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IntroductionSincethemid1980’saccountinghasattemptedtoturnstrategic.IntheareaofstrategicallyorientedperformancemeasurementBalancedScorecard(BSC)hasbeenoneofthemostdebatedsuggestionsfordevelopingaframeworkforperformancemeasurementandmanagement(Kaplan&Norton1992,1993,1996ab2001,2004).Accordingtoquestionnaire-basedresearchBSCseemstobewidelyusedbyScandinavianfirms.Bengtssonetal.(2000;cf.Dabhilakar&Bengtsson2002)suggestthat32%offirmswithintheSwedishengineeringindustryin1999usedsomevariantofthebalancedscorecardconceptwithanevenhigheradoptionrateinlargefirms.Toivanen(2001)foundthatin2000,23%oftop500firmsinFinlandusedBSCand15%wereimplementingit.Similarly,asurveyamongDanishmanufacturingfirmsin2001indicatedthat82%oftherespondentshadahighknowledgeofBSCwhile32%usedtheconcept(Nielsen&Sorensen2004).EventhoughtheseadoptionratesappeartobehighbothintheNordiccountriesandinmanyothercountries(Chen-hall2004;Ittneretal.2003;Silk1998;Speckbacheretal.2003),itisstillsome-whatunclearwhatinpracticequalifiesaperformancemeasurementsystemorabusinessmodeltobeclassifiedasaBSC,andhowBSCisactuallyused.Shouldwelookatthetypeofmeasuresused,thecategorizationofthemea-sures,themanagementpracticerelatedtothe“use”oftheBSC,theimple-mentationprocess–orshouldwefocusourattentionontheexistenceofacause-and-effectrelationshipbetweenthemeasures?Thesequestionsare1Wewishtothanktheeditors,StenJönssonandJanMouritsen,fortheirguidanceintheprocessofwritingthepaper.Further,wethankFredrikNilssonandNils-GöranOlvefortheirencouragingandhelpfulcomments.Allremainingerrorsareofcoursetheresponsibilityoftheauthors.Theauthorsarelistedinalphabeticorder.4.RE-EXAMININGTHECAUSE-AND-EFFECTPRINCIPLEOFTHEBALANCEDSCORECARD1PerNikolajBukh&TeemuMalmi4_Bukh05-04-0115.38Sida87importantwithrespecttoresearchinthisareabecausesurveysofBSCappli-cationsandexperiencesfromcasebasedstudiesmustbeinterpretedinlightofwhatisbeingplacedunderthemicroscope.Furthermore,attemptstoadvancetheunderstandingofaspectssuchasthelogicofthemethodology(e.g.Nørre-klit2000),theimplicationsforperformanceevaluation(e.g.Lipe&Salterio2000),theeffectonfinancialperformance(Davis&Albright2004;Ittneretal.2003),thesimilaritieswithotherperformancemanagementconcepts(e.g.Bourguinonetal.2004;Mouritsenetal.2004;Epstein&Manzoni1997,1998)orintegrationinvariousstrategyprocesses,asforinstancethealignmentofcontinuousimprovementinitiativesinproductionteamstotheoverallstrate-gicplanningofthefirm(Dabhilkar&Bengtsson2004),willnecessarilyneedtotakespecificfeaturesoftheBSCmethodologyasastartingpoint.SothequestionwillbewhatconstitutesthecoreoftheBSC.Inmostpresentationsofthebalancedscorecardtheso-calledcause-and-effectprinciplehasbeenacorefeatureoftheBSC.Thecause-and-effectprin-ciplehasbeendevelopedwithinspirationfromtheservicemanagementlitera-ture(e.g.Heskettetal.1997)towardsagenericbusinessmodelintheformofthestrategymap(Kaplan&Norton2001,2004).Generallythecause-and-effectrelationshipsarearguedtobethefeaturethatdistinguishesabalancedscorecardfromotherkindsofscorecard,whethertheyarelabeledstakeholderscorecardsorKPIscorecards(Kaplan&Norton2001,p.102–104).Currently,strategymapsandcause-and-effectrelationshipsattractconsiderableinterestamongpractitionersinScandinavia,andsomefirmsaredevelopingtheirBSCbasedonstrategymapping(e.g.Kasurinen,2002,Bukhet.al2004).Someauthors(Nørreklit,2000,2004;Brignall2002)have,however,ques-tionedthelogicofthecause-and-effectprinciple.TheyhavequestionedthepracticalityofBSCasamethodonthepremisethatnocauseandeffectrela-tionshipexistsbetweenmeasurementareas.Ouraimistocontributetothatdebate.Wediscusssomeofthealternativeinterpretationsofthecause-and-effectprincipleandwepositionourpaperagainstsomeoftheviewspresentedbyNorreklitandhercolleagues.Moreprecisely,wearguethattheirviewoncause-and-effectismistaken,andgivenanalternativeinterpretation,BSCcanbeapracticalapproach.Weoutlinealternativewaystoapplycause-and-effectinpractice,bothanalyticallyandorganizationally.Thisisbasedonpracticalconcerns,asweseeaccountingas“fundamentallyanappliedresearchareathatshouldultimatelyprovidenewinsightsforpractice”(Ittneretal,2002,p.788,seealsoMitchell,2002).ButwealsoquestiontheimpressionKaplan&Nortoncreate,whichimpliesthatcause-and-effectwouldbeaproperstartingpointforstrategyscorecardsinallcircumstances.Inotherwords,weattempttotheorizeonconditionswherecauseandeffectmay,ormaynot,beagoodstartingpointforthedesignanduseofBSC.Wefocusonthecause-and-effectprincipleasthatiswhatisoftenquestioned.Weacknowledgethatcause-and-effect,aswellasotherdesignprinciplesofscorecards,mayonlypartiallyexplainthepoten-884.Re-examiningthecause-and-effectprincipleoftheBalancedScorecard4_Bukh05-04-0115.38Sida88tialbenefitsfromBSC.Itseemsthatresearchandpractitionersshouldpaymuchmoreattentiontohowpeopleinorganizationsactuallyusevarioustypesofscorecardstocommitaction.Givenourfocusonthecause-and-effectprin-ciple,however,wedeallesswithactioninthispaper,addressingitmainlywith-inourdiscussiononpracticeofcause-and-effectandcontingencies.Inthepaperwewilldrawnotonlyontheresearchbasedevi