Abstract:

The organizational environment today is a complex and ever-evolving arena, significantly influenced by factors such as globalization, technological advances, ever-changing regulations, and unforeseen events like pandemics, armed conflicts, or economic and financial crises. This intricate landscape underscores the critical importance of strategic management in enabling organizations to effectively monitor their strategies, improve their performance, and achieve their strategic objectives. In this context, higher education institutions, including military education institutions like the Portuguese Naval Academy, face the unique challenge of aligning their educational missions with military strategic management practices to ensure they meet their long-term goals and adapt to the changing global environment.

The Portuguese Naval Academy, an autonomous organic unit of the Military University Institute, plays a pivotal role in the training of permanent officers for the Portuguese Navy. This institution's mission is widespread, requiring not only the provision of high-quality education but also the need to align this education with the Navy’s strategic and operational demands. Recognizing this challenge, the study proposes the implementation of a Balanced Scorecard (BSC) as a strategic management tool to enhance the school's ability to integrate its educational, operational, and administrative strategies with its long-term objectives. Throughout the years, the BSC has emerged as a comprehensive solution, facilitating the translation of strategy into measurable objectives and key performance indicators (KPIs), aligning daily operations with overarching strategic visions.

This research adopts a mixed-methods approach to explore the applicability and effectiveness of the BSC within the context of the Portuguese Naval Academy. The methodology combines quantitative data collection through questionnaires distributed to a wide range of stakeholders within the institution, including faculty and administrative staff. These questionnaires were designed to gather insights into the current strategic management practices and perceptions of the BSC's potential impact. Moreover, the study employs qualitative methods, specifically semi-structured interviews with key players involved in the Academy's strategic planning and decision-making processes. These interviews aim to delve deeper into the challenges and opportunities presented by the BSC implementation, offering rich, contextualized understanding of the strategic management needs within a military education framework.

The expected contribution of this study is twofold. Firstly, it seeks to provide a comprehensive analysis of the BSC's applicability as a strategic management tool in higher education, with a specific focus on military education institutions. Secondly, by detailing the process and outcomes of implementing the BSC at the Naval Academy, this research aims to offer valuable insights and a practical framework for other military and civilian higher education institutions considering similar strategic management approaches. The study posits that through the tailored application of the BSC, the Naval Academy can achieve greater alignment between its educational programs and the strategic goals of the Portuguese Navy, thereby ensuring the effective preparation of naval officers for future challenges.

Keywords:

Balanced Scorecard, Higher Education, Key Performance Indicators, Military Education, Naval Academy, Strategic Management.