Research paper on ACF International company

The balanced scorecard approach is a useful tool, applicable to most organizations for identifying strategic action plans. The purpose of this paper is to compile four dimensions of the balanced scorecard developed for ACF International in the previous four papers, to identify causal chains between different scorecard objectives, and illustrate the effectiveness of balanced scorecard tool for strategy planning and implementation of ACF International.

1. Balanced scorecard for ACF International

Table 1 contains the objectives and associated measures, targets and actions for all four dimensions of balanced scorecard for ACF international.

Dimension Objective Measure Target Action
financial increase of operational effectiveness proportion of supporting services in the total expenses of the organization decrease the proportion of supporting services to 13% (now ”“ 15.18%) optimize service costs and outsource the most expensive supporting services
financial improvement of the structure of assets the share of program services with relation to net assets increase share of program services and reach the ratio of 1.6 for program services with relation to net assets (currently 1.31) launch new programs against malnutrition (South Sudan, D.R. Congo Sustainability Programs, etc.)
financial improvement of the organization’s financial stability revenue concentration index reach revenue concentration index of 0.5 in the next financial year (currently 0.539) establish contacts with large for-profit companies and discuss donation opportunities; launch mobile website for individual donations
customer helping people with acute malnutrition the number of treatment cases of severe acute malnutrition with inpatient care increase the number of treatment cases by 15% launch new community-based outpatient programs; increase the capacity of inpatient care locations
customer promotion of sanitation and hygiene in communities with little access to clean water, sanitation and hygiene facilities  the number of latrines and hand-washing stations per 1,000 people increase this number to at least 0.01 launch programs for building latrines and hand-washing stations in the communities at risk
customer  improvement of public health systems in countries with high rates of malnutrition  the number of public health programs integrated into local health structures increase the number of such programs by 10% educate local staff to create more teams; collaborate with existing health structures to increase penetration of such programs
internal increase of the effectiveness of programs the percentage of undernourished people in the target regions decrease this measure by at least 15% for every target region provide more extensive education to program staff; take steps to prevent malnutrition at early stages
internal improvement of the effectiveness of communications and fundraising rate of awareness among citizens of developed countries increase this awareness rate at least by 10% launch social media campaigns; develop a mobile app for tracking the impact of ACF International
internal improvement of effectiveness of organizational governance the percentage of programs which have successfully reached their outcomes increase this percentage at least by 20% perform more in-depth research before launching programs; encourage board members take more active part in program evaluation
learning and growth increasing employee satisfaction level of employee satisfaction according to company surveys increase the level of employee satisfaction to at least 8.5 by 10-point scale provide professional and personal trainings for employees; involve employees in the process of decision-making
learning and growth increasing the availability of documents, data and policies for the employees in the corporate network average percentage of essential documents available in the corporate network increase this percentage to 95% perform a research on data and tools needed for different job positions; align different parts of corporate network into one knowledge database
learning and growth improving employee alignment with corporate values level of employee alignment with the corporate values increase this level by 3% effectively communicate corporate values to employees; include value screening into the recruitment process

Table 1. Balanced scorecard dimensions, objectives, measures, targets and actions for ACF International

2. Causal relationships between objectives of balanced scorecard

In the previous papers it was illustrated that each dimension of objectives of the balanced scorecard was linked to other dimensions. The whole scheme of causal relationships between the objectives of the balanced scorecard for ACF International is showed on Figure 1.

 

Figure 1. Relationships of balanced scorecard objectives and dimensions for ACF International

3. Effectiveness of balanced scorecard for ACF International

The use of balanced scorecard tool is highly effective for the development of strategy of ACF International due to several reasons. First of all, balanced scorecard allows to distinguish between different areas of learning and growth dimension, and identify the impact of these areas on the other objectives of the scorecard. In the case of ACF International, balanced scorecard helped identify that such aspect as IT infrastructure affects all three objectives of the internal business processes, and other two variables of learning and growth dimension through the change of effectiveness in organizational governance significantly impact the changes of financial perspectives. Furthermore, balanced scorecard helped identify that employee satisfaction  influences operational effectiveness through several causal links.

Along with identification of causal relationships and evaluation of organizational progress from the learning and growth perspective (along with three other dimensions), balanced scorecard tool allows to build strategies basing on the actions outlined for every objectives and objective relationships. Therefore, the chains of causal relationships can be used for development of new strategies of ACF International for the next financial year. Finally, there is a specific benefit of balanced scorecard for nonprofits ”“ it allows to overcome the common nonprofit mistake of focusing on organizational mission at the expense of organizational viability. The greatest advantage of balanced scorecard method for ACF International is the balance between the requirements of all four dimensions. Therefore, the example of ACF International shows that the balanced scorecard approach is a useful tool, applicable to most organizations for identifying strategic action plans.

 



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