هماهنگی استراتژیک سیستم های خانواده و کسب و کار با استفاده از کارت امتیازی متوازن

We take an integrated approach to align issues that influence the family and business, systems. Using innovation action research (Kaplan, 1998) we illustrate how the Balanced Scorecard, that includes reference to family business challenges can be introduced and used to assist family, members, board members and management in a third-generation Australian family-owned business. The process of scorecard development is discussed and the development of the core essence, vision, and mission statements, strategic objectives, measures and targets, which can be scrutinized by family, business stakeholders to ascertain consistency with the vision of the company, is outlined. We suggest, that, in the family domain, the BSC assists in the education of, and communication among, family, members. From a business system perspective, the BSC is a useful tool to link and align the family with, the business, and this too has benefits in communication and education terms. A conceptual mapping, framework is introduced and propositions that will guide future projects are detailed.

Families in business face unique challenges. These are traditionally attributed to the overlap of the family and business systems where, often, the emotional bonds between family members become intertwined with business issues (Craig and Lindsay, 2002, Lansberg, 1983 and Sorensen, 1999). As a result, the family business is rarely viewed as a total system (Schneider, 1989). Family business is usually seen from either the business perspective, from the family perspective, or as two conflicting systems. A family business, from the business system perspective, is a system that is task orientated and competency based (Davis & Stern, 1980). The primary task is the generation of goods and service through organized behaviour for the purpose of making a profit. As a result, social relations are very much influenced and guided by the norms and principles that facilitate the productive process. As such, “the family business is an enterprise that is based upon the concept of merit and is a system that values the person based upon what s/he does” (Lansberg, 1983, p. 42). Alternatively, from the family system perspective, the family business is a kinship system in which members are related by blood or law. This system operates within the environment of the household, is not a place, but rather a “pattern of appropriate conduct, coherent, embellished and well articulated” (Goffman, 1959, p. 75). In this system, the glue that holds the family together is cooperation and unity, its emotional bonding and affectionate ties that develop between and among its members, as well as a sense of responsibility and loyalty to the group as a system (Aldrich and Cliff, 2003 and Schneider, 1989). It is a system largely based on the concept of need. That is, the family's primary social function is to assure the care and nurture of its members. Specifically, “social relations in the family are structured to satisfy family members’ various developmental needs and tend toward valuing the person based upon who he/she is” (Kepner, 1983, p. 60). Family business research has now evolved to the point where “to understand the family business we must recognise that the two subsystems (family and business) co-exist and it is their relative powers that make a family business unique” (Sharma, Chrisman, & Chua, 1997, p. 20), a notion recently supported by Basco and Pérez Rodríguez (2009). Motivated by Basco and Pérez Rodríguez (2009) findings that approaching the family business as a single system yields better overall (family and business) results (see also, Pieper and Klein, 2007 and Whiteside and Herz-Brown, 1991), this study is an action-based verification of the “single-system” view which we apply to a novel context (i.e., the Australian eco-tourism industry) and through a different lens, the Balanced Scorecard (BSC). The purpose of this paper, therefore, is to demonstrate using an accepted strategic management and measurement tool, the Balanced Scorecard (BSC), how family system and business system goals can be aligned. Specifically, we enlist an innovation action research (Kaplan, 1998) process to address the following research question: How can the four perspectives of the Balanced Scorecard, namely financial, customer, internal business processes, and learning and growth perspectives, be adapted to align the potentially divergent family system and business system goals that exist in family-owned businesses? We show how the BSC can be adapted to the family business context as a measurement and management, as well as a communication, tool that is easily interpretable by those involved in family business (see also, Craig & Moores, 2005). We address a gap in the literature by focusing our lens on how family goals and business goals can be concurrently addressed. Specifically, we highlight a framework that can assist family businesses understand that, as their firm morphs into an increasingly complex business, strategy becomes increasingly important as strategic decisions affect, and need to be communicated to, an increasingly diverse group of family and non-family stakeholders. We begin with a brief introduction to the literature that distinguishes strategy in the family business domain. Following this, we present an overview of the BSC including an outline of the foundation vision and mission statements, which are at the core of the scorecard development process. Then, using a case study of a third-generation family business in Australia, we show how the BSC can be adapted to the family business context. We detail the process how the four perspectives of the BSC have been introduced to the family business and include the objectives, measures and targets that the family has established to ensure the alignment of family and business strategic goals. Finally, we include a conceptual process model and introduce a series of propositions that will drive future projects.

The introduction of the Balanced Scorecard framework to the O’Reilly family business has proved beneficial to the various stakeholders, i.e., family, directors, and managers. The BSC has enabled the family to be assured that their expectations have been installed as a central consideration in the development of the business strategies and plans. The methodology of scorecard development ensures at least recognition of the visions of key stakeholders. The subsequent development of missions, strategic objectives, measures and targets can then be scrutinized by stakeholders to ascertain their consistency with these visions. The board of directors more regularly undertakes this scrutiny on behalf of the stakeholders in its endeavor to balance the family's needs with those of a business nature. The Balanced Scorecard provides a reporting regime that reflects both these needs and, importantly, reinforces in both the strategy formulation and strategy implementation process, the criticality of family business alignment. Management can then be encouraged by the scorecard reporting requirements to focus on the operational aspects of the firm's strategy in its reporting to the board of directors. While our conclusions are constrained by the limitations of a single case study in that the findings lack generalizability they do have the added credibility of being part of an action research project. As such the project is constantly evolving in the context of the case firm effecting change in pursuit of stronger alignment between family and business goals. However, notwithstanding the firm specific credibility of our conclusions the robustness of these findings will be enhanced by further research that explores the use of Balanced Scorecards to foster and bring about the alignment of business and family goals in various contexts. To this end, the nature of family expectations that impact business goals across the four scorecard perspectives needs to be clarified. Adams, Manners, Astrachan, and Mazzola (2004) provide useful guidance in this regard when they demonstrate the significance of financial “aspirations” that family members need to articulate as expectations for those leading their businesses.