| Course | MGT 570 Advanced Strategic Management |
|---|---|
| Module | Module 7 |
| Paper type | MBA strategy alignment plan |
| Length | About 1,090 words, 6 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Aspen University |
| Program | Master of Business Administration |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for MGT 570 Module 7
From Steel Crews to Software: A Strategy Map and Balanced Scorecard That Align a Billboard Company Behind One Strategy
Student Name
Master of Business Administration, Aspen University
MGT 570: Advanced Strategic Management
Instructor Name
Month Day, Year
From Steel Crews to Software: A Strategy Map and Balanced Scorecard That Align a Billboard Company Behind One Strategy
The strategy is now settled for Natural State Outdoor: serve small and mid-size local businesses with affordable digital slots at its best permitted locations, sold through local relationships and a self-service platform, with an indoor screen network as a second line. Yet its organization still reflects the old business. Salespeople are paid on monthly contract value. Crews are measured on vinyl changes completed. The budget allocates digital spending as an IT cost. Monthly meetings review revenue and nothing else. This paper aligns the company to its strategy.
The Scorecard as a Management System
Kaplan and Norton (1996) argued that the balanced scorecard is more than a measurement system; it can be a strategic management system that addresses the gap between strategy and action. They described four processes: translating the vision into operational objectives; communicating and linking strategy to unit and individual goals; business planning that ties budgets and initiatives to strategic targets; and feedback and learning that let leaders test and adjust the strategy. Without these processes, organizations often formulate good strategies and then manage by budgets that ignore them.
Mapping the Strategy
Kaplan and Norton (2000) introduced strategy maps to show how objectives in the four perspectives connect. Learning and growth objectives, people, systems and culture, enable internal process objectives, which deliver customer value, which produces financial results. Mapping makes the strategy's assumptions explicit and testable.
| Perspective | Objective | Measure | Target, year two |
|---|---|---|---|
| Financial | Raise revenue per digital face | Annual revenue per digital face | Up 25% |
| Financial | Grow revenue from small businesses | Share from businesses under 50 employees | 35% |
| Customer | Win first-time advertisers | First-time advertisers per quarter | 400 |
| Customer | Keep them coming back | Repeat purchase within 90 days | 50% |
| Internal process | Make buying easy | Orders completed online without staff help | 70% |
| Internal process | Change ads quickly | Same-day change requests completed | 95% |
| Learning and growth | Build data skills | Salespeople using audience reports with clients | 100% |
| Learning and growth | Keep experienced sellers | Turnover among top sellers | Under 10% |
Why Alignment Fails Here
Each department is doing what it is measured on. Salespeople steer prospects toward monthly contracts because those pay larger commissions; a $120 day slot pays them almost nothing. Crews prioritize vinyl changes because those are counted, while a digital screen that goes dark for half a day appears in no report. The digital work sits in an IT budget that is cut first when revenue dips. Kaplan and Norton's point is that these signals, not the strategy document, decide what people do.
Choosing Few Measures
The temptation is to measure everything. The map holds eight objectives, two per perspective, each chosen because the strategy cannot succeed without it. Measures that track routine operations, such as permit renewals, remain in operating reports but stay off the scorecard, which is reserved for what the strategy depends on.
Does It Work?
Davis and Albright (2004) studied a bank that introduced a balanced scorecard in some branches but not others and compared their financial performance. Branches using the scorecard outperformed the comparison branches on a composite of financial measures. A single-firm study cannot prove the scorecard always works, but it offers field evidence that linking measures to strategy can improve results.
Cascading to Units
Each unit will receive objectives drawn from the map. Sales will be measured on first-time advertisers, repeat purchases and use of audience reports, with commissions on platform sales from advertisers they recruit. Crews will be measured on screen uptime and same-day changes as well as safety. The digital team will own online order completion and platform reliability. Each unit's measures appear on a one-page version of the scorecard posted in its work area.
Reading the Map From the Bottom Up
The map tells a story that can be checked. If salespeople learn to use audience reports and experienced sellers stay, they can help first-time advertisers succeed. If ordering is easy and changes happen the same day, small advertisers will try outdoor advertising and come back. If they come back, revenue per digital face and the share from small businesses will rise. Each step is a hypothesis, and the scorecard collects the evidence to confirm or reject it.
Targets and Owners
Every objective has one owner on the leadership team: the sales director owns first-time and repeat advertisers, the operations director owns same-day changes, the digital products manager owns online ordering and the president owns the financial objectives. Targets for year one are set at roughly half the year-two values, giving the organization time to learn.
Linking Budgets and Pay
Digital spending will move from the IT budget to strategic initiatives, each tied to a scorecard objective. Sales pay will shift from 100% contract value to 60% revenue, 25% repeat small advertisers and 15% first-time advertisers. Managers' bonuses will depend on scorecard results, not revenue alone.
A Unit Example: The Sign Crews
For the crews, the scorecard changes daily work. Today, a crew lead plans the week around vinyl changes. Under the new scorecard, the lead also watches a screen dashboard each morning and sends a technician first to any digital face that has gone dark, since every hour offline loses revenue from several advertisers. The crew's measures, uptime, same-day changes and safety, appear on the board in the shop.
Communicating the Strategy
Kaplan and Norton's communicating and linking process requires that every employee understand the strategy and their part in it. The president will present the strategy map at an all-company meeting, each unit will receive its one-page scorecard and new hires will learn the map during onboarding. Crews, who rarely meet advertisers, will see monthly stories of small businesses whose messages they keep running.
Learning From Results
Monthly meetings will review the full scorecard. Quarterly, the leadership team will ask whether the causal links hold, for example whether faster ad changes actually raise repeat purchases, and adjust.
Avoiding the Common Traps
Scorecards often fail when they become reporting exercises. Three safeguards will help: the scorecard replaces, rather than adds to, the old monthly revenue report; measures are reviewed with the people who own them, not presented to them; and any measure that stops informing decisions is dropped at the annual review.
Conclusion
Natural State's strategy will fail if its pay, budgets and meetings still serve the old business. Kaplan and Norton's management system and strategy maps translate the strategy into connected objectives, Davis and Albright's evidence supports the effort and cascading measures and pay makes every unit part of it.
References
Davis, S., & Albright, T. (2004). An investigation of the effect of balanced scorecard implementation on financial performance. Management Accounting Research, 15(2), 135-153. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mar.2003.11.001
Kaplan, R. S., & Norton, D. P. (1996). Using the balanced scorecard as a strategic management system. Harvard Business Review, 74(1), 75-85.
Kaplan, R. S., & Norton, D. P. (2000). Having trouble with your strategy? Then map it. Harvard Business Review, 78(5), 167-176.
What the MGT 570 Module 7 instructions ask for
Alignment is the subject of Module 7 in Aspen's MGT 570: making sure the organization's units, budgets and incentives all serve the chosen strategy. A paper usually builds a strategy map and scorecard and explains how they will be used. The prompt for Module 7 in your course is the authority; this example continues the billboard company from earlier modules. Explain why organizations fail to execute strategy, with examples from the organization itself. Build a strategy map with objectives in each perspective and the causal links between them. Set measures and targets. Cascade objectives to units, so each team sees its own measures. Link budgets, incentives and reviews to the scorecard, and describe how leaders will learn from results.
How the MGT 570 Module 7 example is put together
Natural State Outdoor's strategy targets small local advertisers through digital slots, self-service ordering and an indoor screen network. Kaplan and Norton's 1996 Harvard Business Review article describes four processes: translating the vision, communicating and linking, business planning and feedback and learning. Their 2000 article explains strategy maps. Davis and Albright's Management Accounting Research study compared bank branches that adopted a scorecard with branches that did not and found better financial performance among adopters. A strategy map table links learning objectives, such as data skills, to process objectives, such as same-day ad changes, to customer objectives, such as first-time advertiser retention, to revenue per digital face. The cascade gives sales, crews and the digital team their own measures, and sales pay shifts toward repeat small advertisers.
Reading the MGT 570 Module 7 grading rubric
Alignment plans are convincing when the strategy map tells a believable cause-and-effect story and the scorecard reaches into budgets, pay and meetings. This example builds each objective from the strategy chosen in earlier modules. Kaplan and Norton's management system shows that a scorecard must drive planning and rewards, not sit in a report. The strategy map shows how learning and process improvements should produce customer and financial results. Davis and Albright's evidence supports the expected payoff while the quarterly reviews test it in this company. The cascade plan shows how each unit contributes, and the paper explains how current pay and budgets pull against the strategy.
MGT 570 Module 7 help from the desk
Scorecard papers often list measures in four boxes without showing how they connect. Build a strategy map with causal links. Another weakness is measuring everything; choose a few objectives per perspective tied to the strategy. Set targets and owners. Cascade measures so each unit sees its part. Link budgets and incentives, or the scorecard will be ignored. Plan regular reviews that test whether the causal links hold, and decide in advance how you will respond if they fail. Finally, connect the scorecard to the organization's purpose and strategic choices. Show how current incentives work against the strategy before redesigning them.
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MGT 570 Module 7 questions, answered
What does MGT 570 Module 7 usually ask for?
Aspen's MGT 570 covers aligning the organization in this module, so an MBA plan using a strategy map and balanced scorecard is typical. Read your classroom prompt.
What is a strategy map?
Kaplan and Norton's diagram linking objectives across learning and growth, internal processes, customers and financial results in cause-and-effect relationships.
How is a balanced scorecard used as a management system?
Kaplan and Norton describe translating the vision, communicating and linking it to goals, linking it to business planning and budgets, and using feedback to learn.
Where can I find a free MGT 570 Module 7 sample paper?
The example above aligns a billboard company to its strategy with a strategy map, scorecard and cascade to each unit.
Do balanced scorecards improve performance?
Davis and Albright found that bank branches using a balanced scorecard outperformed comparable branches on financial measures.