I recently returned from London where we held our 2008 annual European Balanced Scorecard Summit. Each of our summits features the induction of companies into the Balanced Scorecard Hall of Fame. We had several firsts at the London conference as we inducted the first two companies from Russia, the first Irish company, the first Middle East company, and the first enterprise from France, its Ministry of Defense.
We also noticed a distinct increase in delegates coming from companies in emerging markets, such as Tanzania, Namibia, Cyprus, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt. It’s clear these countries are diversifying beyond their traditional simple manufacturing and agricultural companies into higher-value industries. As these companies march northward on the value chain, their need for more sophisticated management techniques will only increase.