| dc.description.abstract | The world is quickly becoming a global village due to corporate transformation. Strategic
management provides the only option for firms to respond to such challenges. Research indicates that strategy implementation, rather than strategy formulation alone, is a key requirement for superior business performance. In East Africa, the professional service industry is a busy and lucrative one that is attracting many players and threatening the existing status quo. The key players who are already in intense competition are faced by new global competitors who enjoy economies of scale that outmatch them. Deloitte & Touche East Africa is not an exception and have over the recent years been faced with intense competition, intense regulation and the effects of the global credit crunch. Increased competition calls for the sound tools of strategic implementation such as balanced scorecard, among others in order to successfully create a competitive edge. The purpose of this study was to establish the extent of application of balanced scorecard in strategy implementation at Deloitte & Touche East Africa. This research was conducted through a case study. An interview guide with open-ended questions was used to collect in depth information from the key personnel in the four main departments namely Consulting, Audit, Financial Advisory and Tax in the firm. The study was based on two Deloitte & Touche offices within East Africa, Nairobi, Kenya and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The qualitative data collected was analyzed using content analysis technique. The study found that balanced scorecard at Deloitte & Touche East Africa is linked to strategic implementation through the assignment of dimension owners to individuals in each of the departments. The study also established that the day-to-day activities of the firm are linked to the four performance metrics through the key performance contribution framework developed at the beginning of the year. The study further established that balanced scorecard enhances operational process in strategy implementation at Deloitte through operational efficiency, knowledge management and customers‘ satisfaction. As a result of balanced scorecard strategy implementation at Deloitte, the firm has been able to reduce the cost associated with clients‘ dissatisfaction and exit, and have not spent as much on marketing efforts to attract new customers. The study also concluded that, the balanced scorecard proved its usefulness as a two-way communications tool that enables to pass information more easily to all levels of the organization. Finally the study concluded that the main objective of the balanced scorecard is to bring the different processes mix (finance, internal business processes, learning, growth and clients) together in a uniform system that would enable to measure them in a balanced form derived from the strategic objectives of an organization. The study recommended that organizations should adopt balanced scorecard approach in measuring performance. This owes to the fact that while balance scorecard is an important tool of performance measurement in both financial and non-financial perspectives, a greater number of organizations in public and private sector do not use the same. | en |
