Sustainable development using the sustainability balanced score card: the case of Tata Motors, India

There is growing interest within businesses to improve the sustainability of operations, which is, balancing short term goals of turnover and profit with long term goals in social and environmental performance. The 'balanced score card' (BSC) (Kaplan and Norton, 1996) is a strategy-centred performance-measurement tool that enables firms to align their operations to their business strategies. The conventional BSC includes four perspectives: financial, customer, internal process and learning and innovation but excludes two important long term perspectives: environmental and social. Dyllick and associates (1992) have shown that appropriate strategy for the management of environmental and social aspects is lacking. This lacuna can be addressed if the BSC also covers the environmental and social perspectives, enabling firms to evolve relevant strategy. Using the concepts of BSC and sustainability BSC (SBSC), this paper extends the conventional BSC of a firm to include social and environmental factors, invoking Tata Motors Ltd. as a case study.