Comtex Company provides cable and Internet services in the greater Boston area. There are many competitors that provide similar services. Comtex believes that the key to financial success is to offer a quality service at the lowest cost. Comtex currently spends a significant amount of hours on installation and post-installation support. This is one area that the company has targeted for cost reduction. Comtex's balanced scorecard for 2017 follows.

Required
1. Was Comtex successful in implementing its strategy in 2017? Explain.
2. Do you agree with Comtex's decision to include measures of developing innovative services (research and development costs) in the internal-business-process perspective of the balanced scorecard? Explain briefly.
3. Is there a cause-and-effect linkage between the measures in the internal-business-process perspective and the customer perspective? That is, would you add other measures to the internal-business-process perspective or the customer perspective? Why or why not? Explain briefly.
4. Why do you think Comtex included balanced scorecard measures relating to employee safety and community engagement? How well is the company doing on these measures?

Target Performance Performance Actual Objectives Financial Perspective Increase shareholder value Measures Operating-income changes from Operating-income changes from Increase in revenue from new productivity growth customer acquisition S2,400,000 S520,000 $50,000 $800,000 $250,000 S24,000 Customer Perspective Increase customer satisfaction Positive customer survey responses 70% 65% Increase customer acquisition New customers acquired through company sponsored community events 475 350 Internal-Business-Process Perspective Develop innovative services Research and development costs as a percentage of revenue 5% 5 hours 6% 4.5 hours Increase installation efficiency Installation time per customer Number of new programs with Increase community involvement Decrease workplace injuries Learning-and-Growth Perspective community organizations 12 15 Number of employees injured in the workplace Increase employee competence Increase leadership skills Increase employee safety Number of annual training-hours Number of leadership workshops Percent of employees who have 10 per employee offered completed safety certification awareness training 100% 95%