A Bottom-Up Strategic Roadmapping Approach for Multilevel Integration and Communication

Strategic roadmapping commonly zooms in from a landscape to a landmark phase, following a top-down logic and delivering results oriented to top management levels. Based on a six-month action research project in an automotive manufacturer, we present an integrated multilevel roadmapping approach that develops a single architecture and single scope roadmap, but that organizes its information according to three levels of analysis: macro, meso, and micro. These interconnected levels are designed to deliver the specific information granularity requested by top, middle, and low-level managers. A new bottom-up approach is followed for the interconnected roadmap development, zooming out from detailed (micro) layers to a strategic (macro) landscape. Results indicate superior internal consistency, sense of ownership, communication, and integration among all levels and functions involved, as well as rich strategic insights. We discuss how the specificities of this article contribute to the current knowledge and why it is especially valuable for established firms of traditional sectors, such as the automotive industry.