Balance Score Card implementation at Veolia Water Sukvinder Singh Section B 2009 PGP 207 Veolia Water North America is a geographically diverse business, spread across the United States and Canada. It is the leading provider of comprehensive water and wastewater partnership services to municipal and industrial customers, providing services to more than 14 million people in approximately 650 communities. By necessity, the business is very local and in addition to its geographical diversity is also culturally diverse. In 2008, the company was transitioned to a new CEO.
Laurent Auguste who had worked in Japan previously needed a winning strategy with a very high goal of increased revenue. Successful implementation of this strategy was planned through the balanced scorecard process. Some Veolia Water executives were familiar with the balanced scorecard, as it was used in the Japan office and some had used it at previous companies. At the direction of Auguste, the executive leaders of Veolia Water North America defined a strategic planning and management system based on the balanced scorecard.
Veolia Water was able to implement a system designed to help translate organizational strategy into something which its employees could understand and use. At Veolia Water, the balanced scorecard was designed to boost organizational performance, break down communication barriers between business units and departments, increase focus on strategy and results, budget and prioritize time and resources more effectively, and help the company better understand and react to customer needs.
After successfully implementing the balanced scorecard in its Business Unit, Veolia Water started integrating the balanced scorecard deeper into its organization, using an e-learning tool developed to train key staff. The e-learning course, a customized version of an e-learning program, consists of six modules that together take no more than an hour to complete. The e-learning course has helped familiarize employees with the balanced scorecard and demonstrate how they contribute to the company’s objectives when they achieve their personal objectives.
The development of this e-learning course was considered the next step in Veolia Water’s balanced scorecard implementation and was intended to help employees not involved in the first round of balanced scorecard development. The program helped employees develop an understanding of terminology and best practices related to balanced scorecard strategic planning and management, so that they can contribute to further development and use of the balanced scorecard system at Veolia Water.
Ultimately, the balanced scorecard has helped Veolia Water develop a framework for measuring the progress of its geographically diverse facilities while at the same time helped it to maximize revenues. Veolia Water is now continuing to refine and implement the balanced scorecard system to support internal and external growth initiatives.
