Critical Thinking

Balanced scorecard performance, including environmental, and social.Gardini Chocolates makes custom-labeled, high-quality, specialty candy bars for special events and advertising purposes. The company employs several chocolatiers who were trained in Germany. The company offers many varieties of chocolate, including milk, semi-sweet, white, and dark chocolate. It also offers a variety of ingredients, such as coffee, berries, and fresh mint. The real appeal for the company's product, however, is its custom labeling. Customers can order labels for special occasions (for example, wedding invitation labels) or business purposes (for example, business card labels). The company's balanced scorecard for 2018 follows.

Balanced scorecard performance, including environmental, and social Gardini Chocolates makes custom-labeled, high-quality, specialty candy bars for special events and advertising purposes. The company employs several chocolatiers who were trained in Germany. The company offers many varieties of chocolate, including milk, semi-sweet, white, and dark chocolate. It also offers a variety of ingredients, such as coffee, berries, and fresh mint. The real appeal for the company's product, however, is its custom labeling. Customers can order labels for special occasions (for example, wedding invitation labels) or business purposes (for example, business card labels). The company's balanced scorecard for 2018 follows. C Target Actual Objectives Measures Performance Performance Financial Perspective Increase shareholder value Operating-income changes from price recovery $1,000,000 $1,500,000 Operating-income changes from growth $200,000 $250,000 Cost savings due to reduced packaging size $40,000 $50,000 Customer Perspective Increase market share Market share of overall candy bar market 7.8% Increase the number of new Number of new product offerings product offerings Increase customer acquisitions Percentage of new custom due to sustainability efforts surveyed who required recycled paper options 35% 40% Internal-Business-Process Perspective Reduce time to customer Average design time 3 days 3 days Increase quality Internal quality rating (10-point scale) 7 points 8 points Increase use of recycled Recycled materials used as a materials percentage of total materials used 30% 32% Learning-and-Growth Perspective Increase number of professional Number of chocolatiers 5 6 chocolatiers Increase number of women and Percentage of women and minorities in the workforce minorities in the workforce 40% 38% Required: 1. Is Gardini'sstrategy one of product differentiation or cost leadership? Explain briefly (50 words or less)