The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the BSC's usefulness and the implications of its application to strategic management system. The Balanced Scorecard is a new framework for integrating measures derived from strategy. While retaining financial m...
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the BSC's usefulness and the implications of its application to strategic management system. The Balanced Scorecard is a new framework for integrating measures derived from strategy. While retaining financial measures of past performance, the Balanced Scorecard introduces the drivers of future financial performance. The drivers, encompassing customer, internal-business-process, and learning and growth perspectives, are derived from an explicit and rigorous translation of the organization's strategy into tangible objectives and measures.
The Balanced Scorecard, however, is more than a new measurement system. Innovative companies use the scorecard as the central, organizing framework for their management processes. Companies can develop an initial Balanced Scorecard with fairly narrow objectives: to gain clarification, consensus, and focus on their strategy, and then to communicate that strategy throughout the organization. The real power of the Balanced Scorecard, however, occurs when it is transformed from a measurement system to a management system. As more and more companies work with the Balanced Scorecard, they see how it can be used to
(1) clarify and gain consensus about strategy,
(2) communicate strategy throughout the organization,
(3) align departmental and personal goals to the strategy,
(4) link strategic objectives to long-term targets and annual budgets,
(5) identify and align strategic initiatives,
(6) perform periodic and systematic strategic reviews, and
(7) obtain feedback to learn about and improve strategy
The Balanced Scorecard fills the void that exists in most management systems - the lack of a systematic process to implement and obtain feedback about strategy. Management processes built around the scorecard enable the organization to become aligned and focused on implementing the long-term strategy.