Andra Gumbus

Entrepreneurs Use a Balanced Scorecard to Translate Strategy into Performance Measures

Although 50 percent of Fortune 1000 companies currently use a balanced scorecard (BSC), few small businesses are using a BSC. A review of the literature finds no BSC papers in leading small business/entrepreneurship journals. This article begins with a discussion of the BSC and why a small business should use it. Three small to medium‐sized enterprise (SME) case studies are presented, with a copy of their BSC, to illustrate how Hyde Park Electronics, Futura Industries, and Southern Gardens Citrus use a BSC to set strategy and align operations to achieve breakthrough results. Implications are, that like large businesses, SMEs can also benefit from using a BSC. Entrepreneurs of SMEs can use the case studies to develop their own BSC to improve performance. Implications for practice and research are discussed.

Introducing the Balanced Scorecard: Creating Metrics to Measure Performance.

This experiential exercise presents the concept of the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) and applies it in a university setting. The Balanced Scorecard was developed 12 years ago and has grown in popularity and is used by more than 50% of the Fortune 500 companies as a performance measurement and strategic management tool. The BSC expands the traditional financial measures into three other dimensions to capture a balanced approach to measure performance in an organization. These additional dimensions are as follows: Customer Focus, Competence/Employee Learning and Growth, and Operational Efficiency. The exercise uses an analogy of a race car driver who relies on one aspect of measurement to gauge the race versus relying on multiple dimensions of performance.

Revealing the commercialized and compliant Facebook user

Purpose – Facebook users are both producers and consumers (i.e. “prosumers”), in the sense that they produce the disclosures that allow for Facebooks business success and they consume services. The purpose of this paper is to examine how best to characterize the commercialized and compliant members. The authors question the Facebook assertion that members knowingly and willingly approve of personal and commercial transparency and argue, instead, that complicity is engineered.Design/methodology/approach – A survey of Facebook users was conducted between December 2010 and April 2011 at one private and four public universities. Respondents were questioned about: the level of their consumer activity on Facebook; their knowledge of Facebook advertiser data sharing practices and their attitude toward such; their use of sharing restrictions and the groups targeted; and their assessment of transparency benefits versus reputation and consumer risks.Findings – No evidence was found to support the Facebook account ...

Ethical implications of internet monitoring: A comparative study

Organizations have become increasingly concerned about employee use of the Internet for personal reasons while at work. Monitoring Internet usage has become more and more prevalent in the workplace. While there may be legitimate business functions such as employee performance appraisal that are served by monitoring, poorly designed and communicated monitoring practices can have negative effects on employee morale and may be considered an invasion of privacy. Universities are another venue where Internet monitoring occurs. This paper explores whether there was a significant difference in attitude towards Internet usage and monitoring at the university as compared to the workplace. It is the result of a comparative study.

Shades of Grey: Applying Professional Codes of Ethics to Workplace Dilemmas

This paper offers five real-life case studies for exploring ethics in the management classroom. They come from the fields of international business/strategy, human resources management, accounting, finance, and marketing. To spark critical thinking and provide additional information, students are presented with reflection questions and professional codes of practice that relate to the issues and actions described in each case. After the major piece of experiential learning activity has been completed, students are exposed to viewpoints from experts in the field, specifically how those experts would have handled the case situation themselves. Referenced ethical codes of practice are taken from the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA), the Society of Financial Services Professionals (FSP), the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM), the American Marketing Association (AMA), and the Global Business Standards Codes (GBS). The business cases explore the extent to which the professional codes give guidance to practitioners and highlight the nature of ethical dilemmas and challenges that occur in these professions.

Alpha and Omega When Bullies Run in Packs

While workplace bullying often involves multiple perpetrators, limited research has investigated this important aspect of the phenomenon. In the present study, we explored the perceived severity and comparison of actual behaviors experienced when different perpetrators attack the target. Survey results showed that bullying by one’s supervisor is perceived to be more severe than bullying by a group of coworkers and that coworkers are more likely to bully when the supervisor bullies. When working as a group, bullies focus their attack on the target’s personal life rather than on his or her work life. Implications for research and practice are provided.

Dialogues and decisions: moral dilemmas in the workplace

In this exercise, participants explore moral dilemmas in the workplace and use ethical frameworks for decision making to support a particular plan of action. Participants read a scenario, propose courses of action in response to the moral dilemma, and engage in dialogue with others who propose alternative decisions. The exercise format allows individual participants to present and evaluate contradictory arguments. Competition for the most persuasive arguments occurs among individuals within teams of 5 participants and subsequently among all teams. During the dialogues and activities, underlying beliefs, values, and assumptions surface and are linked to ethical theories.In this exercise, participants explore moral dilemmas in the workplace and use ethical frameworks for decision making to support a particular plan of action. Participants read a scenario, propose courses of action in response to the moral dilemma, and engage in dialogue with others who propose alternative decisions. The exercise format allows individual participants to present and evaluate contradictory arguments. Competition for the most persuasive arguments occurs among individuals within teams of 5 participants and subsequently among all teams. During the dialogues and activities, underlying beliefs, values, and assumptions surface and are linked to ethical theories.

Gender bias in internet employment: A study of career advancement opportunities for women in the field of ICT

Women as individuals experience subtle discrimination regarding career development opportunities as evidenced by research on the Glass Ceiling. This paper looks at the ramifications of technology, specifically the Internet, and how it affects women’s career opportunities.

Will “Smarter” Marketing End Social Discrimination? A Critical Review

Purpose – There are two claims made by the web marketing/advertising industry. By collecting, managing, and mining data, companies serve consumers best interests, and by adopting sophisticated analytics, web marketers avoid discriminations that disserve individuals. Although the paper shares an interest in ending social discrimination, the paper is more circumspect about pronounced individualism and technological fixes. Despite its appeal, or perhaps because of it, the paper should not accept the claim at face value. The paper argues that social discrimination may not disappear under smarter marketing; more overt forms may wane only to be replaced by more subtle forms. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – The paper compares the two most important techniques of “smarter” marketing – predictive analytics and Facebooks social graph – with current discriminatory practices of weblining and e-scoring. While noting advances against overt discrimination, the paper describes how ...

Reading the Tea Leaves: Did Citigroup Risk their Reputation during 2004-2005?

In this paper, we challenge the conventional wisdom that high-quality news reports of questionable corporate business practices will stimulate various marketplace negative responses, which in turn, will pressure management to undertake actions designed to protect the organizations reputation. Analysis is confined to a relatively brief period of bad news relating to Citigroup, Inc. We conclude that while none of the expected negative marketplace responses are evident in widely available news sources, the CEO did exhibit significant concern and instituted a targeted reputation risk management program. In the absence of a concerned CEO, analysts should not, we suggest, expect a management team to respond with reputation-enhancing corrective action solely as a reaction to negative publicity regarding questionable business practices.