Usefulness of the Balanced Scorecard Essay

The Balanced Scorecard framework was first introduced in the 1992 Harvard Business review article, ‘The Balanced Scorecard—Measures that Drive Performance.’ (Kaplan 2006) The purpose of the Balanced Scorecard is to harmonise the corporation’s strategy, operational objectives and performance measures so that they can be controlled to achieve goals. (Stevanovic et al. 2012, p.261) The BSC can be conceptualized as, “…a management system, which is structured according to the logic of the cyber-netic management circle (“plan-do-check-act”) (Bieker 2002, p.2) The model usually measures four core domains organised into quadrants; the customer perspective, internal business perspective, innovation and learning perspective, and the financial perspective. Each closely relating to a recognised aspect of firm performance. (Kaplan & Norton 2005) As seen in the figure below, the scorecard is organised such that the interrelationship between these variables as well as comparison between goals and measures are easily seen.

“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…”

BMW annual report (2015) emphasis that, BMW pursues a hybrid strategy which allows them to pass greater costs on to their customers because of non- competitive. Firms that prosper in a focus strategy are able to adapt an extensive range of product development and market segment in order to do better than

The internal business perspectives strengths are that they address capacity and production cost efficiencies. These measures are weak in that they do not necessarily ensure quality of production or effective use of the production line. Supervisors may be tempted to overproduce product. The managers may want to focus on where there is a bottleneck in production or how long stock sits in the warehouse. These measures are appropriate as it addresses controlling waste and ensure the plant is optimally utilized.

The balanced scorecard is a strategic planning and management system that was developed by Dr. Robert S. Kaplan and Dr. David P. Norton in the early 1990's. Their goal was to provide organizations with a clear understanding of what to measure in order to improve performance and results (Balanced Scorecard Institute 2014). The balanced scorecard is a framework that allows an organization to measure performance and compare it to the organization’s strategic objectives and goals (Kinney and Raiborn 2013, 10).

BAE decided to implement the balanced scorecard, which would orient the firm's mission and vision around four different perspectives internal operations, customer, financial and learning & growth (Norton & Kaplan, 2013). The change program that initiated the balanced scorecard was actually part of a wholesale program that broke up the conglomerate and replaced it with an entirely new business structure that would better support the new way of thinking about the business. Thus, the change project partially involved implementing the balanced scorecard, and that new way of thinking about strategy was to be part of the organizational culture going forward.

Key when it is of fundamental importance in gaining competitive advantage and is a make or break component in the success or failure of the plan.

Introduction- To be competitive, organizations must be both strategic and tactical to the nth degree, must be proactive rather than reactive, and must find a way to measure this easily and accurately. One way to accomplish this is through a Balanced Scorecard approach; a tool often viewed as one of the best tools that helps organizations translate strategy into performance. In general the BSA (Balanced Scorecard Approach) allows for a clear strategic and tactical directions for the organization, retains financial measurements in a summation along with their links to performance, and highlights an important and robust measurement system that links and integrates customers, stakeholders, processes, resources, and performance into single measurement strategy.

The Balanced Scorecard Institute reports that in the 1950’s General Electric was the first to use the Balanced Scorecard approach, but it was not until the 1990’s when Dr. Robert Kaplan a Harvard Business School professor and Dr. David Norton officially titled it the Balanced Scorecard. Once used as only a measurement tool for organizations, it is now a complete strategic planning and management system (Balanced Scorecard Institute, n.d.). Originally, businesses looked at the financial reports to distinguish whether it was a quality company or not. Kaplan and Norton however believed the financial reports only showed past history and an organization must also track how it is performing currently and look at ways to constantly improve future performance. Kaplan and Norton established there are four business segments or perspectives to measure and make improvements on. The four segments

BMW focuses on encouraging long term growth and they provide the necessary equipment for this to happen. They do this so the the effect they create will last a long time and will benefit generations to come.

A Balanced Scorecard can be defined as a “performance management tool which began as a concept for measuring whether the smaller-scale operational activities of a company are aligned with its larger-scale objectives in terms of vision and strategy” (Wikipedia 2009, ¶ 1). Scents & Things will need to develop a balanced scorecard that will assist in meeting and help define the company’s values, mission, vision, and SWOT analysis. The balance scorecard is made up of four perspectives; financial, customer, learning and growing, and internal process. This paper will define each of the four perspectives objectives, performance measures, targets, and initiatives. The paper will also show how the perspectives relate

This analysis is essential as it identifies what BMW can and cannot do and its probable opportunities and threats and determines what barrier should be minimize to achieve the desired objectives resulting into positive outcomes

The BMW group has always been highly market driven and have been aggressive marketers of their product. They are dynamic in their promotion and innovative and are initiators in their field. By analysing their marketing mix, it will be possible to understand their current strategies and why BMW is still the market leaders in the automobile industry.

The market for low-emission, electrical- and hybrid cars is covered with the I3 and the I8, both from BMW (BMW Group, 2014).

Since the Balanced Scorecard was developed in the 1990’s by Robert Kaplan and David Norton (1992), it has gained in popularity amongst academics and practitioners. In 1990, Kaplan and Norton led a research study of a lot of companies with the purpose of exploring the new methods of performance management. The importance of the study was an increasing belief that the financial measures of performance management were not as effective as before with the development of modern business enterprise. Representatives involved in the study companies, including the researchers Kaplan and Norton, were persuaded that the reliance on financial measures of performance had an effect on their ability to create value. After