SITUATIONAL AND APPLICATION ANALYSES

When the globalization of the business environment began to become a reality for most corporations in the mid-1990s, many theorists and corporate managers began to realize that the conventional measures and procedures for evaluating business success were not completely up to the tasks for which they were being relied upon by corporate managers. Corporate managers needed tools that told them (a) how well the corporation was performing, (b) the extent to which the various activities of the organization were actually contributing to the attainment of organizational objectives, and (c) how future strategies should be structured to assure future success.

Some years earlier, Robin Cooper and Robert Kaplan (1994) had developed and introduced a management tool that was called activity-based cost systems, which became a part of activity-based management. Activity-based costing and activity-based management allowed corporate managers to assess the contributions of the many different tasks performed by an organization to the overall success of the organization. Activity-based management, however, was still primarily an accounting exercise. As important as financial results are, the tool still did not provide all of the information in the format that was most useful to corporate managers in relation to:

How well the corporation was performing

The extent to which the various activities of the organizat

. . .
us, return on investment (ROI) is a key factor in this area of analysis. Customer perspective: The focus in the customer context is on the way in which the organization meets the needs of the corporation's customers. Thus, customer satisfaction is a key factor in this area of analysis. Internal perspective: The focus in the internal context is on the effectiveness and the efficiency of the organization's many activities in producing the products required by the corporation's customers. The key factors associated with this area tend to vary in relation to the business of the corporation; however, cycle-time, product rejection rates, gross margins, and warranty services are factors of importance to most corporations. Learning and growth perspective: The focus in the learning and growth context is on the capacity of the organization to sustain innovation, change, and continual improvement. New product development activities, research and development initiatives, information systems, and corporate reputation (goodwill) all are important factors in this area. Additionally, however, factors associated with the organization's employees [e.g., satisfaction, motivation, turnover rate, empowerment, skills, and development] also are
. . .

Some common words found in the essay are:
Scorecard Model, Scorecard System, Kaplan Norton, Robert Kaplan, Situational Analysis, Enrick Mottley, CQI Attaining, Application Analysis, balanced scorecard, March Transforming, References Atkinson, corporate managers, balanced scorecard model, kaplan norton, scorecard model, quality management, strategic management, management system, performance management, iso 9000, perspective focus, kaplan norton 1996, strategic performance management, balanced scorecard system, application balanced scorecard,
Approximate Word count = 1316
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page)

More Essays on SITUATIONAL AND APPLICATION ANALYSES