Application of the Balanced Scorecard in Spanish private health‐care management

Abstract

Purpose

The objective of this paper is to address the question of whether the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) can be utilized in non‐profit organizations, in particular hospital sector organizations. A secondary objective addresses the issue of whether the BSC can be utilized employing the methodology encountered in the literature.

Design/methodology/approach

A case is presented of a private Spanish hospital, specializing in psychiatric patients, which is owned by a religious congregation and which utilizes a very primitive and informal information system. The case describes the design of the strategic map and the BSC for this hospital.

Findings

The paper concludes that the BSC is applicable to any type of organization, albeit with modifications; a BSC for non‐profit organizations must be modified to include a mission perspective, thus supporting Kaplan's model for non‐profit organizations. Hospitals should also include an additional perspective which provides specific information on social demographic factors regarding the hospital's operating environment.

Originality/value

The contribution of this paper is threefold. First, the case supports Kaplan's inclusion of a mission perspective for non‐profit organizations. Second, it further modifies the non‐profit BSC by including an additional perspective which provides specific information on social demographic factors regarding the hospital's operating environment. The authors are unaware of any instance where this additional perspective has been included in the model. Finally, the case provides a fully developed BSC and strategy map for a hospital which can be used as a template for other health‐care organizations.

Citation

Urrutia, I. and Eriksen, S.D. (2005), "Application of the Balanced Scorecard in Spanish private health‐care management", Measuring Business Excellence, Vol. 9 No. 4, pp. 16-26. https://doi.org/10.1108/13683040510634808