a (i) Four Perspectives of a Balanced Scorecard:

• Financial Perspective: This perspective focuses on the financial performance of the organization, emphasizing measures such as revenue growth, cost reduction, and profitability. It answers the question, “How do we look to shareholders?” For Print Wise Incorporated, this could include metrics like return on investment (ROI), profit margins, or cash flow, which are critical to assessing financial health and shareholder value.
• Customer Perspective: This perspective evaluates how well the organization meets customer needs and expectations. It includes measures like customer satisfaction, retention rates, and market share. For Print Wise, this could involve tracking customer feedback on print quality or delivery times to ensure customer loyalty and competitive positioning.
• Internal Business Process Perspective: This focuses on the efficiency and effectiveness of internal processes that deliver products or services. It answers, “What must we excel at?” For Print Wise, this might include metrics like production cycle time, error rates in printing, or process improvements to enhance operational efficiency.
• Innovation and Learning Perspective: This perspective measures the organization’s ability to innovate and improve continuously to sustain competitive advantage. It includes metrics like the rate of new product introductions or employee training hours. For Print Wise, this could involve tracking the development of new printing technologies or staff skills to drive innovation.

        a (ii) Three Problems Associated with the Balanced Scorecard:

• Conflicting Measures: The balanced scorecard may present conflicting objectives, such as balancing research funding for innovation against cost reduction goals. For Print Wise, investing in new printing technology might increase costs, potentially leading to higher prices, which could conflict with customer affordability expectations.
• Selecting Measures: Choosing the right measures and determining their number is challenging. Too many measures can overwhelm management, diluting their impact. For Print Wise, selecting relevant metrics for printing quality versus financial performance requires careful consideration to avoid information overload.
• Management Commitment: The effectiveness of the balanced scorecard depends on senior management’s commitment. If Print Wise’s managers revert to focusing solely on financial metrics, the value of non-financial measures (e.g., customer satisfaction or process efficiency) may be undermined, reducing the scorecard’s strategic impact.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          (b)

  For objectives to facilitate the implementation of Management by Objectives (MBO), they should possess the “SMART” characteristics. Three of these are:

  (i) Specific: Objectives must be clear and unambiguous statements of what the organization aims to achieve. For Print Wise Incorporated, a specific objective like “increase sales of printed books by 10% in Kumasi Region” ensures clarity, enabling employees to focus efforts and align with organizational goals, enhancing MBO’s participative approach.

  (ii) Measurable: Objectives should include quantifiable elements to monitor and evaluate performance. For example, Print Wise setting a target to “reduce printing errors by 5% within six months” allows for clear tracking, supporting MBO by providing a basis for control and performance assessment.

  (iii) Achievable: Objectives must be realistic to motivate employees. An unattainable target, such as “doubling production capacity in one month,” could demotivate Print Wise’s staff. Achievable goals ensure employees believe their efforts can succeed, fostering commitment to MBO’s participative goal-setting process.