The balance scorecard assignment
Project description
Visit the web site of United Airlines, especially the area that shows the annual report and investor relations information. Explore the companys web site to learn
about the companys services and operations.
Write a paper, between 3 to 4 pages in length (typed, 12 point font, 1.5 line spacing; 1 inch margins) that responds to the below questions:
(1)What is a Balanced Scorecard and what are its key features? (4 points)
(2)How can a Balanced Scorecard be used to measure performance? (2 points)
(3)Please reflect on the logical relationships between the four key areas of the Balanced Scorecard and comment on how these four areas tie together or relate to one
another. (2 points)
(4)What do you think are the overall, long-term goals for the company that you analyzed? (2 points)
(5)Create a balanced scorecard for the company that you analyzed. Include two to five measures in each of the scorecards perspectives. (8 points)
(6)How would the balanced scorecard affect the way managers develop the companys strategy? (2 points)
Resources that you might also choose to use:
Information in your textbook on Balanced Scorecard.
Article The Balanced Scorecard Measures that Drive Performance, by Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton. The article is available on the course blackboard.
The Balanced
Scorecard—Measures that
Drive Performance
Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton
Harvard Business Review
92105
HBR
JANUARY–FEBRAURY 1992
The Balanced Scorecard—Measures
that Drive Performance
Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton
What you measure is what you get. Senior execu- other. They realize that no single measure can pro-
vide a clear performance target or focus attention on
tives understand that their organization’s measure-
ment system strongly affects the behavior of the critical areas of the business. Managers want a
balanced presentation of both financial and opera-
managers and employees. Executives also under-
stand that traditional financial accounting measures tional measures.
Duringayear-longresearchprojectwith12compa-
like return-on-investment and earnings-per-share
can give misleading signals for continuous improve- nies at the leading edge of performance measure-
ment, we devised a ‘‘balanced scorecard’’—a set of
ment and innovation—activitiestoday’s competitive
environment demands. The traditional financial per- measures that gives top managers a fast but compre-
hensive view of the business. The balanced scorecard
formance measures worked well for the industrial
era, but they are out of step with the skills and com- includes financial measures that tell the results of
actions already taken. And it complements the fi-
petencies companies are trying to master today.
As managers and academic researchers have tried nancial measures with operational measures on
customer satisfaction, internal processes, and the or-
to remedy the inadequacies of current performance
measurement systems, some have focused on mak- ganization’s innovation and improvement activi-
ties—operational measures that are the drivers of
ing financial measures more relevant. Others have
said, ‘‘Forget the financial measures. Improve opera- future financial performance.
Think of the balanced scorecard as the dials and
tional measures like cycle time and defect rates; the
financial results will follow.’’ But managers should indicators in an airplane cockpit. For the complex
task of navigating and flying an airplane, pilots need
nothavetochoosebetweenfinancialandoperational
measures. In observing andworking with many com- detailed information about many aspects of the
flight. They need information on fuel, air speed, alti-
panies, we have found that senior executives do not
rely on one set of measures to the exclusion of the tude, bearing, destination, and other indicators that
summarize the current and predicted environment.
Reliance on one instrument can be fatal. Similarly,
Robert S. Kaplan is the Arthur Lowes Dickinson Professor of
the complexity of managing an organization today
Accounting at the Harvard Business School. David P. Norton is
requires that managers be able to view performance
president of Nolan, Norton & Company, Inc., a Massachusetts-
based information technology consulting firm he cofounded.
in several areas simultaneously.
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