The Balanced Scorecard Of Abs Corporation

The use of a balanced scorecard when gauging the performance of executives at Paradigm Toys is useful because it measures several key areas that measure past and real time performance that directly affects the company. A balance scorecard can contain both financial and nonfinancial measures as well as both quantitative and qualitative performance measures. Additionally because a balance scorecard can be tailored to the business’s specific targets it can measure the substance of performance better that basic financial indicators that are usually considered the basis of performance ratings. It is important to use more than just financial indicators, because other factors, those qualitative in nature, measure how an employee does their job and gives a larger picture of how well an employee performs. For example, in the case of sales concerning installation of home improvement products one might be measured by repeat buyers or customer satisfaction of how well the salesman followed up with their sale and installation. This kind of non-financial factor can be used to measure the company’s goal of repeat buyer and customer satisfaction which can translate into future sales and growth. Financial indicators are used in similar ways, but are more quantitative in nature. The main reason to use financial indicators is because they can provide a clear picture

We adjusted focus to our niche market, sold off capacity in the low end and traditional markets, and proceeded to decrease our production going into the next round. While selling capacity was the correct financial decision to combat our emergency loan, we were then left with stock outs in all of our product lines. As a result, we continued to struggle with overproduction and avoiding stock outs, but made improvements resulting in less drastic inventory swings in the later

My strategy seemed to work well for the first two years but then it became evident that I was losing market share in the NiMH business. I decided to cut down R&D in that division too early and that caused me to miss my sales targets. As I lost market share in my core business, the volume effect from my decision to lower NiMH prices did not compensate enough to allow that division to remain profitable. Suddenly, I had a very tight R&D budget to work with (as it was based on sales projections) and limited cash could be allocated to the improvement of the ultracapacitors business. I also reacted too late to the shift in customers’ demand for Power Packs products from Power Tools products, which caused late and lower-than-needed investments in other products’ features such as self-discharge (high priority for both NiMH and ultracapacitors).

Balanced scorecard is a methodological tool that businesses use to get a measure by which someone can determine whether the set goals have been met or exceeded. It adds non-financial metrics to traditional financial metrics to give a well-rounded view of the performance in an organization. Balanced scorecards also help organizations to predict their success in meeting their overall strategic goals.

Due to high effectiveness and centeredness on customer, use of Balanced Scorecards is spread widely today. Many companies use Balanced Scorecards approach in conduct of their market analysis and assess their performance effectiveness as-far-as the customer satisfactions and relationship with the company is concerned ADDIN EN.CITE Andra Gumbus2006323(Andra Gumbus, 2006)32332317Andra Gumbus, Robert N LussierEntrepreneurs Use a Balanced Scorecard to Translate Strategy into Performance MeasuresJournal of Small Business Management MilwaukeeJournal of Small Business Management Milwaukee407-426Vol. 44, Iss. 3; pg. 407, 19 pgs32006( HYPERLINK l "_ENREF_1" o "Andra Gumbus, 2006 #323" Andra Gumbus, 2006). Use of a Balanced Scorecards has been touted to assist in improving the customer-company relationship with consistency thus, playing an important role in marketing strategy. This is reflected at Hyde Park Electronics Manufacturer. Upon implementation of a balanced scorecard, the company did manage to raise highest profit in less than 3 years. The customer perspective observed targeted customer satisfaction to allow repeat customer. Convenience offered to customer allowed the company to do their marketing and advertising with lots of ease.

“The balanced scorecard should translate a business unit’s mission and strategy into tangible objectives and measures. The measures represent a balance between external measures for shareholders and customers and internal measures of critical business processes, innovation and learning and growth. The measures are balance between outcome measures, the results of past efforts, and the measures that drive future performance. And the scorecard is balanced between objective, easily quantified outcome measures and subjective, somewhat judgmental, performance…”

Despite encouraging results in some aspects, however, we were also challenged in other areas. Particularly in early rounds, our contribution margin lagged while we strived to provide a high-tech product, as we were reticent to increase price due to concerns that

As we learned, this was a big mistake. Going into the final quarter we did invest in seven things on the conscious scorecard. However, this was to little to late. In the end we ended in a reputation disaster over lead paint. Looking back we should have started to invest in issues with lead paint when they first arose. This would have been a lot cheaper since we could have adapted our firm to the costs. The alternative was investing a large amount changes all at once, which would have been very costly on our bottom line. We decided to not invest at all in the lead paint issue. If we had, we probably would have seen our reputation increase, our employees more productive, increased employee morale, and showed that we are good neighbors which all would have ultimately lead to even more sales and

I enhanced the quality of product 2, which was slightly higher than product 1. The sales were decreased in this quarter mainly due to high quality and price however net income was improved. The key metrics which I emphasized in this quarter was on forecasting and finances which I did using different reports such as raw material, financial reports etc. By viewing these reports, I was able to handle the sales forecast of this quarter and the forecasted sales were very closer to the actual demand. This resulted in improvement of my sales forecast efficiency and, as a result, the company was moved to rank 2 as compared to its

I also undertook several other, less significant adjustments to try and improve performance. I routinely invested in training for my employees when customer satisfaction levels were dropping due to service-related issues. Further, I occasionally invested in advertising and ran sales to promote customer loyalty. I also closed my shop on the weekends, when I anticipated that fewer potential customers would be in the area (due to the store’s location in a business district). Lastly, on the rare occasion that I was offered discounts by one of my suppliers, I generally took advantage of that offer.

The balanced scorecard uses short- and long-term, internal and external, and financial and nonfinancial measures to evaluate performance. Management can analyze these measures and compare

After analyzing the results from the previous quarter, it was determined that the prices set for each segment were not sufficient. Product sales priority were also not properly adjusted. With the R&D investments, sales priorities needed to be changed for the main focus to become the most profitable market segments. Prices were not competitive which in turned decreased revenue, market share, and profitability. To become more competitive we altered the prices in each market segment. The Workhorse product was the first to change, the price was lowered to $2500 in an attempt to increase sales; at this price Team 4 was still making a profit on this product, as well as making the price much more competitive. The Workhorse sales priority was also lowered to 3rd in Americas and 4th in APAC and EMEA. This product was not selling as well as we had hoped, and was no longer as profitable as it once was which led to this decision. Next, the Innovator product’s price was adjusted; this involved a price increase to $4100. This price was adjusted to include the new

We decided to tighten accounts receivable and drop poorly selling products because they yielded a percentage decrease in working capital requirement larger than their percentage drop in sales. Also these 2 options fit

By using this system, it can assist all level of employee to have clear vision and strategy into objectives. Other than that, it can measure and monitor the improvement that can be achieved by the company. In Balanced Scorecard, there are many aspects that will be monitored and measured the performance. To have this to be done, the Balanced Scorecard is using Key Performance Indicator (KPI) which is in line with their objectives. Each KPI has their specific percentage to be achieved. Therefore, all employees will have better understanding about their task of what to be achieved based on the targeted percentage. At the end of the year, all employees will be evaluated based on their specific achievement.

Effectiveness of R&D Strategy. R&D can be a little tricky to setup. In my simulation, I am trying to keep my product development and upgrades within the same year allowing me to maximize considerably on sales. The most important figure in the Mean Time Before Fails (MTBF). This number gives us an estimated time the product may last before breaking or expiring. This number is determined by what the current demand is. This number needs to be fair to the product or the product may not sell. The higher this number is the higher the cost of the product. The remaining steps are a balancing act with the R&D cost, Material cost, and Age of revision. The product must be able to be made for less than it is sold for to maintain profitability. Awareness and Accessibility were critical in my efforts since they have such a big impact on product appeal and sales. As a broad differentiator, our minimum objective was 80% awareness and 80% accessibility by the end of the 4 practice rounds. Andrews spent a total of $38 million on awareness and $35 million on accessibility. At the end of 4 rounds, I had,