2 January, 2026
I recently started to realize that the Balanced Scorecard, introduced by Kaplan and Norton in 1996 as a strategic management framework, is no longer suited to the world of AI, aggressive competition, globalization, and digitally enabled organizations, particularly given the strong emphasis on project and programme management as the primary tools for delivering strategic initiatives.
I think there should be a clear distinction between delivering strategic initiatives that Change the Business and managing day-to-day operations (Running the Business).
Changing the Business should remain the core responsibility of the strategy function, working closely with the Project Management Office (PMO) or more appropriately the Portfolio Management Office as the strategic delivery arm responsible for ensuring that strategic initiatives are executed effectively.
While running the Business should typically be under the Corporate Performance Management function, its main focus should be on translating Strategy into Operations through Business as Usual activities, or managing newly handed over new Capabilities introduced from projects that has been delivered and placed in the pipeline of benefit realization.
The Corporate Performance Management function should manage a limited set of KPIs, no more than 25 at the organizational level, with a maximum of 5 KPIs reflecting the most critical drivers of business performance, if deviated, it will trigger the top management’s attention.
Under this model, which prioritizes the strategy’s role in driving change and generating greater business growth, the strategy function can focus on responding rapidly to external changes or shocks, driving innovation, and building sustainable competitive advantage.
In short, organizations should focus more on Changing the Business rather than becoming submerged in day-to-day operations, which is not the Mandate of Strategy and should not be treated as a strategic planning exercise.
