Robert S. Kaplan is the Marvin Bower Professor of Leadership Development at Harvard Business School. Kaplan joined the HBS faculty in 1984 after spending 16 years on the faculty of the Graduate School of Industrial Administration (GSIA), Carnegie-Mellon University. He served as Dean of GSIA from 1977 to 1983. Kaplan received a B.S. and M.S. in Electrical Engineering from M.I.T., and a Ph.D. in Operations Research from Cornell University. In 1994, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Stuttgart.
Kaplan's research, teaching, and consulting focus on linking cost and performance measurement systems to strategy implementation and operational excellence. He has been a co-developer of both activity-based costing and the Balanced Scorecard. He has authored or co-authored ten books and more than 120 papers. Kaplan received the Outstanding Accounting Educator Award in 1988 from the American Accounting Association (AAA), and the 1994 CIMA Award from the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (UK) for 'Outstanding Contributions to the Accountancy Profession.'
Recent books include The Strategy Focused Organization (HBS Press, 2001) and The Balanced Scorecard: Translating Strategy into Action (HBS Press, 1996) both with David P. Norton, and Cost and Effect: Using Integrated Cost Systems to Drive Profitability and Performance (HBS Press, 1998) with Robin Cooper. Recent Harvard Business Review articles include 'Having Trouble With Your Stratgy? Then Map It,' (September-October 2000, with David Norton), 'The Promise — and Peril of Integrated Cost Systems,' (July-August 1998, with Robin Cooper) and 'Using the Balanced Scorecard as a Strategic Management System,' (January-February 1996 with David P. Norton). He collaborated with David Norton in producing a new CD-ROM interactive simulation, Balancing the Corporate Scorecard available from HBS Publishing. In 1994, HBS Management Productions produced his four-part video-tape series, Measuring Corporate Performance, which presents concepts and companies' experiences with activity-based cost management and the Balanced Scorecard.
Kaplan's other co-authored books include Implementing Activity-Based Cost Management: Moving from Analysis to Action; Measures for Manufacturing Excellence; Relevance Lost: The Rise and Fall of Management Accounting, plus three management accounting textbooks. Prentice-Hall published the third editions of Management Accounting in 2000 and Advanced Management Accounting in 1998, and the second edition of Design of Cost Management Systems in 1999.
Kaplan consults on the design of performance and cost management systems with many leading companies in North America and Europe. He regularly offers seminars in North America, South America, Europe, Middle East, Asia, and Australia/New Zealand. Currently, Kaplan serves on the Academic Committee of the Board of Trustees of the Technion (Israel Institute of Technology) and as chairman and director of the Balanced Scorecard Collaborative.
Alignment: Using the Balanced Scorecard to Create Corporate Synergies
The Execution Premium: Linking Strategy to Operations for Competitive Advantage
The Balanced Scorecard: Translating Strategy Into Action
Strategy Maps: Converting Intangible Assets into Tangible Outcomes