A Comparative Analysis Between The Balanced Scorecard And The French Tableau de Bord

Abstract

Concern over the development of new performance measurement systems that that are in line of a complex business environment has increased. Problems with relying solely on financial measures have proven counterproductive. Recently, interest over non-financial measures has dramatically increased. Non-financial measures, however, are not problem-free. The issues are to translate improvements in these non-financial indicators into improvement in the bottom line. To overcome these problems, Kaplan and Norton have developed a new system called the Balanced Scorecard (BSC). Some French scholars argue that the BSC is a mere reproduction of the French Tableau de Bord (TDB) developed in the 1950s by French engineers. This paper seeks to draw a comparison between the BSC and The TDB.