Why and how does a CEO use financial and non-financial data? A study of the emergence of the Tableau de Bord at the Crédit Lyonnais (1870-1890)

This paper pursues two goals. First, it is part of broader archival research that aims to show that French Tableaux de Bord were not the invention of industrial engineers alone with support from the State, as many authors suggest (Pezet, 2007). In this paper, we highlight the emergence of financial and non-financial data in the banking sector. Furthermore, we show that this emergence occurred gradually by increments. Second, we set out to describe and understand how one CEO used these data. In this respect, the case of Henri Germain, the founder and CEO of French Bank the Crédit Lyonnais, is emblematic. The demands and expectations he imposed on the Crédit Lyonnais’ managers seem to follow an iterative process that begins with setting strategy and structure, continues by responding to requirements for financial and then non-financial data, subsequently meets a need for understanding the causes of expenditure and, ultimately, leads to change in strategy.