The learning/growth perspective of the balanced scorecard presents some particularly interesting challenges. Part of the problem is that this perspective seems the most remote from the final payoffs in the financial area – “touchy-feely” rather than good old hard-nosed management. Kaplan and Norton, the originators of the balanced scorecard, have addressed this issue of how to measure the contribution of such intangible assets as human capital, information capital and organizational readiness, pointing out how human capital is most useful when it is concentrated in key jobs involving internal processes that are critical to the achievement of the organization’s strategy. Discuss how Futura Industries in Clearfield UT have implemented the balanced scorecard in an interesting way, apparently giving priority to the learning/growth perspective and expecting it to drive the others

Introduction: Why did Susan Johnson, Futura’s President, emphasize the learning and growth perspective over the other balanced scorecard perspectives?

Analysis: What specifically does Futura measure, and what types of measurements do they use to evaluate the company’s learning and growth?

Conclusion: Do you think these measures capture the full dimensions of the learning and growth perspective as explained in the background materials from this module as well as previous ones? Support your answer with examples and citations.

Evaluation: What is your evaluation of Futura’s approach? Does it make good business sense or do you think it could cause problems for the company? Agree or disagree with the issue, then defend your position. Use the readings done so far to decide whether the implementation was done well or poorly.

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