MGMT 703: Measuring and Managing Corporate Performance, Joel K. Leidecker, Winter 2008

Introduction

I took Measuring and Managing Corporate Performance in Winter 2008, during my second of three years in the MBA program. This was a 1-unit elective course taught during a single weekend. Like many of the MBA students at Santa Clara, I took three of these one-unit courses during my program in place of one full 3-unit elective.

Instructor Profile

Professor Leidecker has been a member of Santa Clara’s management faculty since 1968. In recent years he has been known for teaching the ‘capstone’ strategy course that students take as they finish the MBA program, although he does not currently teach that class.

Classroom experience

The course was all about Balanced Scorecard (BSC), the technique for articulating corporate strategy and measuring execution popularized by Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton. Readings and class discussion surveyed the history of BSC and some examples of how it has been applied at different companies.

If you can access Harvard Business Review articles through your school or employer account, you can already access the core reading:

1992: Balanced Scorecard: Measures That Drive Performance
1996: Using the Balanced Scorecard as a Strategic Management System
2000: Having Trouble with Your Strategy? Then Map It

During the second day, students played a computer-based simulation game to illustrate BSC concepts. The simulation activity taught about the need to use an understanding of the business operations and to choose dashboard metrics appropriate for the company’s current strategic position.

Coursework, exams, and grades

Half of the grade was based on classroom participation and a brief write-up about the computer simulation. The other half was awarded for a grade on a 7-page individual paper.

Students could choose from a variety of topics related to BSC. A team paper was allowed only if all team members work for the same scorecard-using employer, to write a paper about how the BSC technique is employed at the company.

I chose to fit start-up company management and strategy ideas into the BSC framework: a guide to creating a scorecard for start-ups. I distilled the paper into four posts on my blog as well:

1. Introduction: Types of strategies and related research.
2. Learning and growth perspective: Hiring.
3. Internal business process and customer perspectives: Minimum winning goal.
4. Financial perspective: Align the goals of management and investors.

What I learned

Although I’ve never worked for a company that uses BSC, the real-life examples of articulating a strategy and tracking its execution were very powerful. I was struck by the difficulty of describing an end-to-end operational strategy for a large company in terms that the entire work force can understand. Yet like many other management challenges, it can be tackled with iterations of information gathering, brainstorming, communicating across the company, and gathering feedback.

Criticisms

It’s strange that this course isn’t now simply called Balanced Scorecard – the explanation probably draws on the difficulty of changing an academic catalog. I would have liked to see a comparison of alternate management techniques, especially those common at smaller companies. However, that would probably stretch the scope too far for a 1-unit class, and I was able to use my individual paper to explore management practices at start-ups.

Recommendation

This is a great course for anybody whose employer uses BSC or a similar strategic management technique. Students will gain a thorough academic background on BSC, which they can immediately use to discuss their company’s planning and management activities.

Trailer

This article was first written in 2010 by Dylan Salisbury for dylansalisbury.com. All rights reserved. I added this paragraph because spam blog sites pick up copies of my blog posts.

For a list of course reviews and a disclaimer, visit my Course Reviews page.

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