Discussion of: Testing strategy with multiple performance measures: Evidence from a balanced scorecard at store24

The Campbell, Datar, Kulp, and Narayanan (2015; hereafter, CDKN) study empirically investigates how the quality of a firm’s business strategy can be tested and validated using statistical analysis of the firm’s internal performance measurement system. Using data from the balanced scorecard of a convenience store chain, their study provides empirical evidence that the company’s internal performance measures reveal timely information about problems with the strategy and can help identify where and why the strategy failed. In this brief discussion of the study, I first summarize the major strengths of their study, then discuss my concerns and comments, and finally point out some potential extensions. In summary, CDKN’s study is important in that it makes significant contributions to several streams of literature. CDKN have inspired follow-up studies on the use of performance measurement systems to evaluate strategy and the testing of business models, and has opened up exciting opportunities for future research.