How to formulate and evaluate zone 3a items in theoretical framework level-0 of ALRA: a note

How to formulate and evaluate zone 3a items in theoretical framework level-0 of ALRA: a note

The theoretical framework level-0 of the agile literature review approach (ALRA) comprises a set of related high-level research objectives that explicitly respond to the management-concerns items in the management-concerns diagram. Regarding zone 3a (outcomes), the evaluation efforts are on the business outcomes (both financial and non-financial) of an organization. Typical examples of zone 3a items are:

Example 1: to evaluate the high staff turnover of at the retail stores of ABC Ltd.

Example 2: to evaluate the competitive advantage status of ABC Ltd.

Example 3: to evaluate the financial performance of ABC Ltd.

Example 4: to evaluate the customer satisfaction of ABC Ltd.

Example 5: to evaluate the innovation performance of ABC Ltd.

Usually, the theoretical framework items at zone 3a (outcomes-related) are closely associated with the items at zone 2 (organizational capabilities). Thus, for a zone 2 item of "to evaluate the supply chain management competence of ABC Ltd", a logical corresponding zone 3a item would be "to evaluate the supply chain management performance of ABC Ltd". 

Now, on the question of "how to evaluate" zone 3a items? Two advices from me are as follows:

1. It depends on what analytical academic ideas you have chosen via your literature review to be employed to inform the zone 3a item evaluation. [And your literature search is based on the key words, e.g. supply chain management competence, leadership competence, etc., used in your zone 3a item statements.]

2. The evaluation effort could ultimately be based on a comprehensive and high-level perspective which  endorses the balanced scorecard (BSC) and the vision-mission-objectives (VMO) rationale. To be specific, the evaluation question is: to what extent the outcomes (e.g. marketing performance, the operational performance, the financial performance, and status of employee morale of ABC Ltd, etc.) meet the expectations and goals as indicated in the organizational balanced scorecard and the organizational vision-mission-objectives statement of ABC Ltd..

A revision on ALRA diagrams zoning:

Zone 1: environmental drivers

Zone 2: organizational capabilities

Zone 3a: outcomes-related

Zone 3b: solutions-related

A relevant reading: on ALRA zoning: a collection of notes.