The Balanced Scorecard and Strategic Control: A Hotel Case Study Analysis

Abstract

Over the past decade, the literature has seen a proliferation in articles relating to the balanced scorecard, which has been motivated by managers' needs to develop a more balanced view of performance measurement. Despite global adoption by organisations in the private and public sector, the question of how the balanced scorecard could be used as a strategic control tool has rarely been directly discussed. Academic research has tended to have a strong predilection for studies assessing the balanced scorecard as a control tool utilising metrics to report various achievements of targets. A longitudinal case study approach is used over a three year period, which seeks to deepen understanding about the theoretical and practical aspects of the balanced scorecard as a strategic control tool. It is anticipated that this would illuminate the way in which the balanced scorecard has intertwined in the fabric of organisational life and how it positions itself in the wider social context in which it was embedded. The findings of the case study reveal that over-reliance on the successful achievement of balanced scorecard metrics without a focus on strategic control could lead to an organisation having to pursue an exit strategy for a profitable product.