Kaplan and Norton appear together for the first time in the Middle East

This is especially true when financial results may show great performance and physical assets show great returns.

What of human assets then and their contribution to growth and business success? How do companies in rapidly changing markets, more liquid and dynamic labor ecosystems deal with knowledge as an asset?

World renowned strategic business management gurus, Dr. Robert Kaplan and Dr. David Norton have developed management tools to address such dilemmas. With their Balanced Scorecard (BSC) concept, which measures whether corporate activities are meeting their objectives in terms of vision and strategy, Kaplan and Norton will appear for the first time together in the Middle East on one stage to discuss how such concepts could be adopted in the Region.

"By focusing not only on financial outcomes but also on the human issues, the Balanced Scorecard helps to provide a more comprehensive view of a business which in turn helps organizations to act in their best long-term interests," said Kaplan.

"For the buoyant Middle East market, maintaining a clear vision of goals and maximizing efficiencies of their operating assets and employees is of utmost importance and will provide solid foundations, especially for nascent enterprises."

Robert Kaplan is Baker Foundation Professor at the Harvard Business School. Kaplan joined the HBS faculty in 1984 after spending 16 years on the faculty of the business school at Carnegie-Mellon University, where he served as Dean from 1977 to 1983. Kaplan received a B.S. and M.S. in Electrical Engineering from M.I.T., and a Ph.D. in Operations Research from Cornell University. He has received honorary doctorates from the University of Stuttgart and University of Lodz.

"You cannot isolate the value of a single intangible asset like knowledge," Dr. Norton says. "How you create value is like a recipe. You have to put together several ingredients. Training your people is only one ingredient."

David Norton was founder and president of Renaissance Solutions, a global consulting organization with more than 6,500 employees in 100 global locations. Formerly, Norton was CEO of the Nolan Norton Institute, a consulting firm he co-founded, which became the research arm of KPMG. He earned his doctorate in business administration from Harvard University, an MBA from Florida State University, an MS in operations research from the Florida Institute of Technology, and a BS in electrical engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

Kaplan and Norton will appear to high level regional business professionals on March 23-27th 2008. They will be joined by leading executives from regional business powerhouses like such as Saudi Aramco, Dubai World, the National Bank of Kuwait, to discuss case studies and best practices. Real life stories from the Balanced Scorecard Hall of Fame thought leaders will be discussed along with the vital role that top management has in ensuring your BSC journey becomes successful.