Customer Reviews
Packed with Knowledge! - By: Rolf Dobelli, 30 Jun 2005 
First publishedin 1996, this management literature classic builds a bridge between traditional, short-term oriented management systems & a more balanced approach integrating new types of measurements into a comprehensive strategy. This book looks senior managersin the eye & asks, "Are you ready for the future?" Some executives respond to the challenge of change by tinkering, adding a few nonfinancial metrics to the "instrumentation cockpit" that tells them how their corporate ship is running. Others have spurned Balanced Scorecard because it requires CEOs to accept feedback from all levels of their organizations so they will know if their assumptions remain relevant amidst rapid change. To date, however, more than 300 major organizations have used this system to enhance their performance, & future prospects. Abraham Lincoln once said that the best thing about the future is that it comes only one day at a time. With apologies to Lincoln, we recommend this book to all senior executives & managers - because the future will be here sooner than you think.
Overcome Poor Communications and Bureaucracy for New Actions - By: Donald Mitchell, 28 May 2004 The Balanced Scorecard looks at the important issues of alignment, coordination, & effective implementation. Most business thinkers like to start with the big picture, & end there. As a result, most ideas for goingin a new direction are quickly diluted by misunderstanding, falling back on old habits, & 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 strategiesin the last four decades, & little to implementing strategies. The big pay-off isin the implementation, & The Balanced Scorecard is one of handful of books that provide important & valuable guidance to explain what needs to be done to successfully execute strategy. You must have more measures, & different measures than the accounting system provides. You also need to link measures & compensation to the key tasks that each person must perform. This book is simply the Rosetta Stone of communicating & managing strategy. The Balanced Scorecard is the beginning of the practical period of maturityin 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, & The Dance of Change to understand more about the contextin which you are trying to make positive change. These four books are excellent companions for each other.
The series of books about The Balanced Scorecard includes The Strategy-Focused Organization & Strategy Maps. You'll love all three!
The text that brought performance measurement to the fore - By: , 04 Jun 2002 
One of the classic texts of the 1990s, the Balanced Scorecard has brought the importance of performance measurement to a generation of managers. It's still a worthwhile read, although more recent models, like the Performance Prism by Neely, seem much broaderin scope.
A big disappointment - By: , 01 Sep 1999 
This book does not deliver on the expectations built by the initial Balanced Scorecard articles. It does very little to clarify & structure the concept & approach to building a Balanced Scorecard. There are a few interesting ideas but they get lostin a repetitive & hard to read text.
Key Insights For Executives, Change Agents and Consultants - By: , 11 Jul 1999 A much needed overview of why companies (and organizations) need a strategy linked to performance measuresin a way that communciates the strategy throughout the organization. As much as I liked "The Balanced Scorecard" it is not as completein the area of operations implimentation as I need when working with clients. I've found an excellent reference for operations managers to be "Operational Performance Measurement: Increasing Total Productivity" by Will Kaydos. Executives get the Scorecard, operations managers need different insight to make it work for them.
