The Use of Visualization in the Context of Business Strategies: An Experimental Evaluation

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to add empirical evidence whether the use of visualization is better than text in the communication of business strategies. Seventy-four managers who took part in an Executive MBA program saw a presentation of the simplified strategy of BMW Financial Services. The visual support of the presentation was manipulated by the author and the according effects were measured. Three different types of visual support were chosen: text in the form of PowerPoint (1), visualization in the form of a visual metaphor (2), and a roadmap (3). Each subject saw only one of the three types of visual support. The effects measured were attention, comprehension, agreement and retention. In addition the perception of the visual and the perception of the presenter were measured for each of the three conditions. Subjects who were exposed to visualization in the form of visual metaphor and roadmap paid significantly more attention to the strategy, agreed more with the strategy and recalled the strategy better than did subjects who saw text in the form of PowerPoint. No significant superiority was found for visualization compared to text in understanding the strategy. Subjects who were exposed to visualization in the form of visual metaphor and roadmap perceived the visual and the presenter significantly better than did those subjects who where exposed to text in the form of PowerPoint. In addition the perception of the visual accounted for 69% of the variation of the perception of the presenter.