SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. and LINCOLN, Mass., Oct. 31, 2005 -- Balanced Scorecard Collaborative, a Palladium Group, Inc. company, today announced it has named Best Buy, Ingersoll-Rand, KeyCorp, NASD, and Ricoh to the Balanced Scorecard Hall of Fame for Executing Strategy (TM) for achieving breakthrough performance results using the Balanced Scorecard (BSC). The award will be presented to officers of these organizations at the Balanced Scorecard North American Summit held this week in San Francisco. "Today's winners have achieved breakthrough performance results using the Balanced Scorecard and are truly Strategy-Focused Organizations," said Balanced Scorecard Collaborative president Dr. David P. Norton.

Best Buy

Minneapolis-based Best Buy Co., Inc. is a Fortune 100 growth company with more than 840 retail stores across the United States and Canada and more than 90,000 employees. Revenues for fiscal 2005 exceed $27B. Since implementing the BSC in 2003, Best Buy's revenue, stock price, and dividends have risen dramatically. According to Darren Jackson, executive vice president and CFO, "Linking strategy with metrics and publishing this information in a timely, balanced and relevant fashion has enhanced our performance culture in a number of critical ways. First, this kind of focused information shapes behavior. Second, this focus creates and reinforces positive strategic outcomes. And finally, it creates a culture of ongoing rationalization of metrics to ensure the most relevant measures of strategic and operating performance are front and center."

Ingersoll-Rand

Ingersoll-Rand (IR) is a diversified, 130-year old industrial firm operating in construction, climate control, compact vehicle, industrial, and security technology markets. With 40,000 employees worldwide, IR's revenues for 2004 were nearly $10B. In 2000, IR began using the Balanced Scorecard to move from a product leadership strategy to one of customer intimacy. "The Balanced Scorecard was instrumental in our ability to establish and broadly communicate the road map for the changes we needed to implement in order to achieve enterprise operational and financial objectives," says Herbert L. Henkel, chairman, president, and CEO. "Our revenues, profits and cash flow, among other key indicators of success, have shown dramatic improvement since we implemented the Balanced Scorecard."

KeyCorp

With $92B in assets, KeyCorp is one of the nation's largest bank holding companies. In 2000, Key's performance was at the bottom of its peer group. New CEO Henry Meyer implemented the Balanced Scorecard process to help fulfill his mandate to turn the financial services company around. "Today Key's financial performance has improved significantly, including shareholder value," says Meyer. "We have more robust metrics, providing greater insights on our businesses. Our transformation is accelerating, and in a more energizing way, with the ultimate goal of being the most admired financial institution in the markets we serve. I know we'll get there, due in no small measure to our continued use of the Balanced Scorecard."

NASD

NASD is the primary private-sector regulator of the U.S. securities industry. With a staff of 2,200 and a budget of $500M, NASD registers securities firms and their employees, writes rules that govern their behavior, examines them for compliance, and disciplines those that fail to comply. It provides education and supports firms in their compliance activities. According to NASD Chairman and CEO Robert R. Glauber, "NASD is a non- governmental securities regulator. We have the mandate to protect investors and the obligation to manage ourselves with the efficiency and focus of a private-sector organization. Implementing the Balance Scorecard has been instrumental in helping us meet these challenges."

Ricoh Corporation

Ricoh Corporation is a 41-year old US company headquartered in New Jersey that markets and distributes office automation products throughout the Americas. Ricoh Corporation's sales in 2004 exceeded $2.9B. The company implemented the BSC in 1999. According to Sam Ichioka, chairman & CEO, "Our strategy maps and Balanced Scorecards ensure that all our people, from the most senior to the front-line employees, understand our direction and their individual and team contributions. Our balanced scorecard review process ensures that we are on track with our targets or take counter measures where necessary. As a result we have experienced continuous growth in business and continuous improvement in our operations, as well as increased customer satisfaction."

A Steuben crystal rising star, designed by Robert Cassetti, will be presented to officers from each organization, which join 63 other member organizations in the BSC Hall of Fame.

About the Balanced Scorecard

The Balanced Scorecard (BSC) concept -- created by Drs. Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton in 1992 -- has been implemented in thousands of corporations, organizations, and government agencies worldwide and has been cited by Harvard Business Review as one of the most important ideas of the past seventy-five years. Based on the simple premise that "measurement motivates," the BSC puts strategy at the center of the management process, allowing organizations to implement strategies rapidly and reliably.

About Balanced Scorecard Collaborative

Balanced Scorecard Collaborative (BSCol), a Palladium company, is a global family of professional service firms that help clients use the Balanced Scorecard to successfully execute strategy. To learn more, visit http://www.bscol.com.

About Palladium Group, Inc.

Palladium Group, Inc. is changing the way the world's leading organizations manage by developing the new science of Executing Strategy. The merger of three of the world's leading professional services firms, Balanced Scorecard Collaborative, Painted Word, and ThinkFast Consulting, has combined the expertise and principles of Strategy-Focused Organization with Corporate Performance Management methodologies and technologies. Headquartered in Lincoln, MA, Palladium has nine U.S. offices, two Balanced Scorecard Collaborative (BSCol) international offices, in London and Sydney, and eight BSCol affiliates in twelve countries in Europe, Latin America and Asia- Pacific. The company works with the largest organizations in financial services, life sciences, manufacturing, and retail. For more information, visit http://www.palladiumES.com.