(Balanced scorecard; research; writing) One of the fundamental performance measurements in an organization’s balanced scorecard learning and growth perspective is number of patents obtained. The following information from the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office indicates the total U.S. patents issued for 2008.
|
Company |
Total Patents |
|
1. IBM |
4,186 |
|
2. Samsung Electronics |
3,515 |
|
3. Canon |
2,114 |
|
4. Microsoft |
2,030 |
|
5. Intel |
1,776 |
|
6. Matsushita Electric Industrial |
1,745 |
|
7. Toshiba |
1,609 |
|
8. Fujitsu |
1,494 |
|
9. Sony |
1,485 |
|
10. Hewlett Packard |
1,424 |
In a team of three or four people, research these companies on the Web and prepare a written report on their financial performance, customers’ perceptions of their service and product quality, and manufacturing operations (such as level of automation in plants).