The concept of the balanced scorecard was introduced by Kaplan and Norton in 1992,6 who observed that many businesses set their objectives on a purely financial basis, without consideration of other important strategic elements which have a strong bearing on performance. They therefore proposed that, in addition to financial objectives, companies should set targets within a framework of three additional aspects, customers, processes, and learning and development (Figure 1).
When used by managers who come from a speciality function on which they might concentrate disproportionately because of its familiarity, it helps them to consider the other necessary parts of the business, perhaps less comfortable, outside their area of expertise. The portion which looks at the business from the perspective of the customer will use information from the marketing plan and from any customer feedback systems such as surveys and focus groups, to improve those areas which are important to gain customers and keep them happy.
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