The Evolution Of A Balanced Scorecard

Both professionals and academics have long criticized the use of traditional financial performance measures and called for balance in performance measurement systems. In 1992, Kaplan and Norton introduced the Balanced Scorecard and it has been adopted widely around the world and offered as a superior combination of nonfinancial and financial measures of performance. This paper is the result of a 15-year field study of a Fortune 500 company’s Balanced Scorecard. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected to address the following research questions with respect to the Balanced Scorecard: 1) What has changed over time? 2) What has not changed over time? 3) Why has it endured? Changes highlighted are that the Balanced Scorecard was unaffected by a major change in organizational structure, a narrowing of focus and reduction in the scope over time, processes for changing the design were formalized, and that it has become engrained in the compensation system. Factors that have remained constant over time are the purpose of the Balanced Scorecard, its use for relative performance evaluation, and its use as a tool for best practice sharing. Two factors that appear to explain why it has endured are its use as a learning and communication tool and its ability to influence behavior. The paper concludes with a list of key success factors for building and sustaining a successful scorecard. This list might also be helpful to researchers seeking to investigate the design, use or impact of a Balanced Scorecard

Promotion expenditure, categories, time lag structure and the demand for almonds

The Almond Board of California (ABC) finances four promotional programs to increase the demand for California almonds: public relations, advertising, food services and nutrition research. This analysis relates ABC's expenditures by category to U.S. almond demand. It assesses ABC's return on investment and guides managerial decisions across programs. ABC expenditures have a significant effect on domestic almond shipments, explaining 16.7% of the variation in shipments. However, only advertising is strongly significanteach dollar spent increases almonds shipped eight months later by 8.25 pounds. Food services approached significanceeach dollar spent increases almonds shipped 11 months later by 32.8 pounds.Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited

The role of subjectivity in mitigating incentive contracting risks

We examine how subjectivity in performance measurement and reward systems (PMRS) is used to mitigate incentive contracting risks. Drawing on data from 38 interviews with supervisory and subordinate managers in four firms, we provide a more comprehensive explanation of the role of subjectivity in risk mitigation than is evident in the prior literature. We provide empirical evidence of the importance firms place on the use of subjectivity to mitigate the risk of incentive misalignment and employee sorting errors relative to its well-documented role in mitigating employee compensation risk. We find that incentive misalignment arising from unanticipated behavioral responses to performance measures is a particularly important risk, managed through subjective performance assessments. The extent of subjectivity we observe poses a significant risk of errors and bias. We observe that both vertical and horizontal information gathering and review by calibration panels are key strategies to mitigate the downside risk of subjectivity

Prenatal DDT Exposure in Relation to Anthropometric and Pubertal Measures in Adolescent Males

DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane), a pesticide once used widely in agriculture and now limited to public health use, remains a controversial chemical because of a combination of benefits and risks. DDT or its breakdown products are ubiquitous in the environment and in humans. Compounds in the DDT family have endocrine actions and have been associated with reproductive toxicity. A previous study reported associations between prenatal exposure to p,p′-DDE [1,1-dichloro-2,2-bis(p-chlorophenyl)-ethylene] and increased height and weight in adolescent boys. We examined a group with higher exposures to see whether similar associations would occur. Our study group was 304 males born in Philadelphia in the early 1960s who had participated in a previous study. Anthropometric and pubertal measures from one to six visits during their adolescent years were available, as were stored maternal serum samples from pregnancy. We measured p,p′-DDE, p,p′-DDT [1,1,1-trichloro-2,2-bis(p-chlorophenyl)-ethane], and o,p′-DDT [1,1,1-trichloro-2-(o-chlorophenyl)-2-(p-chlorophenyl)-ethane] in the maternal serum. Outcomes examined in the boys were height, ratio of sitting height to height, body mass index, triceps skinfold thickness, ratio of subscapular to the sum of triceps and subscapular skinfold thicknesses, skeletal age, serum testosterone, and serum dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate. No associations between prenatal exposure to any of the DDT compounds and any outcome measure were seen

Transfer of performance measurement system innovations across economic sectors

Purpose - This chapter studies the transfer of performance measurement system (PMS) innovations across the three sectors of the economy: private, public. and nonprofit

The Pyramid of Organizational Development as a Performance Measurement Model

The article of record as published may be located at http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1474-7871(05)14007-

Choice and change of measures in performance-measurement models:

The following article is taken as an excerpt from the proceedings of the annual Acquisition Research Program. This annual event showcases the research projects funded through the Acquisition Research Program at the Graduate School of Business and Public Policy at the Naval Postgraduate School. Featuring keynote speakers, plenary panels, multiple panel sessions, a student research poster show and social events, the Annual Acquisition Research Symposium offers a candid environment where high-ranking Department of Defense (DoD) officials, industry officials, accomplished faculty and military students are encouraged to collaborate on finding applicable solutions to the challenges facing acquisition policies and processes within the DoD today. By jointly and publicly questioning the norms of industry and academia, the resulting research benefits from myriad perspectives and collaborations which can identify better solutions and practices in acquisition, contract, financial, logistics and program management. For further information regarding the Acquisition Research Program, electronic copies of additional research, or to learn more about becoming a sponsor, please visit our program website at: www.acquisitionresearch.org. For further information on or to register for the next Acquisition Research Symposium during the third week of May, please visit our conference website at: www.researchsymposium.org.;This paper uses management control, resource-based, systems-based, and contingency-based strategy theories to describe a large US manufacturing company's efforts to improve profitability by designing and using a performance-measurement model (PMM). This PMM includes multiple performance measures relevant to its distribution channel for products, repair parts and maintenance services. The PMM is intended to reflect the company's understanding of performance relations among strategic resources, operational capabilities, and desired financial outcomes. The PMM also reflects its intended distribution strategy, the types of performance necessary to achieve that strategy by its distributors, and its desired financial outcomes. Furthermore, the company uses the model to evaluate its North American distributors and intends to use these evaluations as a partial basis for annual and long-term rewards. Thus, the PMM embodies the measurable portion of the firm's management control system of its distribution channel. The study addresses four research questions: (1) Are measure attributes important considerations for performance measure choice? (2) Does the importance of attributes differ according to firm strategy? (3) Does the importance of attributes for design and use differ according to firm strategy? (4) Does a company trade-off some individual attributes for others? The questions are investigated using qualitative and quantitative analyses of archival documents and interviews with top managers and distributors. Principal findings are that measure attributes are important considerations for choice and change of performance measures; design attributes are more important than use attributes; the importance of attributes does not appear to differ according to strategy; and some individual attributes are traded-off for other attributes.Second Annual Acquisition Research SymposiumApproved for public release; distribution is unlimited

Building Performance Models from Expert Knowledge

Improving management control of knowledge-based organizations motivates building performance management models (PMM) of causally related, key success factors (KSF) . This study elicits knowledge maps of KSF from field experts. These knowledge maps are layered to create the foundation of the organization’s PMM. The study elicits causal knowledge from experts who through their experience, training, etc. have encoded relational or causal knowledge about complex systems; that is, they understand how things fit and work together, although they might not have articulated that knowledge. Converting experts’ tacit causal knowledge into organizational capability or explicit knowledge should a) perpetuate that knowledge in the organization, b) enable improved training of less experienced employees, and c) lead to deployment of improved systems (eg, PMM). Because no single method for eliciting mental models or knowledge maps dominates the literature, the study uses multiple methods and overlays their results to build a comprehensive causal model. This study reports the results of a field study to build the foundation of a PMM in a clinical department of a large hospital. The study uses three qualitative methods to elicit mental models of KSF and their interactions from key clinical program administrators, physicians, and nurses. The motivation of the present study is to report the results of (1) tapping the causal knowledge of individual experts in the field and (2) triangulating multiple methods of qualitative data analysis. The alternative method of building a PMM by using archival data-mining is rejected for reasons of (1) limited archival time-series data, (2) limited scope of archival data, (3) myopic focus on conveniently available data, and (4) inability to screen out spurious relations. Because these limitations are generally present in knowledge-intensive organizations, this study’s approach can have general application

Performance measurement, evaluation, and reward: The role and impact of subjectivity

Performance measurement and reward systems (PMRSs) are among the most important processes in an organisation’s toolkit. Effective design and use of performance measurement and evaluation will motivate employees to strive to attain the firm’s goals while ineffective systems can lead to a wide range of problems. At its worst, a PMRS will cause employees to work against the organisation’s goals for their own interests – and may even reward them for doing so