What Are The Similarities Between Balanced Scorecards and Kaizen?

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Believe it or not, there are similarities between balanced scorecards and Kaizen that you should definitely know about. Discover them here in this article. Check additional information about similarities between balanced scorecards and Kaizen.

Many businessmen have been impressed by both the BSC and kaizen. These two business systems of approach are definitely some of the most trusted schemes today. Several business leaders are known to have implemented these two on their company system. Although they have different scopes and focuses, the balanced scorecard and kaizen share a few things in common. There are certainly some similarities between balanced scorecards and Kaizen that the users should know about. The first one is that they are extremely flexible, meaning that they can be used in any department or division in the company. You can put this in the financial department, the sales or even the manufacturing division. Also linked here is that there is an organizational framework that can be applied on both structures. There is what we call the corporate scorecard and there is the organizational technique for kaizen.

BSC and kaizen also concentrate on specific things. In the balanced scorecard, there are four views that are being considered namely the customers, the financials, the learning and growth and the internal processes. Essentially, the latter is the main concern of kaizen. You may have heard about the gemba kaizen which pertains to the kaizen applied in the workplace itself. The gembutsu is derived from the Japanese word which means the tangible objects that are found in the gemba. These can include the machines, the tools, the rejects and others.

Another one from the similarities between balanced scorecards and Kaizen is that these two can be considered as measuring tools for businesses. In the balanced scorecard it gives the precise yet brief performance of the company on the mentioned four perspectives. On the other hand, kaizen is about the measurement of the improvement of the business processes when compared to its usual tactics. The elimination of wasteful processes is one of the chief objectives here.

Now, even if you have already gotten the results coming from the BSC and the continuous improvement system, you will realize that there is a need for you to constantly update them both. This is another one of the similarities between balanced scorecards and Kaizen. You are required to measure and obtain the essential pieces of information coming from these two so that you can successfully monitor the effectiveness of your business. As a result, the BSC and kaizen are not only for the current situation of your company but they are both for strategic actions, which mean that they are created for the future of the business.

Both the balanced scorecard and the kaizen approach make use of key performance indicators that enable the managers to keep track of the health of their organization. The KPIs on the BSC are based upon the four perspectives again while in kaizen, you have quality, cost, effort, productivity and schedule or time. In the end, the best in the similarities between balanced scorecards and Kaizen is that the company can obtain benefits from them. The advantages that you can are really numerous but they can be summarized into 3Rs which pertain to doing things the right way, doing the right things and performing them at the right time.

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