Prof. Robert S. Kaplan – doctor honoris causa

On the proposal of the Scientific Council of the Faculty of Finance and Accounting from 13 November 2019, the Scientific Council of the Prague University of Economics and Business decided on 26 November 2019 to award the title of Doctor oeconomiae honoris causa to Prof. Robert S. Kaplan, Professor Emeritus of Harvard Business School.

Professor Robert S. Kaplan is a world-leading expert in strategic management, risk management, and management accounting. He is known worldwide for the Balanced Scorecard method, which he developed with David P. Norton and which was first published in 1992 in the Harvard Business Review, and for the TDABC (Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing) method, which he developed with Steven R. Anderson (also published in 2003 in HBR). His books have been translated in many editions into more than 24 languages (including the Czech language), his articles have appeared in many prestigious international journals and are widely cited. In addition to academic awards, Prof. Kaplan’s work is distinguished by how widely his strategic management methods have been implemented in companies around the world (including the Czech Republic), in a wide variety of industries, as evidenced by the business awards he has received.

The honorary doctorate ceremony awarded by the Rector of the Prague University of Economics and Business, Prof. Ing. Hana Machkova, CSc. will take place on Thursday, 23 September 2021 at 16:00, in the Vencovsky Auditorium of the Prague University of Economics and Business (W. Churchill Square 4, Prague 3 – Žižkov). All academic representatives of the VŠE in Prague, other universities, distinguished guests from organizations and institutions, students, alumni, and the general public are invited to the ceremony. The ceremony will also include Prof. Kaplan´s speech.

  • If you are interested in attending the ceremony, please register via the online form.
  • Any questions and information. Marcela Zárybnická Žárová (zarova@vse.cz)

The Honorary Doctorate is awarded by the Prague University of Economics and Business to distinguished representatives of the Czech and world science and practice, especially in economics. The awarding of the honorary degree to Professor Robert S. Kaplan suits the profile of the VŠE in Prague as a leading university, which develops scientific and research activities and incorporates its latest findings into teaching in cooperation with practice. Prof. Kaplan’s lifelong work is the best example of the connection between academic research and practice in the field of strategic management and management accounting and is an inspiration for both the academic community of the Prague University of Economics and Business and the business environment in the Czech Republic.

 

Robert S. Kaplan born May 2, 1940, in New York, USA Prof. Kaplan obtained his BS in Electrical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he also obtained his MS in Electrical Engineering. For his graduate studies, he moved to Cornell University, where he obtained his PhD in Operations Research. After his graduation, Kaplan started his academic career at Tepper School of Business at Carnegie-Mellon University in 1968 and served as its dean from 1977 to 1983. In 1984 Kaplan joined the Harvard Business School, where he was appointed Marvin Bower Professor of Leadership Development. In 2006, Kaplan was named to the Accounting Hall of Fame. In the same year, he also received the Lifetime Contribution Award from the Management Accounting Section of the American Accounting Association. Since the 1990s he has been awarded honorary doctorates by the University of Stuttgart in 1994, the University of Lodz in 2006, and the University of Waterloo in 2008.

Balanced Scorecard

Prof.  Kaplan and David P. Norton created the Balanced Scorecard, a means of linking a company’s current actions to its long-term goals. Kaplan and Norton introduced the balanced scorecard method in their 1992 Harvard Business Review article, The Balanced Scorecard: Measures That Drive Performance. This method has been endorsed by companies from every industry and corner of the world as evidenced by the Palladium Balanced Scorecard Hall of Fame for Executing Strategy and Bain & Company’s Management Tools and Trends report.

Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing (TDABC)

Robert S. Kaplan and Steven R. Anderson co-developed Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing (or TDABC), a methodology to truly understand costs, to help companies get on a simpler and more powerful path to higher profits. Most recently, this methodology is being applied to healthcare, to measure health care delivery costs across an entire care continuum, at the medical condition level.

Publications

Kaplan is the author or co-author of 14 books and more than 175 articles (26 of them in Harvard Business Review) that are highly cited. By the end of September 2019, a total of 100 publications with more than 10,000 citations were listed in the Web of Science Core Collection database (basic search). Prof. Kaplan’s H index is 34 according to the same database. The Scopus database lists 90 publications with a total of over 12,000 citations and H index is also according to this database 34. The worldwide reputation of prof. Kaplan is also supported by a summary of citations registered in the google scholar database where publications and their translations into other languages register almost 170,000 citations, of which nearly 59,000. from 2014 (last without further adjustment of reported data).

The book “The Execution Premium: Linking Strategy to Operations for Competitive Advantage, Alignment, Strategy Maps” was selected by Amazon as one of the top ten business books for 2004, “The Strategy-Focused Organization” was selected by Cap Gemini Ernst & Young as the best international business book 2000 and “The Balanced Scorecard: Translating Strategy to Action”, translated into 24 languages (including Czech), won the 2001 Wildman Medal from the American Association of Accountants (AAA) for its impact on practice.

 

The new date for the awarding of the honorary doctorate has been set for Thursday 23 September 2021 at 16:00 in the Vencovsky Auditorium of the Prague University of Economics and Business (W. Churchill Square 4, Prague 3 - Žižkov). All academic officials of VŠE in Prague, other universities, distinguished guests from organizations and institutions, students, alumni and the general public are invited to the ceremony. The ceremony will also include Prof. Kaplan´s speech.