Target performance management for an international shipping harbor: An integration activity-based budgeting with a balanced scorecard approach, the case of Keelung Harbor

Abstract

The economy of Taiwan heavily depends on sea transportation. Port planning and development is related to the trade growth and changes in industrial structure. Keelung Harbor, located in northern Taiwan and built in 1886, is the second largest commercial port in Taiwan. Due to the competitive environment, Keelung Harbor must pay more attention to operational efficiency and devise an overall performance evaluation. Balanced scorecard (BSC) is a system of performance evaluation; activity-based budgeting (ABB) follows the organization’s need to budget. It can help a firm reach the performance target that BSC sets. In order to evaluate the overall performance of Keelung Harbor, we design an evaluation system integrating balanced scorecard with activity-based budgeting to control cost and examine the achievement rate of target performance. The results of this study indicate that organization’s target and resources can be integrated by employing the BSC and ABB systems. The results of the study can be good references measure for operating of Keelung Harbor and others. Key words: Balanced scorecard (BSC), activity-based budgeting (ABB), target performance.