Abstract

Peter Drucker noted that few factors are as important to the performance of an organization as measurement, and measurement is one of the weakest areas of management today. Three factors that make it difficult to accurately monitor success through measurement are the limitations of financial measures, the rise of intangible assets, and the challenge of executing strategy. The balanced scorecard is a tool capable of overcoming these limitations. Its basic premise is that financial measures must be supplemented with other indicators that predict future financial success. After financial measures are determined, the scorecard shifts focus to the customer perspective, then to internal business processes, and the learning and growth perspective of intangible assets that are the value-creating mechanisms of modern organizations.