G.J.M. Braam

The balanced scorecard in The Netherlands: An analysis of its evolution using print‐media indicators

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to better understand the production and diffusion of the balanced scorecard (BSC) by analyzing the reception pattern of the BSC in The Netherlands.Design/methodology/approach – Print‐media indicators and content analysis.Findings – The BSC is popular yet not transient. Consultants are the leading BSC disseminators, while on the “consumption side” the BSC tends to be interpreted differently in varying professional communities. Compared to its intensive discourse actual BSC use in praxis appears to be limited and lags intended use as strategic management system.Research limitations/implications – Use of secondary data limits insight into use of the BSC in organizations. Further research should focus on the influence of subsets of discourse on the evolution of the BSC in organizational praxis.Practical implications – Discourse is loosely coupled to organizational praxis: publications on the BSC may affect organizational behavior but also reflect that behavior. In additi...

Exploring antecedents of experimentation and implementation of the balanced scorecard

Adoption of management innovations like the balanced scorecard is generally a complex process. Many subdecisions are involved and customization is often required before firms can enjoy the benefits of these innovations. Consequently, firms tend to experiment before finally implementing such complex innovations. We develop a framework differentiating between antecedents of experimentation with and actual implementation of the balanced scorecard, a distinction that has largely been neglected in the literature. Focusing on a small set of firms that experimented with the balanced scorecard, we provide initial empirical evidence. The results support the framework showing that top management involvement, innovation-contingent departments and organizational-context factors play a significant positive role in the experimentation stage, while interdepartmental communication and formalization are important variables with positive and negative influences in the implementation stage. We discuss the findings and their managerial implications.

Financial Participation Plans and Firm Financial Performance: Evidence from a Dutch Longitudinal Panel

This study investigates the relationship between financial participation plans, that is profit sharing, share plans and option plans, and firm financial performance using a longitudinal panel data set of non-financial listed companies for the period 1992–2009 comprising 2,216 observations. In addition, it makes a distinction between financial participation plans that are narrow based, directed to top management and executives only, and broad based, targeted to all employees. The panel data also allow us to take into account time lag effects, as profit sharing is usually said to have short-term effects while stock options and share plans are more targeted to longer term impact. Our results show that broad-based profit-sharing plans and combinations of broad-based profit sharing and share plans are positively related with many firm financial performance indicators relative to companies without these plans. However, the results consistently show negative associations between both narrow- and broad-based option plans and firm financial performance.

Board and auditor interlocks and voluntary disclosure in annual reports

Purpose - – The purpose of this study is to explore whether interlock ties between the board of directors and the external auditors facilitate the cross-firm diffusion of voluntary disclosures in annual reports. Design/methodology/approach - – Using a sample of 149 non-financial companies publicly listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) Euronext Amsterdam, we use ordinary least squares (OLS) regression analysis to examine the relationships between the incidence of financial and non-financial voluntary disclosures in the focal firms’ annual reports and the annual reports of other companies to which the firms are related via the interlock ties of its board members and external auditor. Findings - – The results show significant associations between financial and non-financial voluntary disclosures in the focal and related firms’ annual reports when there were board interlocks. Differences in the diffusion of specific types of disclosures are found depending on the type of interlocking director. The results also show that interlock ties of the external auditors positively influence the associations with voluntary financial disclosures in the annual reports. Practical implications - – We find clear indications that board and auditor interlocks form important sources of inter-organisational information exchange that can drive changes in voluntary disclosure practices in annual reports. The networks of social relationships between firms may play a significant incremental role in the cross-firm diffusion of corporate voluntary disclosure practices, particularly in complex and ambiguous situations. Originality/value - – This paper is the first empirical study to investigate how board and external auditor interlock ties are related to the levels of financial and non-financial voluntary disclosures in the focal and related firms’ annual reports.