Setting Actionable Metrics for Strategy Implementation for a recently established SME Management Consulting Company
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School of Business |
Bachelor's thesis
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Date
2023
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Mcode
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Laskentatoimi
Language
en
Pages
36+4
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Abstract
Strategy execution frequently faces significant challenges, with failure percentages ranging from 7 % to as high as 90 %. This paper aims to contribute to the understanding of strategy implementation by focusing on the establishment of actionable metrics in recently established small and medium-sized management consulting companies in Finland. The study examines a case management consultancy SME founded in 2022, with a strategy covering the period 2022-2025. The research studies the key considerations for transforming strategical goals into measurable metrics and explore the qualitative characteristics that define good strategy implementation metrics. Drawing from the frameworks Balanced Scorecard and Levers of Control as well as some contemporary discussion around strategy implementation, the study assesses the applicability of these frameworks to SME companies. By conducting semi-structured interviews with strategy implementation professionals, the research compares their perspectives with the existing theoretical framework and scientific literature. The paper suggests that while there are no universally suitable metrics for all management consulting SMEs, four main characteristics can guide the selection of effective strategy implementation metrics: effectiveness, comprehensibility, continuity, and a considered quantity of metrics. There characteristics provide valuable insights into the qualitative aspects of strategy metrics and their importance in successful strategy implementation. Moreover, the study highlights the need to align metrics with the company’s strategy, differentiators, and story. The study acknowledges the lack of literature on the causal relationships between goals and metrics, and highlights the importance of considering the validity of the metrics in relation to the desired goals. It also discusses metrics for specific strategical goals of the case company, being sales and customer acquisition, customer retention, and partner acquisition and retention, and notes the role of experience and intuition in metric selection. Overall, this paper contributes to the discussion around strategy implementation by emphasizing the qualitative characters of metric setting and suggesting that a focus on these characteristics, rather than universal metrics, can enhance the effectiveness of strategy implementation. The results provide practical guidance for management teams in selecting and evaluating metrics for strategy implementation. Further research is needed to explore the causal relationships between strategical goals and metrics in SMEs and to test the qualitative characteristics suggested by this paper.Description
Thesis advisor
Sinha, VikashKeywords
strategy implementation, metrics, SME, performance measurement