Experimenting a Modeling Approach for Designing Organization’s Strategies in

the Context of Strategic Alignment

Laure-Hélène Thevenet*1, Camille Salinesi*, Anne Etien *,Ines Gam*, Ménel Lassoued*

*Centre de Recherche en Informatique, University Paris 1, France1 BNP Paribas

Outline

Context and Motivation

Proposition of an approach

– to design organization strategies

– document the strategic alignment

Illustration with a case-study

Context and Motivation:Importance of Strategic Alignment

Improves Business Performance

Helps providing return on IT investments

Top priority

However, alignment between strategies and functional level remains ineffective and

seldom considered

Organisation strategy

Organization’s Strategy

Organization’s StrategyOrganisation

strategyOrganization’s

Strategy

Organization’s Strategy

Organisation strategy

Business Processes

Business Processes

Organisation strategy

Information Systems

Information Systems

Organisation strategy

Business Processes

Business Processes

Organisation strategy

Information Systems

Information Systems

AlignmentAlignment

Strategic level

Functional level

Agility

Visibility

Tracing evolutions

Impact analysis

Context and Motivation:strategic alignment

Our requirements for a good strategic alignment documentation were to: • be formalized using modeling rules, • reflect the complexity of strategic alignment in a simple manner• show alignment as well as mis-alignment • be scalable to real-world organization sizes,

Need to document organizations’ strategic objectives • few modeling techniques available to document them, • the level of formality not adapted to work on strategic alignment• weak compatibility with the objectives relative to IS

Need to document strategic alignment

However, methodologies do not provide means to evaluate if there is fit and to which extent.

Related works – goal modeling technique

i* – The relationships between actors and their goals – Bleistein et al. (BSCP framework)

MAP CREWS-L’Ecritoire :

– Goal modeling and scenario analysis

KAOS :– Goals are linked through AND/OR decomposition links

Very few method exist to address the issue of strategic alignment.

Proposal

Description of the organizations’ strategic

objectives in the context of strategic alignment

– Use of the Map formalism Enhancement of the Map formalism to document organizations’

strategic objectives

Definition of links between strategic map and functional map

Experimentation on the case study of Seven

Eleven Japan

OrganizationStrategy

System/ Process

OrganizationStrategy

System/ Process

FormalisationFormalisation

Abstraction

Contribution linksStrategic level

Functional level

OrganizationFormalism

MAP Formalism

OrganizationFormalism

MAP Formalism

Strategic map

Functional map

Strategic Alignment

Proposed approach

Strategic maps

Contribution links

Functional maps

Seven Eleven Japan case study

Largest chain in the Japanese convenience retailing industry

SEJ’s strategy more specifically relies on:– use information to meet customer’s demands– the optimization of storage space

Main strategic objectives :– Get better value of SEJ stores by answering to any

client’s needs;– Live in harmony with the local communities;– Respect the environment.

SEJ’s Strategic map for “Get better value of SEJ stores” from stakeholders’ vision

Source Intention

Strategy= manner to attain the target goal

Target Intention = goal to achieve

By coordinating logistics of products

By anticipating problems

Increase the sources of value

By answering quickly to store

requests By providing organisational efficiency

By rationalizing the organisation

By availability towards customers and in shops

By being visible by customers

By guarantying product quality

Start

By cooperation with allies and partner

Control the resources

Stop (change the organization strategy)

By shareholders By

organisational change

Ressources : time, space, partners, stores, products, services

Sources of Value : customers, product quality, organsiation quality, sales (results of product, store (space), time, customer)

a

b

c

d

(3)

(2) (1)

(1)

(1)

(1)

(2)

(3)(4)

(1) (2)

Caption

objective

section

strategy

Section = (source intention, target

intention, strategy)

Functional Map “Organize networks of franchisee stores”

Start

Stop

Define offers

(3) By creating partnerships

Supervise the shops

By stock optimisation

By sales monitoring

(2) By geographical development

(1) By catalogue construction

By tutorial system

By ajustment/ training

Keep theaccounting

books

(1) By paying the debts

(2) By recovery of the amounts to perceive

(1) By recovery of the outstanding debts

Using the accounting results

By franchise management

By bone of contentious

By withdrawal of a geographical zoneMaintain

the image

By marketing (promotions)

(1) By installing the communication

equipment

By definition of the communication policy

By advertising campaign

a

b

c

d

e

f

(1)

(2)(3

)

(1)(1

)

(1)

(1)

(1)

(1)

(1)

(1)

Increase the sources of value

By availability towards customers and in shops

Starta

c

(1)

Start

Define offers

By creating partnerships

By geographical development

By catalogue construction

a

b(3)

(1)

(2)

Supervise the shops

d

By sales monitoring

(2)

Example of Contribution links

Necessary : the fulfilment of the section AC1 cannot occur if that of sections AB1, AB2, AB3 and BD2 is not performed.If evolution impacts these sections, it is inevitable to verify that the link is preserved

Is Sufficient To : realising AB1, AB2, AB3 and BD2 is enough to satisfy the fulfilment of the section AC1

(AB,AB2,AB3 AND

BD2) are Necessary

and Sufficent to AC1

Part of strategic map

Part of funtional map

Contribution links

Different contribution links between functional elements and

strategic elements :

– Necessary

– Sufficient

– Useful

– Constrained by

– Contradictory with

– Possibility to combine different links

Use to analyze alignment

– Detect redundancies in IS

– Help in impact analysis

– Identify new requirements to improve strategic alignment

The strategic level

Organization Strategic Objective

Strategy

has for target v

actor

External actor

Internal actor

VisionExpressed by v

1*

*

11*

Makes Intervene v

*

**

1

1..*

1

*Satisfies needs of v

Refines>

2..*

Corresponds to v

Comprises >Describes ^

Strategic map0..*

Section0..*

has for source v

1

11

Organization Strategy

1*

Goal

Link between strategic and functional level

Strategic level Functional level

FormulaSection

Functional Element

Attribute Contribution Link

target source

0..1 0..1

Strategic Element

2 *Formula Section

2 *

Functional map

Strategic map

2 *2 *

Necessary UsefulSufficient Constrained Contradictory

Refines

>

Refines

>

0 *

0 *

0..1

0..1

Atomic Link Composed

Link

Conclusion

We proposed – the use of MAP formalism, to model both strategic

and functional levels. – the definition of contribution links

We show on an example the pertinence of the approach

This approach is included in a larger project– CADWA approach for DW (use of map at the

strategic level)– ACEM approach (use of map in a context of

alignment)

Conclusion

Perspectives:

• definitions of contribution links

• analysis of evolutions and evaluation of their consequences;

• documentation of the used process to define the strategic maps and contribution links.

Complementary experiments :1. Interviews with industrials to explore the usability of strategic maps in an

industrial context.

2. Empirical evaluation of the various qualities expected from the strategy modeling language.

3. Comparative analysis of i* with the Map approach to document organization’s strategy.