The strategic disciplines at McArdle Ramerman are based on the Balanced Scorecard, which provides leadership teams with the skills to move step-by-step and create measurable and executable strategic plans.
The Balanced Scorecard is popular for the best reasons: it is focused, it works and it can be applied to a wide range of organizations. More than 60% of the companies in the Fortune 500 use this tool, and not-for-profits are the largest growth segment of companies beginning to adapt the approach. Shareholders, owners and funders all look for measured planning and outcomes and this is a metrics-based discipline.
A recent survey by Bain and Company reported that among those Fortune 500 companies using the Balanced Scorecard, most rated it at a four out of five. The study showed only a five percent defection each year. This is low compared to CEO turnover and indicates a predisposition to continue the process despite leadership turnover.
More than 60% of the companies in the Fortune 500 use this tool, and not-for-profits are the largest growth segment of companies beginning to adapt the approach. Shareholders, owners and funders all look for measured planning and outcomes and this is a metrics-based discipline.
A recent survey by Bain and Company reported that among those Fortune 500 companies using the Balanced Scorecard, most rated it at a four out of five. The study showed only a five percent defection each year. This is low compared to CEO turnover and indicates a predisposition to continue the process despite leadership turnover.
Owners and shareholders expect—and funding entities respond well to—measurement capabilities. The Balanced Scorecard provides a comprehensive framework that is reassuring to the highest-level stakeholders of organizations. It tells them that senior management has a disciplined approach to define strategies, track performance and provide data to show how well they are performing in terms of mission, values and outcomes.
The balanced scorecard retains traditional financial measures but also provides a wider focus, providing for the creation of metrics, collection of data and analysis relative to each of these parameters:
- Learning and growth.
- Business process.
- Customers.
- Financial outcomes.
In addition to providing the wider, measured point of view, the Balanced scorecard offers the following:
It’s well researched. Drs. Robert Kaplan and David Norton (Harvard Business School) developed this approach to strategic management in the early 1990’s and its use has been tracked at hundreds of companies worldwide.
The BSC has a credible track record. By 2004, the balanced scorecard had been at least partially implemented in about 57% of global corporations, according to a survey by Bain and Company.