Case Study on Macy's Inc., Balanced Scorecard (Case Study Sample)

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Case Study on Macy's Inc., Balanced Scorecard
The Balanced Scorecard and Its Key Features
The Balanced Scorecard is one of the most successful and useful frameworks in strategic performance management, it assists corporations and other organizations in monitoring their performance and managing the implementation of their strategies (Nair 127). Further ahead, Nair exposed in a study that Balanced Scorecard is in the top ten of the world’s most used management tools, and came in first as the one with the highest general satisfaction ratings (132). The most basic form of the Balanced Scorecard breakdowns the performance monitoring for an organization into four key features, which are also interconnected perspectives. They are: "Financial, Customer, Internal Processes and Learning and Growth" (Kaplan and David 4).
How Balanced Scorecard is used to Measure Performance
The Balanced Scorecard Institute (Strategic Management Group) highlights that performance measurement is captured in part in the Step 5 out of the 9 Steps to SuccessTM methodology. Under Step 5, performance measures are established for each and every strategic objective. In short, the Lagging and Leading measures are recognized, anticipated targets and corresponding thresholds are established, benchmarking and baseline data are then developed. Subsequently, the emphasis on strategic objectives, which ought to identify precisely what the business is trying to achieve, is important in identifying actual strategic measurements. The actual measurement or evaluation is done based on the four earlier logical perspectives, where an individual is expected to give a score based on his or her evaluation of success on the same (Kaplan and David 14).
The Logical Relationships between the Four Key Areas of the Balanced Scorecard
By definition, the four key features of the Balanced Scorecard are:
* The Financial Perspective covers the financial objectives of a business, it enables managers to monitor the organization’s stakeholder value and financial success.
* The Customer Perspective encapsulates the customers’ objectives like market share goals, customer satisfaction, plus services and product attributes.
* The Internal Process Perspective is concerned with an organization’s main processes required to fulfill the customer goals, and internal operational goals.
* The Learning and Growth Perspective come in as a perspective responsible for the intangible aspects influencing the future business success like an organization’s capital, human capital, and the crucial information capital covering aspects like training, leadership, skills, leadership, organizational culture, databases and systems.
In sum, the relationship of the four key aspects of the Balanced Scorecard can be best illustrated in the original "four-box model" as illustrated in Figure 1, below.
Figure SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 1: A four-box model of Balanced Score Card
Under normal setting of a business organization that has been in operation for a while, the Learning and Growth Perspective influences the Internal Process Perspective. This is due to the great magnitude that organizational, human and information capital has on the internal practices of an organization. Successively, the Internal Process Perspective will be influencing the Customer Perspective, and it goes in that order up to the top, which is the Financial Perspective. This perspective "financial" is an indicator of the overall success of the company.
The Overall Long-term Goals for Macy’s, Inc.
With reference to the latest accessible facts on Macy’s, Inc., Facts Book 2012, whose information covers 2012 and 2013 fiscal years, the overall long term strategy for this company is to diversify and make their organization an inclusive organization (Kaplan and David 4). This long-term strategy was influenced by their earlier strategies. For instance, in 2009, Macy's Inc. had an exceptional long-term strategy of consolidating its merchandize and restructuring its organization. But, the level of success that has been witnessed by this company can only be maintained if they diversify. This diversification is not limited to introducing new products and so on, and it is a means of penetrating the multicultural market that they serve. Equally, inclusive long-term strategy will also influence success on the same business setting. In conclusio...