World-renowned strategic business management gurus Dr Robert Kaplan and Dr David Norton will appear together for the first time in the Middle East to discuss growth management and related issues.

The duo have developed management tools to address such dilemmas. Their Balanced Scorecard (BSC) concept measures whether corporate activities are meeting their objectives in terms of vision and strategy.

'By focusing not only on financial outcomes but also on the human issues, the Balanced Scorecard helps to provide a more comprehensive view of a business which in turn helps organisations to act in their best long-term interests,' said Kaplan.

'For the buoyant Middle East market, maintaining a clear vision of goals and maximizing efficiencies of their operating assets and employees is of utmost importance and will provide solid foundations, especially for nascent enterprises.'

Kaplan is Baker Foundation Professor at the Harvard Business School. Kaplan joined the HBS faculty in 1984 after spending 16 years on the faculty of the business school at Carnegie-Mellon University, where he served as Dean from 1977 to 1983.

“You cannot isolate the value of a single intangible asset like knowledge,” said Dr Norton. “How you create value is like a recipe. You have to put together several ingredients. Training your people is only one ingredient.”

Norton was founder and president of Renaissance Solutions, a global consulting organization with more than 6,500 employees in 100 global locations. Formerly, Norton was CEO of the Nolan Norton Institute, a consulting firm he co-founded, which became the research arm of KPMG.

Kaplan and Norton will appear to high-level regional business professionals from March 23 to 27, 2008. They will be joined by leading executives from regional business powerhouses like Saudi Aramco, Dubai World, the National Bank of Kuwait, to discuss case studies and best practices.

Real life stories from the Balanced Scorecard Hall of Fame thought leaders will be discussed along with the vital role that top management has in ensuring your BSC journey becomes successful. – TradeArabia News Service