Balanced Scorecards and the FTSE 100: exploratory research

This paper reports on an exploratory mail survey questionnaire that sought to identify the current use of the Balanced Scorecard (BS) by the FTSE 100 and possible future research initiatives. The main benefit of the BS was that departmental goals were now being aligned with the overall business strategy. The BS as a learning and feedback system was seen as of least benefit. The majority of users of the BS claimed their employees were aware of their business's strategy, but they were not as strongly convinced as the non-users of the BS. An issue of some concern was that users of the BS were linking rewards directly to meeting BS objectives even though the BS had not been explained to all the employees. Overall, the initial findings suggest that the use of the BS in the UK is seen primarily as a performance measurement system - not as a strategic management system.