Fail to (strategically) plan, plan to fail: The importance of customer involvement in strategy maps

Abstract

Purpose

Reviews the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoints practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.

Design/methodology/approach

This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.

Findings

It was once de rigeur to state that your corporate strategy had the customer at its heart; that your organization was, indeed, “customer-focused”. Then a customer focus became essential to every living and breathing part of the organization, even to the extent that they became partners and even board members, so as to ensure their every whim was catered for through sales, marketing and product development. If you didn’t have a customer focus, you were so out of touch you practically deserved to fail. Customer focus became as natural for an organization as living and breathing to the human body, which business writers and marketers were so fond of creating analogies with.

Originality/value

The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.

Citation

(2018), "Fail to (strategically) plan, plan to fail: The importance of customer involvement in strategy maps", Strategic Direction, Vol. 34 No. 9, pp. 1-3. https://doi.org/10.1108/SD-05-2018-0106