Summary

This interview is part of a series in which experts respond to questions about some of the persistent issues facing leaders, as they seek to create an adaptive enterprise and achieve new levels of performance. This round features Peter Ryan, Corporate Performance Manager, Christchurch City Council, New Zealand.

The interview focuses on the connection between an adaptive organization and the conventional budgeting process which drives performance planning and performance management. Issues covered include the definition of an adaptive organization; strengths and weaknesses of conventional budgeting; budgeting concept as an annual performance contract; how managers view budgeting; and the effectiveness of budgeting in goal setting, performance evaluation and reward. The interview also seeks to discover what the favored alternative frameworks are, and why leaders are unable to move to new models. It also identifies cultural barriers in transforming the conventional budgeting process. Finally, it seeks a prediction on how adaptive organizations will evolve.

Summary

This interview features Peter Ryan, who was Corporate Strategy and Performance Planner for the City of Brisbane until November 2005. Brisbane City Council is Australia’s largest local authority, and has an annual budget in excess of A$1.6 billion, employs over 7,000 people and is responsible to a population of almost one million residents. In October 2003, Brisbane City Council was inducted into the Balanced Scorecard Collaborative Hall of Fame, an honor reserved for organizations demonstrating significant results against the criteria of the strategy-focused organization.

Summary

This article reviews a report that studies the practices of Fortune 50 companies in reporting to the investment community their performance in the area of human capital management.

Successful strategy execution and financial results depend on the components that make up the non-financial performance parameters, such as human capital. Given its origin as a framework that was designed to help businesses look beyond financial performance, the Balanced Scorecard is seen as a powerful tool for communicating to the investment community how non-financial performance impacts financial results and the likelihood of successful strategy execution. Since the concept is in infancy, the use of the Balanced Scorecard for this purpose has thus far been an exception rather than the norm. Hence, one sees that components such as human capital development are poorly represented in external reporting.

Summary

An enterprise-level Balanced Scorecard is owned by the senior team (which is responsible for strategy). To create a high level Scorecard and formulate a robust plan for strategy implementation, the initiative needs to take into consideration the people-related elements that need to be addressed at the very outset. This article, structured in a Q & A format, answers the question ‘What is the role of the HR function in creating an enterprise-level Balanced Scorecard?’

Summary

This interview features Lawrence Ganti, Corporate Director, Office of Strategy Management, for the Geneva, Switzerland based Serono, which reported 2005 revenues of more than $2.5 billion, making it the largest biotechnology company in Europe and among the leaders in the world. It has eight manufacturing plants and 4,900 employees spread across 45 countries. Serono’s groundbreaking work includes its treatments for infertility, growth hormone deficiency and multiple sclerosis. Serono was inducted into the prestigious Balanced Scorecard Collaborative Hall of Fame in 2006.

In this interview, drawing from his experience of facilitating the Balanced Scorecard program in Serono, Lawrence Ganti presents a practitioner’s viewpoint regarding various aspects of the Balanced Scorecard concept.

Summary

This interview features Julian Taylor, director of strategy development and network performance for Scottish Enterprise Network (SE), which is Scotland’s main economic development agency and comprises Scottish Enterprise National (the coordinating body) and 12 Local Enterprise Companies (LECs) that collectively cover 93 per cent of the nation’s population. In this interview, drawing from his experience of facilitating the Balanced Scorecard program in Scottish Enterprise, Julian Taylor presents a practitioner’s viewpoint regarding various aspects of the Balanced Scorecard concept.

Summary

This is an interview done with John Monczewski, when he was Manager, Balanced Scorecard for The GO-Team of the global management consultancy Booz Allen Hamilton. With then about 900 employees and headquartered in McLean, Virginia, USA, The GO-Team is an amalgam of the support functions of a conventional corporate structure. In this interview, drawing from his experience of facilitating the Balanced Scorecard program in Booz Allen Hamilton, John Monczewski presents a practitioner’s viewpoint regarding various aspects of the Balanced Scorecard concept.

Summary

This interview features Felix Kwok Wah Ng, Standards and Performance manager of the Hong Kong based MTR Corporation, which operates a railway network of 91 kilometers with 53 stations. With a daily patronage of over 2.4 million passengers, the MTR railway system is one of the most intensively utilized in the world. In this interview, drawing from his experience of facilitating the Balanced Scorecard program in MTR, Felix Kwok presents a practitioner’s viewpoint regarding various aspects of the Balanced Scorecard concept.