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Title: The Balanced Scorecard: Translating Strategy into Action by Robert S. Kaplan, David P. Norton ISBN: 0-87584-651-3 Publisher: Harvard Business School Press Pub. Date: September, 1996 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.92 (38 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: Once a 5 star essential, but now slightly outdated
Comment: Kaplan and Norton are the visionaries behind the Balanced Scorecard (BSc), and this is their first book on the subject. BSc as Kaplan and Norton conceived of it was focused on measurement, specifically measuring variables that had some linkage to corporate financial results so that the direction of the organization could be determined prior to the occurrence of a bad quarter or two. THE MEASURES OF ANY MANAGEMENT CONCEPT ARE ITS ADOPTION AND ITS STAYING POWER, AND KAPLAN AND NORTON'S BSc IS AN OVERWHELMING SUCCESS.
BUT companies that enacted BSc's started to tie them to corporate strategies, making them strategic management tools and not just measurement tools. One of the advancements was to tie define measures that measured the success of strategic intent as defined by specific objectives and goals. Another was to create cause and effect maps of the objectives, called "strategy maps."
Measurement is, of course, still an important part of the BSc, but the process of determining what to measure begins higher up the strategic ladder. KAPLAN AND NORTON THEMSELVES CHRONICLE THE GROWTH OF BSc INTO A STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT TOOL IN THEIR SUBSEQUENT WORK.
So, this book is a bit outdated, though it is still a useful introduction. However, I recommend that you try:
* Strategy Maps: Converting Intangible Assets into Tangible Outcomes by Kaplan and Norton
* The Strategy-Focused Organization: How Balanced Scorecard Companies Thrive in the New Business Environment, also by Kaplan and Norton
* Balanced Scorecard Step-by-Step: Maximizing Performance and Maintaining Results by Paul R. Niven
And a good introductory article to the idea of strategy mapping is "Using the Balanced Scorecard as a Strategic Management System", a Harvard Business Review article by Kaplan and Norton that is also available on Amazon.
Rating: 5
Summary: Overcome Poor Communications and Bureaucracy for New Actions
Comment: The Balanced Scorecard looks at the important issues of alignment, coordination, and effective implementation. Most business thinkers like to start with the big picture, and end there. As a result, most ideas for going in a new direction are quickly diluted by misunderstanding, falling back on old habits, and lethargy. Since Peter Drucker first popularized the idea of business strategy, there have been vastly more strategies conceived than there have been strategies successfully implemented as a result. Much attention has been paid to devising better strategies in the last four decades, and little to implementing strategies. The big pay-off is in the implementation, and The Balanced Scorecard is one of handful of books that provide important and valuable guidance to explain what needs to be done to successfully execute strategy. You must have more measures, and different measures than the accounting system provides. You also need to link measures and compensation to the key tasks that each person must perform. This book is simply the Rosetta Stone of communicating and managing strategy. The Balanced Scorecard is the beginning of the practical period of maturity in the field of business strategy. Read this book today to enjoy much more prosperity! I also recommend that you read The Fifth Discipline, The Fifth Discipline Handbook, and The Dance of Change to understand more about the context in which you are trying to make positive change. These four books are excellent companions for each other.
Rating: 5
Summary: Book that spawned a core business approach
Comment: This book is a seminal work that has significantly affected the way businesses frame and execute strategy.
In a nutshell, the authors show you how to view your business strategy, drivers and key indicators in four dimensions - financial, external (customer satisfaction), internal (processes) and learning/growth. They then show you how to link these to your strategies and develop and execute plan for transforming them into action and results.
The good and the bad. First, the good - before Kaplan and Norton published this book there was no standardized method for framing and measuring what's important. This book rectifies that. Also, the ideas first introduced have been embraced and extended to the point that a book search of similar titles returns over 2600 hits, and a google search using 'balanced scorecard' as a keyword returns ten time that many. This is a clear indication of how influential this book is and remains eight years after publication. But those are simple statistics. What's important about this book is many of the other resources that have sprang from it assume that you are familiar with the concepts and approach in this book.
The bad - the writing style, as noted by others is ponderous. That does not diminish the concepts and approach. It is also showing its age, but only because of the body of work that this book has inspired, which has greatly extended and refined the basic ideas. You will still need to read this book to get the most out of the body of work that is based upon it. Also note that even Kaplan and Norton, the authors, have extended this work into strategy maps and a 'strategy-focused organization' paradigm.
Overall this book has - and will continue to - influence thinking. The ideas set forth are still evolving and have been embraced by some of the largest (and smallest) companies on the planet. If you are new to this material I recommend visiting Balanced Scorecard Institute (ASIN B00006CKQ2) for introductory information, and Balanced Scorecard Online (ASIN B00006DBZ5) for more detailed material.
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Title: The Strategy-Focused Organization: How Balanced Scorecard Companies Thrive in the New Business Environment by Robert S. Kaplan, David P. Norton ISBN: 1578512506 Publisher: Harvard Business School Press Pub. Date: September, 2000 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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Title: Balanced Scorecard Step-by-Step: Maximizing Performance and Maintaining Results by Paul R. Niven ISBN: 0471078727 Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Pub. Date: 15 March, 2002 List Price(USD): $45.00 |
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Title: Strategy Maps: Converting Intangible Assets into Tangible Outcomes by Robert S. Kaplan, David P. Norton ISBN: 1591391342 Publisher: Harvard Business School Press Pub. Date: 02 February, 2004 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
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Title:The Balanced Scorecard: Measures That Drive Performance (HBR OnPoint Enhanced Edition) by Robert S. Kaplan, David P. Norton ASIN: B00005REHA Publisher: Harvard Business School Press Pub. Date: 24 April, 2004 List Price(USD): $7.00 Comparison N/A, buy it from Amazon for $7.00 |
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Title:Putting the Balanced Scorecard to Work (HBR OnPoint Enhanced Edition) by Robert S. Kaplan, David P. Norton ASIN: B00005REHC Publisher: Harvard Business School Press Pub. Date: 24 April, 2004 List Price(USD): $7.00 Comparison N/A, buy it from Amazon for $7.00 |
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