Contents
Title
The Balanced Scorecard for Sustainability
Author
Rachid Moustaquim,Camélia DUMITRIU
Classification JEL
M10, M14, Q50, Q56
Abstract
Robert Kaplan and David Norton (1992), professors at Harvard Business School, were among the first researchers to emphasize that a firm’s performance does not rely exclusively on financial measures. Their “Balanced Scorecard” (1992) includes financial measures and some operational measures related to customer satisfaction, innovation and other non-financial issues. After 2000, researchers and professionals became interested in other non-financial performance measures, such as the sustainability performance of the firm. This paper presents a balanced scorecard for sustainability (BSS) that provides senior executives with a set of measures for assessing the environmental and social performance of the firm. In order to design the BSS, the case study method (Yin, 2003) has been used. Data were collected from Danone Group’s “Sustainability reports” for a ten year period (2006-2015). This Group is a champion of sustainable development, according to its “Dow Jones Sustainability Index” score. The BSS comprises 121 indicators and their metrics. These metrics are grouped into the seven following categories: (a) corporate governance and compliance, (b) eco-efficiency, (c) supply chain management, (d) involvement in the community, (e) human capital management, (f) product stewardship and customers, and (g) sustainability-related costs and financial performance. These indicators, their metrics and the merits and limitations of the BSS are discussed in the article.
Keywords
Sustainable Development (SD), Balance Scorecard for Sustainability (BSS), Corporate Sustainability (CS), Corporate Sustainability Performance (CSP), Danone.
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