Learn in the textbookGoal Setting and Evaluation Metrics for Business Strategy
DefinitionThe Balanced Scorecard (バランススコアカード) is a management framework that splits a company's strategy into four perspectives (learning and growth, internal business process, customer, and financial), sets goals and metrics for each, and evaluates performance from several angles.
ExplanationA perspective (視点) here means an angle from which performance is viewed. Financial figures such as sales and profit show past results but say nothing about the state of the people and systems that will produce future results, so three non-financial perspectives are added to keep things in balance. The perspectives are assumed to form a chain of cause and effect: learning and growth improve operations, better operations raise customer ratings, and those ratings lead to financial results.
AnalogyLike a car dashboard that shows not just the speedometer but also the fuel and temperature gauges, so you see how the car is running now and any early signs of trouble ahead.
Memory hook"Balanced" is in the name: picture a scale with four pans, kept level so the financial pan never outweighs the rest.