The Big Picture strategy framework has been used by a variety of companies to extract transformational value from their strategic marketing activities, to establish analytical rigor for their marketing spend, and to create customer metrics for the organization as a whole. The value of the framework lies in its simplicity and interrelatedness. The Big Picture has been used by management teams to re-evaluate current activities through a common lens across the company; to eliminate redundant or misaligned efforts; and to re-direct resources to the areas that optimize customer equity. The framework has helped our clients grow their top line sales while also realizing substantial bottom-line efficiencies. The “Big Picture” difference can be summarized as follows:

Focus: The Big Picture framework is a soup-to-nuts strategic planning tool that helps managers align all areas of the organization along a common goal; this facilitates decision making while building consensus. Once managers have established a customer-based goal, investment priorities can be re-evaluated and inefficient or unnecessary activities eliminated. Strategic plans that use the Big Picture framework are simple informative documents that live and change as organizations and their markets evolve.

Integration: In today’s business environment, executional decisions are often taken without regard for the strategic course of the firm. This problem has become more palpable as markets have become increasingly complex. Companies respond to complexity by breaking things down into smaller and smaller parts. Even small and mid-sized firms have responded to complexity by creating functional silos where corporate execution regarding ideal customer selection, targeting, product development, pricing, and distribution is disconnected from the overall strategic goals of the firm. The Big Picture framework generates a single strategy within the firm, aligning functional and tactical goals, and in doing so it helps eliminate the inefficiencies that result from corporate compartmentalization.

Metrics: Great emphasis is currently being placed on measuring the effectiveness of resource spending, particularly in marketing. However, companies often create marketing, operational, financial, and human resource dashboards in isolation from each other. Often, because those metrics are not integrated, some numbers show improvement while others simultaneously deteriorate, causing management paralysis in the face of seemingly contradictory signals. In addition to creating ambiguity, focus on the wrong metrics can lead to erroneous decisions. For example, many companies act based on revenue growth-based metrics; but changes in revenues do not provide information regarding the health of the customer base. As an example, deteriorating revenues can result from a net loss of customers or decreased wallet share with no customer loss. Within the Big Picture, we distinguish input from output metrics, and develop Strategy-Integrated Metrics (SIMsTM).

The Big Picture framework is the subject of a Marketing Text, Marketing Management: The Big Picture published by Wiley and Sons. In addition to the text, a systems-dynamics simulation has been developed based on the framework that is used to illustrate and elucidate key Big Picture concepts and their application in real-world settings. The framework has been implemented by companies across a variety of industries, from manufacturing to services, and it has been taught across top MBA and executive education programs, including those at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business.