Rethinking utility analysis: a strategic focus

Utility analysis is a technique which allows for the estimation of the financial impact of human resource (HR) interventions. While utility analysis methods have been available for decades, their application is still not widespread. Some argue that this is because managers do not understand the techniques and suggest that allowing managers to participate in the analysis would increase understanding and, as a results, use and acceptance of utility analysis. The current work posits that translating the value of HR interventions into financial terms may not be necessary. It may be more useful to determine the direct impact of HR programs on employee behaviors and attitudes. The impact of these changes on the bottom line may then be determined. Building upon the recently proposed multi-attribute utility analysis and the strategic perspective offered by the Balanced Scorecard, this paper presents a strategic utility analysis method. Strategic utility analysis requires that multiple outcomes, not only financial, be considered in order to determine the utility of a given HR intervention. It further stipulates that these outcomes should come directly from the company's business strategy. The strategy should imply certain organizational capabilities and strategic utility analysis should measure the contribution of HR interventions towards building these specific capabilities

How to re-allocate resources within services through data benchmarking: some evidence from the Tuscan Health System.

Background Tuscany Region has implemented a multidimensional system to assess the performance of all Local Health Authorities (LHAs), based on over 130 indicators classified in 6 dimensions in benchmarking. A study was carried out to use the results of the evaluation performance system to support health system decision makers to cope with resources scarcity. Objective To quantify the amount of resources LHAs can re-allocate, taking actions in different sectors, for services with more value for patients. Methods The analysis was based on the data benchmarking of all the indicators of the performance evaluation system with an impact on the level of resources used. For each indicator, the first step was to estimate the gap between the performance of each LHA and the best performance or the regional average. The second step was to measure this gap in terms of financial value. Results The results of the analysis put on evidence that at the regional level 6 to 10 percent of the budget for healthcare (6.100 ml Euros) can be re-allocated if all the institutions achieve the regional average or the best practice. Some LHAs are already efficient but others have large room for improvement: some of them, working on efficiency and appropriatness, can re-allocate up to the 13% of their total costs in services with more value for patients. Policy Implications The implications of this study can be extremely useful for policy makers and the top management of LHAs in a public system that bases its action on cooperation more that competition. Benchmarking makes the system capable to measure the financial impact of different types of actions which can effect efficiency.Disinvestment, setting priorities, healthcare

Performance measurement in the public sector: some theoretical and practical reflections

Performance measurement innovation in the public sector has been gaining a great deal of interest among academics, practitioners and policy makers since the implementation of the New Public Management reforms. The aim of this paper is to contribute to the current debate on the topic through the study of the conditions and factors that may hinder or foster the introduction of performance measurement systems, such as the Balanced Scorecard (BSC). The results derive from two longitudinal studies conducted in two Italian public administrations, which introduced the BSC device. The empirical evidences are discussed through the Ferreira and Otley’s (2009) framework, as extended by Broadbent and Laughlin (2009). The paper tries to contribute to both the extant literature on the BSC device and the usefulness of the extended conceptual framework in an empirical context.performance measurement; public sector; balanced scorecard

Optimizing of the Balanced Scorecard method for management of mining companies with the use of factor analysis

The managers of information age companies cannot rely merely on data derived from past activities of the company and focus on improving existing processes. They need a frame for measuring values that result from strategic goals of the company, a tool, which is focusing on obtaining information about company's current success, as well as finding new driving forces to ensure the future competitiveness of the company. Strategic business performance measurement system the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) is a suitable tool for improving the competitiveness of industrial companies. During its implementation, however, there is a conflict of perception of the importance of individual goals and measurable characteristics in partial perspectives of the BSC and its actual enforcement of the various strategic objectives in companies. The aim of this article is to verify the accuracy of BSC settings in an environment of selected companies in the Moravian-Silesian region with the emphasis placed on mining companies with the help of multidimensional statistics - factor analysis. The research took place in 2015 in cooperation with managers from the Moravian-Silesian Region (MSR), and it was divided into two kinds of research - quantitative and qualitative.Web of Science22444743

THE INTELLECTUAL CAPITAL STATEMENT AND THE BALANCED SCORECARD AS COMPLEMENTARY MODELS IN MEASURING FIRM INTANGIBLES

The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of two different new management tool, the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) and the Intellectual Capital Report (ICR) in managing and reporting intangibles. Unlike the majority of IC scholars the author, and consistently with Bukh et al. (2005), the author starts from the idea that BSC and ICR are not alternative, but complementary tools in measuring intangibles, addressing different needs for firms that measure, manage and report intangibles. The research hypothesis of the paper will be demonstrated through the analysis of a case study of an Italian group which use both intangibles' reporting systems. A case study methodology has been chosen, given that it is widely used by researchers and provide the basis for the application of ideas and extension of methods (Yin, 1994). Intercos group has been chosen to test the research hypothesis, since it makes use of both models in measuring and reporting intangibles. The study of the case Intercos group found evidence that the two types of extended reporting are different and yet complementary and that both tools are necessary for firm in measuring IC, since they address different aims. This includes therefore a marked difference in use of indicators, given that IC indicators in the ICR have to support the overall aims derived by company's strategy, while BSC indicators provides a breakdown of strategic goals with respect to profitability, growth etc. The contribution of the paper to the IC literature is to extend the findings of the Bukh et al.'s (2003) study, investigating the hypothesis (and finding evidence) that BSC and ICR are complementary in reporting intangibles in an Italian group. Implications of the paper are for company's manager, who increase the awareness that they have at their disposal two management tools, with address different aims, to manage intangibles.Intellectual capital report, balanced scorecard, complementary models

Evaluating Performance in the Tuscan Health Care System.

The Tuscan health care system strives to foster cooperation among the various organizations that provide services. Government authorities therefore believe it is important to plan and develop a transparent system capable of monitoring the economic results of the region’s 16 public health authorities and their ability to pursue and accomplish the aims of the regional health care plan. The principal aim of the Tuscan performance evaluation system is to give a general outline of the management of the region’s health care authorities. This outline is intended to be useful both for evaluating performance and for enhancing and promoting the results of the healthcare system.Performance evaluation system, benchmarking in healthcare.

INSURANCE PERFORMANCE EVALUATION USING BSC-AHP COMBINED TECHNIQUE

Abstract. Insurance companies are expected to show successful performance in achieving their goals. The extent to which awareness of this organizational performance has been successful in achieving goals and where the position of organization is situated in the modern complex and dynamic context have taken on special importance to managers and organizations. Organization survival and activity are determined by competition ability and adoption of the most suitable policy for environmental changes. One of the most effective practices used by organizations is the use of performance evaluation in order to determine weaknesses and strengths of organizations and fix them and enhance their strengths. Performance management and evaluation play a prominent role in determining and implementingstrategies, as well as contributing to organizations’ competition power. In this regard, possessing a model for evaluating organization’s strategic performance seems essential. One of the techniques is the balanced scorecard which was introduced to evaluate organizations’ performance for the first time and is still recognized as a method of strategic planning which can be applicable. The balanced scorecard is a managerial concept which helps managers at all levels controls their key activities. In this research, we aim to assess the performance of various representatives of Kosar Insurance Co. in Qazvin using a combined approach, the balanced scorecard (BSC) and analytical hierarchy process (AHP), and prioritize them and explore their strengths and weaknesses.Keywords: performance evaluation, balanced scorecard, analytical hierarchy process, Qazvin Kosar Insuranc

Modelling performance in a Balanced Scorecard : findings from a case study

Cet article s'intéresse à la mise en place de l'approche dite du "Balanced Scorecards" dans des unités opérationnelles plutôt qu'au niveau d'une direction générale. Il s'appuie sur une étude de cas. On propose de traiter les questions relatives à la coordination, à la fixation des objectifs et au contrôle en s'appuyant sur une méthodologie originale pour construire le modèle d'interaction entre les différentes entités de l'organisation. Cette méthodologie fait une part importante à l'apprentissage organisationnel permettant ainsi une compréhension mutuelle des degrés de liberté individuels et une meilleure observation réciproque. Cette approche "horizontale" est mieux adaptée à ce type de contexte que l'approche "verticale" plus traditionnelle du BCS.Pilotage;Tableaux de bord;Incitations;Apprentissage organisationnel

Weighing Elephants with Kitchen Scales. The relevance of traditional performance measurement tools for social enterprises

peer reviewedPurpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyze whether the use of current performance tools is consistent with the specific features of social enterprises. Design/methodology/approach – In a first phase, the main performance tools are divided into strategic planning tools, reporting tools and economic optimization techniques. In a second phase, 15 criteria emerge from a literature review to characterize the specific features of social enterprises. These criteria are brought together into an analytical framework, which makes it possible to analyze the relevance of each performance tool in relation to the specific features of social enterprises. Findings – What comes out of the analysis is that the tools globally fail to account for the specific features of social enterprises. That none of them met more than half of the criteria suggests the need for new performance tools based on strong theoretical bases

Can fuzzy Multi-Criteria Decision Making improve Strategic planning by balanced scorecard?

Strategic management is momentous for organizational success and competitive advantage in an increasingly turbulent business environment. Balanced scorecard (BSC) is a framework for evaluating strategic management performance which translates strategy into action via various sets of performance measurement indicators. The main objective of this research is to develop a new fuzzy group Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) model for strategic plans selection process in the BSC. For this to happen, the current study has implemented linguistic extension of MCDM model for robust selection of strategic plans. The new linguistic reasoning for group decision making is able to aggregate subjective evaluation of the decision makers and hence create an opportunity to perform more robust strategic plans, despite of the vagueness and uncertainty of strategic plans selection process. A numerical example demonstrates possibilities for the improvement of BSC through applying the proposed model