7 Adoption and diffusion of the balanced scorecard innovation among businesses in Møre og Romsdal

Abstract

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC-BY 4.0).To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. (4) learning and growth. The tool was further developed by linking the four perspectives together into strategy maps. Objectives are linked together in chains of cause-and-effect relationships both within and between adjacent perspectives. In addition to a description of the adoption and diffusion processes, we address the following research questions: Is BSC an innovation? Are there differences with respect to the use of BSC among industries and businesses? Can the findings give some insight regarding the content of the BSC used over time?A survey was carried out in Møre og Romsdal using a questionnaire that was completed by 71 businesses (21 % of the organizations contacted). About 60 % of the respondents used the BSC and had done so for an average of around 8.6 years. There is a high level of variation among the businesses as well as differences among industries. The cumulative adoption curve (the diffusion curve) seems to be S-shaped. Thus, the adoption curve is bell-shaped. It appears that the BSC adopters belong to the late majority and that the diffusion process is in the maturity stage. The content of the scorecard appears to change over time. At first, the focus is on financial measures, while over time, there is an increasing emphasis on measures regarding the other three perspectives. Thus, adoption of the BSC appears to be an ongoing process. The paper puts forward managerial implications, suggestions for further research as well as a conclusion.