performance measurement framework such as the balanced scorecard. Design/methodology/approach: This is a technical paper, which primarily builds on the prior literature on the strategy map design. In particular, this study reviews 41 publications on strategy maps in the period 2000-2015, including observation of 333 strategy map frameworks. Findings: This study develops 14 design principles across seven features of a strategy map framework. This study also identifies a significant lack of empirical research on strategy map design features and principles. Research limitations/implications: Future research could examine whether and why various design features and principles could exert different or same effects (e.g. decision-relevance). Practical implications: The developed design features and principles can be used by practitioners as guidance for developing customised strategy maps for their organisations. Originality/value: This paper contributes to the literature by serving as a “one-stop shop” for both practitioners and researchers seeking a comprehensive understanding of the current state of the strategy map design features and principles.