Balanced Scorecard Collaborative Launched to Share Best Practices With Organizations Around the Globe.

LINCOLN, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 1, 1999--

Balanced Scorecard Creators Kaplan and Norton Attract Hundreds

of Executives to Collaborative's First Conference

The formation of The Balanced Scorecard Collaborative, Inc. was announced today to facilitate the worldwide awareness, use, enhancement, and integrity of the Balanced Scorecard as a value-added management process. Based on the Balanced Scorecard approach of implementing strategy and improving organizational performance, the Collaborative will be a resource to organizations of all sizes for a variety of education, training, research and development services. The Balanced Scorecard Collaborative, Inc. was founded by renowned management experts Dr. Robert Kaplan and Dr. David Norton, co-authors of The Balanced Scorecard: Translating Strategy into Action (Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 1996).

The Collaborative's best practices conference, Mobilizing the Organization for Strategic Change through the Balanced Scorecard, is being held February 3-4, 1999 at the Charles Hotel in Cambridge, MA, the first in a five-part series being led by Drs. Kaplan and Norton. The event sold out weeks ago.

Dr. Robert S. Kaplan, Marvin Bower Professor of Leadership Development at the Harvard Business School, serves as chairman of the Collaborative. He has been on the Harvard faculty since 1984 after spending 16 years on the faculty at Carnegie Mellon University where he served as Dean of the Graduate School of Industrial Administration. He is the author or co-author of more than 100 articles and nine books.

Dr. David P. Norton, president of the Collaborative, was previously president of Renaissance Solutions, Inc., an international consulting firm he co-founded in 1992, and Nolan, Norton & Company, where he spent 17 years as president. He is a widely sought after speaker, author, and expert on implementing strategy.

The Balanced Scorecard, created by Kaplan and Norton in 1992, translates strategy into action -- rapidly, measurably, knowledgeably -- at all levels of the enterprise. It does this by aligning strategy with organizational structure and resources, leveraging hidden assets and knowledge, connecting people and processes, and by fostering continuous learning and growth. The Balanced Scorecard provides an enterprise view of an organization's overall performance by integrating financial measures with other key performance measures. Harvard Business Review lauded the Balanced Scorecard as one of the most important and influential management ideas of the past 75 years.

Dr. Robert Kaplan, chairman, commented, "We are gratified to see that so many organizations around the world have implemented Balanced Scorecards successfully over the past several years. The Collaborative has been formed as a resource for all organizations as they endeavor to implement strategic change and organizational transformation."

According to Dr. David Norton, president, "The overwhelming response to The Balanced Scorecard Collaborative's first best practices conference has shown us that organizations are seeking a level of expertise and education around the Balanced Scorecard that has not previously been available. We want to share our insights with these organizations as they strive to apply the scorecard to dynamic business environments."

Balanced Scorecards have already been implemented in half of the Fortune 1000 companies, well ahead of the adoption estimate forecast by the Gartner Group in a study published in 1997. Ultimately, The Balanced Scorecard Collaborative will create a virtual community for businesses, government, and industry that will include user councils, education and development programs, publications and supplier partner programs.

About The Balanced Scorecard Collaborative, Inc.

The Balanced Scorecard Collaborative, Inc., facilitates the global use and effectiveness of the Balanced Scorecard as a value-added management process through education and research. Headquartered in Lincoln, Mass, The Balanced Scorecard Collaborative was founded by Dr. Robert Kaplan and Dr. David Norton, authors and creators of the Balanced Scorecard concept. For more information, visit www.bsccollaborative.com.