Instructors can activate a performance measurement tool called The Balanced Scorecard. Balanced scorecards allow companies to gauge their performance by assessing measures in four categories:

• Financial– includes profitability, leverage and stock price;
• Internal Business Process– ranks, among other measures, contribution margin, plant utilization and days of working capital;
• Customer– examines the company's product line, including how well it satisfies buying criteria and awareness/accessibility levels;
• Learning and Growth– evaluates employee productivity.

As you enter decisions in Capstone.xls, projections of the Balanced Scorecard results for the upcoming year are available via the proforma menu. Scores from previous years are available on the website; login to your simulation then click the Reports link.

11.1 Guiding Your Company

The Internal Business Process and Customer perspectives can serve as cross checks for company performance. For example, under Internal Business Process, a low score for Contribution Margin generally indicates the company is unprofitable– the company should look at its cost and pricing structures. Under the Customer perspective, a poor Buying Criteria score suggests the company should consider R&D projects to improve the product line.

Complete information about The Balanced Scorecard, including a round by round breakdown of your points and total possible points, is available from the Reports link.