Final answer:
The 'financial' perspective is the focus of most firms' strategy maps within the Balanced Scorecard framework, as it represents the ultimate measure of a company's performance.
Step-by-step explanation:
The phrase you are looking for to complete the statement “For most firms the ______________ perspective of the balanced scorecard is the target of the strategy map.” is the “financial” perspective. The Balanced Scorecard includes four perspectives: financial, customer, internal business processes, and learning and growth. The financial perspective is typically the ultimate target because it reflects the overall financial performance, which is the end goal of most firms' strategies. The other perspectives support this goal with a more detailed focus.
The financial perspective measures how well the company is doing financially, representing the ultimate outcome of implementing a firm's strategy as manifested in revenues, profit, and return on investment. The customer perspective looks at customer satisfaction and retention, the internal business process perspective assesses the efficiency and quality of internal processes, and the learning and growth perspective considers employee training and corporate cultural attitudes related to both individual and corporate self-improvement. They all serve to inform and improve financial outcomes.