Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton, co-authors of The Balanced Scorecard, devised a means of evaluation developed to help make up for the insufficiencies of financial accounting. In addition to finances, the balanced scorecard looks at changes in customers, processes, and employees. According to Kaplan and Norton, managers have traditionally attempted to improve performance by making operating and investment decisions to develop new and better products, to increase sales, and to reduce operating costs. Top management is committed to implementing strategic changes to transform the enterprise and increase shareholder value. Getting there takes more than a lavish investment in training, though.
Time is frequently more important than money.
Let's look at how senior decisions are made. The staff has shopped various projects, gathered the figures, done due diligence on suppliers, run the numbers, assessed the impact of changes in the marketplace, and prepared terse summaries for each scenario. A couple of projects are no-brainers. These are so integral to the organization's mission that giving a go-ahead is a formality. The numbers are input, but the decision is broader than that.