Differences in prioritization of the BSC’s strategic goals using AHP and ANP methods

Abstract

The development and empirical verification of the balanced scorecard (BSC) model, using the multi-criteria decision-making methods (MCDM) called the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and the analytic network process (ANP), are the key issues of the presented research. The paper presents the methodology of the prioritization of the BSC goals with the AHP and ANP methods. Even though the prioritization of the goals is possible with both, findings from the empirical analysis showed that the ANP is more complementary with the BSC because of the influences among the goals in the BSC. The ANP supports the modelling of those influences (through dependencies) and the AHP does not. The paper discusses special situations in prioritizing the BSC goals (understanding the ANP from the perspective of the user and the BSC with strategic goals that do not directly influence any other strategic goal) and proposes solutions. Therefore, it can be asserted that introducing the ANP to implement the BSC and vice versa, improved the decision-making approach and the quality of the obtained results. The research was based on a case study of modelling the BSC for Ydria Motors LL (YM), a manufacturing company.