Balanced scorecard in strategic performance measurement: A case study in a factory

Performance management and its measures are crucial for an organization.Performance measures are used to evaluate, control and improve processes inorder for companies to ensure achievement of their goals and objectives.Performance measures are also used to compare performances of differentorganizations, plants, departments, teams and individuals. Traditionalperformance measures which are financial based are used broadly in order toevaluate company performance. During the 1980s and early 1990s managersbegan to reject financial measures and searched for new performancemeasurement systems. Because traditional financial measures commonly usedby a large number of companies, they provide an inadequate tool for decisionmaking as they were developed for financial reporting requirements rather thanto run a business. BSC was developed in order to eliminate the constraints offinancial based traditional performance measures. The balanced scorecard is astrategic measurement tool and a management system that translates anorganization?s mission and strategy into a balanced set of integratedperformance measures. A broad range of performance measures and businessgoals can be incorporated in the scorecard. Although the balanced scorecardhas been used many times in practice, this is the first academic case study ofits kind which is implemented within a small factory in Turkey. This study aimsto find out how balanced scorecard concept can be applied in a small business.Key words: Strategic management, performance measurement, balancedscorecard