The Execution Premium: Linking Strategy to Operations for Competitive Advantage Hardcover – June 17, 2008

This is a wonderful book for Strategic Management. It draws an excellent road map for starting with strategy development through strategy execution and performance management. The stages the book goes through are as follows:1. Developing the strategy2. Planning the strategy3. Aligning organizational units and employees with the strategy4. Planning operations by setting priorities for process management and allocating resources that will deliver the strategy.5. Monitoring and learning from operations and strategy6. Testing and Adapting strategyThe book then closes with a chapter on establishing a function called the the Office of Strategy Management as the new function responsible for the above whole strategic process. A wonderful book and I think it should be part of the MBA Strategic Management and Operations Managmenet course

As a student and practitioner on themes like Activity Based Costing, Productivity, the Balanced Scorecard and Strategy, I want to praise the clarity of Dr Kaplan in combining and linking the strategy all the way down to the scorecard of the organization. In his book "The Execution Premium" he takes the reader step by step to understand the link between the strategy frameworks to its execution. It is a perfectly designed management system that shows the relationship of very important decisions such as: Develop people and technology as to have a competitive team; Encourage Analytical approach to understand processes and data driven decisions; Develop management leadership to provide vision and alignment; Understand that everything we do in the organization is determined solely by our customers and finally to teach everyone in the organization that a primary objective is to create value. The Execution Premium will help any manager to successfully execute strategies and allocate resources to those paths which will create maximum value.

Kaplan and Norton know their stuff. The Execution Premium takes the reader beyond the Balanced Scorecard, to detailed examples of strategy execution. The myriad examples give the reader an opportunity to see the strategy of different types of organizations and how they aligned employees with strategic goals.This is not a book for the beginner. A basic knowledge of the Balanced Scorecard process is a prerequisite. For those with a working knowledge of scorecards, this book is a valuable and interesting read.

Professor Kaplan and Dave Norton once again prove that they understand and appreciate the systemic nuances of business and the value premium of not only having a good plan but marshalling the resources (human and economic) needed to execute and deliver on a plan's promise. Bob Kaplan and David Norton's enthusiasm for work done well is palpable throughout this latest Balanced Scorecard book. I was introduced to the Balanced Scorecard a decade and a half ago in an early Harvard U. training seminar put on by these two. They have never rested on the laurels of a fantastic business idea and continue to advance and refine the Balanced Scorecard system.Gery Sasko - PrincipalIntrafocus Management Consulting[...]

K&N have maintained an ongoing development in the art of strategy focus, development and execution. Whilst this book is part of this ongoing development and is very valuable in its own right, it is the fact that it is part of the ongoing interest of the Authors that make it worth more and adds to its credibility.The authors in addition to the follow on publications have developed a number of very useful tools and libraries that add to the collection for practitioners.

This is a most to read book for CEO's and top management. This is a very comprehensive and updated view of a formal management system.

I teach strategic planning of the Andres Bello Catholic University in Caracas, Venezuela, in addition to consulting in BPM and Business Strategy. This book is an excellent summary of the approach to strategic management professors Robert Kaplan and David Norton.

It is an excellent book that help you in the process of developing the strategy and communicate it in a very simple form. With the use of BSC, the strategic maps could be linked to operations with specific measurements for each goal so you can follow up. As director, it is an excellent tool to execute the strategy in the operations of any business.