how will the decisions you make today affect your business tomorrow that's the most important question a manager can ask but to answer it they often rely on financial metrics which can overemphasize the short term to win in the long term you need to take a more balanced view that's why Harvard Business School Professor Robert S Kaplan and consultant David P Norton developed the Balan scorecard the scorecard uses four perspectives to measure your company's Health the financial perspective are you doing well by your shareholders is only the first second is the customer perspective do they like your products and services next is the internal perspective can you efficiently deliver what your customers want finally there's the learning and growth perspective can you continue to improve and create value for each perspective you need to list both goals and metrics take one Semiconductor Company that was an early adopter of the balance scorecard its financial goals were to survive succeed and prosper for assessment it used cash flow quarterly sales growth market share and return on investment its customer goals were to develop Innovative tailored products to get them to Market faster and to become a supplier of choice to measure success managers used percentage of sales from new products ontime delivery rates and popularity with key customers looking internally the company prioritized goals like excellent manufacturing producing new designs and introducing new products and again developed operational measures for each goal last for its learning and growth goals it decided to focus on developing new products rather than improving existing ones the Semiconductor Company found that learning and Innovation led to better competencies and processes which in turn boosted customer satisfaction and ultimately generated better shareholder returns in other words they learned that the order of the Balan scorecard matters when used correctly it reveals the real Drive of long-term [Music] success