A new technique to strategic management was developed in early 1990's by Drs. Robert Kaplan (Harvard Business School) and David Norton. Kaplan and Norton explain the innovation of the balanced scorecard as follows:

'The balanced scorecard retains traditional financial measures. However financial measures tell the story of past events, an adequate story for industrial age companies for which investments in long-term capabilities and customer relationships weren't critical for success. These financial measures are inadequate, however, for guiding and evaluating the journey that information age companies must make to create future value through investment in customers, suppliers, employees, processes, technology, and innovation."

The balanced scorecard suggests that we view the organisation from four perspectives and develop key metrics, collect data and analyse it to measure, monitor and control performance.