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What is the history behind the Balanced Scorecard? When was it first used, and who developed it? |
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The Balanced Scorecard is the result of a year long research effort led by Robert Kaplan, Marvin Bower Professor of Strategy at the Harvard Business School and David Norton, Founder and President of Balanced Scorecard Collaborative, Inc. The effort was conducted with 12 companies on the leading edge of performance measurement in 1990-1991 to determine what successful companies were measuring. This research began with the hypothesis that financial measures, taken in isolation, were insufficient to drive performance and that a more balanced view was required. This “balanced view” evolved into the Balanced Scorecard which includes financial measures and those measures which drive financial performance namely customer, business process (internal), and learning & growth (skills and knowledge). Over time, the concept evolved into its present manifestation as a framework for strategy implementation and strategic management |
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Dylan's answer is only partially true. He omits to mention that the idea of the Balanced Scorecard was contributed to the research study by one of the participating firms, and that others published papers on Balanced Scorecard in the same year as Kaplan & Norton (1992). It is just that Kaplan & Norton (with the backing of the Harvard Business School Press) were better at promoting their ideas than the others active at the time. You can read a bit about the history of the Balanced Scorecard on the wikipedia page for the topic - including references to the originator of the idea (Art Schniederman) and one of the early authors on the subject (Larry Maisel). |
