abstract: 'The Portuguese business structure is essentially composed of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which, despite their size, generate employment and contribute to the increase of national income. In many of these companies, some of them having less than ten employees, management and operational functions are often carried out by the entrepreneur. In addition, the entrepreneur does not always have technical knowledge in management, nor do they have the available time (since they have various responsibilities within the company) to develop and implement a management strategy that allows the enterprise to remain in the market while adopting a more conscious, consistent and sustained orientation. Within the scope of the Operational Program for Competitiveness and Internationalization - Portugal 2020, the Balanced ScoreCard (BSC) strategic management instrument was developed and implemented in several companies and sectors of the Portuguese economy. This instrument was crucial in initiating a process of strategic thinking which, quite possibly, would not have happened in such a short time horizon. This research work analyses through an essentially qualitative research the way the BSC instrument was developed and implemented. Another objective is to understand the main advantages of its use and its main application constraints. The data was gathered through a semi-structured interview developed for the owners of four Portuguese SMEs in the northern region Portugal, targeted under the abovementioned programme framework. The results demonstrate the instrument was essential for the development of a structured strategic thinking, as well as for a better performance and, consequently, to the improvement of the competitiveness of the targeted companies. The results also show the instrument had to be adapted and simplified and its implementation has to involve all the employees of the enterprises.' affiliation: 'Cardim, S (Corresponding Author), Inst Polytech Braganca, Braganca, Portugal. Cardim, Sofia; Nunes, Alcina; Fernandes, Paula Odete, Inst Polytech Braganca, Braganca, Portugal. Nunes, Alcina; Fernandes, Paula Odete, Inst Polytech Braganca, Appl Management Res Unit UNIAG, Braganca, Portugal. Branco, Frederico, Univ Tras Os Montes \& Alto Douro, Vila Real, Portugal. Branco, Frederico, INESC TEC, Vila Real, Portugal. Branco, Frederico, UTAD, Vila Real, Portugal.' author: Cardim, Sofia and Nunes, Alcina and Fernandes, Paula Odete and Branco, Frederico author-email: 'sofiacardim@ipb.pt alcina@ipb.pt pof@ipb.pt fbranco@utad.pt' author_list: - family: Cardim given: Sofia - family: Nunes given: Alcina - family: Fernandes given: Paula Odete - family: Branco given: Frederico booktitle: 'PROCEEDINGS OF THE 13TH EUROPEAN CONFERENCE ON INNOVATION AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP (ECIE 2018)' da: '2023-09-28' editor: Costa, C and AuYongOliveira, M and Amorim, MPC eissn: 2049-1069 files: [] isbn: 978-1-911218-98-2 issn: 2049-1050 keywords: 'Balanced ScoreCard; SMEs; strategic thinking; performance; competitiveness; Portugal' language: English note: '13th European Conference on Innovation and Entrepreneurship (ECIE), Aveiro, PORTUGAL, SEP 20-21, 2018' number-of-cited-references: '17' orcid-numbers: 'Fernandes, Paula Odete/0000-0001-8714-4901 Nunes, Alcina/0000-0003-4056-9747 Cardim Barata, Ana Sofia/0000-0002-7506-5111 Branco, Frederico/0000-0001-8434-4887' pages: 177-182 papis_id: 93f6954736ef96101ed8036b25be2812 ref: Cardim2018implementationbalanc researcherid-numbers: 'Fernandes, Paula Odete/N-3804-2013 Nunes, Alcina/M-8259-2013 Fernandes, Pedro/HGF-1507-2022 Branco, Frederico/GPT-3972-2022 Cardim Barata, Ana Sofia/HPG-9403-2023 ' series: 'Proceedings of the European Conference on Entrepreneurship and Innovation' times-cited: '0' title: 'Implementation of Balanced ScoreCard: Simplify strategic thinking development in Portuguese SMEs' type: Proceedings Paper unique-id: WOS:000540889200020 usage-count-last-180-days: '0' usage-count-since-2013: '2' web-of-science-categories: Business; Social Sciences, Interdisciplinary year: '2018'