Balanced Score Card Application And Strategy Implementation at The ICEA Lion Group - Kenya

Abstract

A strategy is a plan of action that shows how any organization will develop a sustainable competitive advantage with an intention of taking the organization to the next level of success. The organizational strategy is by all means affected by the environment in which the organization operates in since the environment is usually turbulent with different levels and types of turbulence requiring different strategic plan of action. Crafting a strategy is only a beginning, the most critical part being the implementation. If a well formulated strategy is poorly implemented it will not bear fruits for the organization. For a successful strategy implementation, there is need to build the right capabilities and organizational culture. The objective of this study was to establish the extent of balanced scorecard application in a strategy implementation at the ICEA LION Group.The research used ICEA LION Group as a case to help dig information that revealed that there is a five year strategic plan that is reviewed as need arises. Data for the study was collected using an interview guide and later analysed by use of content analysis technique which helped extract the key themes, concepts and arguments from the data. By using content analysis, inferences were made by systematically and objectively identifying specified characteristics or issues relevant to the research objective. After data collection and analysis, a summary, conclusion and recommendations were made. The results revealed that although the four perspectives are given priority at the ICEA LION Group, top management support is very crucial for the implementation of the balanced scorecard and full realization of the corporate vision. All organizations are environment dependent and serving. As such, organizations should allow procedures and processes to be criticized so that better procedures can be developed. The study will also enrich the Theory of the Balance Score Card as a performance measurement tool by providing insights on the underlying principles once evaluated by an industry in application. In addition to obtaining insights on the four perspectives of the Balance Score Card the concepts providing a theoretical basis for this research will also be evaluated and the insights obtained will enrich the theories of Open System, Resource Based View and Dynamic Capability Theory. It will also assist the practice of Insurance and financial sector by identifying best practice with respect to performance measurement for adoption. The results in this study have implications for both theory and