Chapter 12, Problem 12.41P

Balanced scorecard, social performance. Comtex Company provides cable and Internet services in the greater Boston area. There are many competitors that provide similar services. Comtex believes that the key to financial success is to offer a quality service at the lowest cost. Comtex currently spends a significant amount of hours on installation and post-installation support. This is one area that the company has targeted for cost reduction. Comtex’s balanced scorecard for 2017 follows.

1. 1. Was Comtex successful in implementing its strategy in 2017? Explain.
2. 2. Do you agree with Comtex’s decision to include measures of developing innovative services (research and development costs) in the internal-business-process perspective of the balanced scorecard? Explain briefly.
3. 3. Is there a cause-and-effect linkage between the measures in the internal-business-process perspective and the customer perspective? That is, would you add other measures to the internal-business-process perspective or the customer perspective? Why or why not? Explain briefly.
4. 4. Why do you think Comtex included balanced scorecard measures relating to employee safety and community engagement? How well is the company doing on these measures?