Robert S. Kaplan (1940--) is Baker Foundation Professor at Harvard Business School and co-creator, together with David P. Norton, of the balanced scorecard, a means of linking a company's current actions to its long-term goals. Kaplan and Norton introduced the balanced scorecard method in their 1992 Harvard Business Review article, The Balanced Scorecard: Measures That Drive Performance. This method has been endorsed by corporate heavyweights such as Mobil and Sears. The balanced scorecard envisages executives as pilots with a range of controls and indicators in front of them, based upon which they make decisions and develop strategies. He has also published extensively in the fields of strategy, cost accounting and management accounting. Prior to Harvard, Kaplan was on the faculty and was Dean of the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University. In 2006, Kaplan received the Lifetime Contribution Award from the Management Accounting Section of the American Accounting Association. Also in 2006, Kaplan was named to the Accounting Hall of Fame.
Books and Articles
- Relevance Lost: The Rise and Fall of Management Accounting, with H. Thomas Johnson. Harvard Business School Press, 1987.
- Implementing Activity-Based Cost Management: Moving From Analysis to Action, with Robin Cooper, Larry Maisel, Eileen Morrissey and Ronald M. Oehm. Institute of Management Accountants, 1992.
- The Balanced Scorecard: Measures That Drive Performance, with David P. Norton. Harvard Business Review, January-February 1992.
- Putting the Balanced Scorecard to Work, with David P. Norton. Harvard Business Review, September-October 1993.
- The Balanced Scorecard: Translating Strategy Into Action, with David Norton. Harvard Business School Press, 1996.
- Cost and Effect: Using Integrated Cost Systems to Drive Profitability and Performance, with Robin Cooper. Harvard Business School Press, 1998.
- Advanced Management Accounting, 3rd ed., with Anthony A. Atkinson. Prentice Hall, 1998.
- Design of Cost Management Systems, 2nd ed., with Robin Cooper. Prentice Hall, 1998.
- The Strategy-Focused Organization: How Balanced Scorecard Companies Thrive in the New Business Environment, with David P. Norton. Harvard Business School Press, 2000.
- Management Accounting, 3rd ed., with A. Atkinson, R. Banker and M. Young. Prentice Hall, 2001.
- Strategy Maps: Converting Intangible Assets into Tangible Outcomes, with David P. Norton. Harvard Business School Press, 2004.
- Measuring the Strategic Readiness of Intangible Assets, with David P. Norton. Harvard Business Review, February 2004.
- Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing, with David P. Norton. Harvard Business Review, November 2004.
- The Office of Strategy Management, with David P. Norton. Harvard Business Review, October 2005.
- Alignment: Using the Balanced Scorecard to Create Corporate Synergies, with David P. Norton. Harvard Business School Press, 2006.
- How to Implement a New Strategy Without Disrupting Your Organization, with David P. Norton. Harvard Business Review, March 2006.
- Management Accounting, 5th ed., with Anthony A. Atkinson, Ella Mae Matsumura, and S. Mark Young. Prentice Hall, 2007.
- Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing: A Simpler and More Powerful Path to Higher Profits, with David P. Norton. Harvard Business School Publishing, 2007.
