Question

The process of using the balanced scorecard to implement strategy begins with a clear understanding of the organization's vision, mission and strategy. Consider United Parcel Service and its lack of customer focus strategy before implementing, do believe UPS and its customers derived benefits from the implementation? Why or why not?

Answer 1

Absolutely. United Parcel Service (UPS) lacked customer focus strategy before implementing the balanced scorecard. Though UPS was successful for the past 17 years, many of their frontline workers did not have any idea about the strategy and the company’s mission. This is when UPS decided to implement the Balanced Scorecard. Using the Balanced Scorecard, UPS deployed a 3 year program which consists of five phases. It also included a results-driven measurement system to evaluate the effectiveness of the implementation of the Balanced Scorecard. The Balanced Scorecard made each and every employee to have a clear understanding of the vision, mission, company’s customers and solutions. Balanced Scorecard facilitated all employees to have the same goals/objectives. It enabled the organization to focus on customer satisfaction, employee relations, competitiveness in the industry and the delivery time for the goods/cargo. Thus, all the stakeholders in the company had a direction of where they need to move on with customer centric strategies. Thus, Balanced Scorecard helped UPS to pass on its strategies and message from the luxury office of the management team to the delivery trucks. Thus, Balanced Scorecard made everyone to focus on UPS mission and strategies including customer satisfaction.