He has been named as one the top 25 Business Thinkers in the world, has written or co-written 11 books and more than 120 papers.
Now, for only the second time in his career, business guru and professor of leadership at the Harvard Business School, prof Robert Kaplan is to lecture in Birmingham.
?I have talked in London a number of times, but I haven?t been to Birmingham since 1990.
?This is a big manufacturing area and I believe it would benefit from my advice,? said the Brooklyn-born academic.
Prof Kaplan (pictured) is primarily recognised for his work on what is known as the ? Balanced Scorecard?.
From a year-long study begun in 1990, Prof Kaplan and his partner, David Norton, head of Nolan Norton, the research arm of KPMG, found that financial performance alone was not sufficient to measure a business?s total performance.
In 1996, they published a book called The Balanced Scorecard proposing that a company should assess how it performs relative to customers? expectations, examine improvement in internal processes and measure learning and growth alongside financial measures.
The book was received with acclaim by executives struggling with the task of directing and assessing intangible aspects of business. It sparked a string of follow-ups where it is argued that the balanced approach could be used to implement strategy as well as to assess performance.
It will be strategy implementation that Prof Kaplan will talk to Midlands business leaders in May.
However, the information will not come cheap, with tickets to the event costing #895. ?If people believe this is a overly hefty price to pay for a one-day seminar, they are seriously underestimating what they could get from this approach,? said Prof Kaplan.
?Financial improvement of companies who adopt the balanced scorecard can by measured in the tens of millions of pounds.?
The Balanced Scorecard certainly has its supporters. Well-known names, such as Tesco, PricewaterhouseCoopers, the Highways Agency and the Ministry of Defence have apparently used the method to great success.
However, recognising that a company needs to respond to customers, run efficient internal systems and invest in staff development is surely part of the fundamentals for most chief executives?
Not so, says Prof Kaplan who, from a background in electrical engineering and operations research, has spent the last 37 years studying accounting practices.
?Great ideas don?t have to be complicated,? he said. ?The Balanced Scorecard is simple in a way and makes a lot of sense.?
?We often find that many executives are doing some of the things that we outline, but all to often they do it on a adhoc basis ? what we provide is a comprehensive framework.?
Where the problems lie, suggests Prof Kaplan, is effective implementation.
?Many companies outline their frameworks and strategies in words only. That seems fine when everybody agrees on the words, but when you ask them to interpret them, every individual has a very different understanding of what they mean.
?We are trying to encourage firms to move away from only measuring financial figures and to turn frameworks statements into quantitative, achievable targets.
?For example, a company may decided to measure the percentage of staff with the skills to sell a particular service or product. They would then aim to increase this percentage, over a certain period of time to, for example 97 per cent.
?This would give a firm a tangible quantitative measure that is not financial, but does indicate an increase in company productivity.
?The magic is explicitly choosing to record those measures on which you compete.?
Prof Kaplan will be lecturing on May 10 at the Burlington Hotel, where he will reveal new, unpublished material on Extending the Balanced Scorecard to Create the Strategy-Focused Organisation to help you improve leadership and management within your organisation.
The Birmingham Post has two exclusive offers for readers.
Registering and paying before April 6 will entitle readers to:
* A 15 per cent discount per delegate saving you over #130.
* A free copy of Professor Kaplan?s latest book, Strategy Maps: Converting Intangible Assets into Tangible Outcomes.
To register, call Nicole Proetta in Monaco on 00377 9797 3940 or e-mail nproetta@leadingminds.com and quote ?BPDG217'.
For more information about the event visit: www.leading-minds.com/rkbirmingham
