Chapter Two Homework: 2-41
a) A company with Infosys’ history would find the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) important for
managing its growth because it went through multiple transformations as a company. It
went from being a firm that deployed IT labor work, then an outsourcer, to becoming a
business that partners with large corporations offering full-blown IT services and
products. As a company’s goals shift and transform, it needs to be able to monitor its
strategy and redefine its measures as needed. The BSC is a tool that can manage a
company’s growth dynamically and strategically.
b) The customer measures I would recommend that Infosys uses in its BSC are: customer
satisfaction, percentage of growth in revenue from existing customers, willingness to
recommend, number of new customers acquired, and cost per new customer acquired.
Because Infosys’s clientele are large corporations with high-value contracts, I think their
approach should be to primarily focus on quality and secondarily on quantity. Therefore,
customer satisfaction, percentage of growth in revenue from existing customers, and
willingness of customers to recommend are vital markers in its success. Additionally,
number of new customers acquired is a measure that any company looking to grow
should be working toward. At the same time, cost per new customer acquired is
important for Infosys, because attracting high-paying clients requires more investment
that attracting smaller clients.
c) The employee measures I would recommend that Infosys uses in its BSC are: percentage
of employees with required capabilities and skills, turnover of key personnel, employee
culture survey, percentage of employees with personal goals linked to organizational
performance, and number of new practices shared and adopted. As IT is a skilled and
technical service, the percentage of employees with required capabilities and skills is
directly related to the quality of service Infosys can provide its clients. Further, retaining
employees that perform well is critical when serving high-paying clientele, who tend to
value consistency and relationships with their business partners. Therefore, employee
culture and turnover should be measured to ensure employees feel valued. Employees
that have personal goals linked to organizational performance and share and adopt new
practices are also assets to the company, as those values suggest an employee who is
willing to grow and learn with the company.