Editorial

Citation

Bourne, M. (2005), "Editorial", Measuring Business Excellence, Vol. 9 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/mbe.2005.26709baa.001

Editorial

In this issue we continue with our new format, including insights from practice, and insights from research, with our “Focus” section reflecting on the plight of public-sector-performance measurement in the UK.

Our insights from research focus on three topics, the design of performance measures, scorecard perspectives for the IT industry and current issues in performance measurement. The first paper is by Stefan Tangen in which he addresses an often forgotten subject, the design of individual performance measures. He uses arguments from the literature to propose aspects to include in the definition of a performance measure and then goes onto develop a set of criteria against which a performance measure should be assessed. The second paper is by Sureshchandar and Leisten on Holistic Scorecards. The four perspectives of Kaplan and Norton’s scorecard are often challenged, and in this paper an argument is made for six perspectives that better reflect the needs of the software industry. Finally, we include an interview of Professor Ken Merchant by Andre de Waal where strong views are expressed on performance measurement and the Balanced Scorecard in particular.

Our insights from practice come from Canada, the UK and The Netherlands. We begin with Cory Searcy et al.’s paper on designing indicators for sustainable development. Taking a case study of an electrical utility company, the paper describes an approach to designing indicators suitable for sustainable development. This is followed by a paper by Beatham et al. on the use of performance measures in the UK building industry, identifying and illustrating performance improvement practices. Finally, we come back to planning and budgeting. In our last issue, we had a considerable focus on financial performance measurement and the issues around planning and budgeting. In this issue, Andre de Waal argues the case for progressing beyond budgeting and presents a set of criteria for companies to use in assessing their readiness for such a move.

Our “Focus” section in this issue focuses on performance measurement in the public sector. Performance measurement has been top of the political agenda in the UK for the last few years and recently there have been three important reports that have attracted varying degrees of attention and comment in the press and the media. Pietro Micheli, Steve Mason, Mike Kennerley and Mark Wilcox have reviewed these reports and reflect on the issues they raise for public sector performance measurement. One of the key outcomes raised is that measuring “quality” is a very difficult task in the public sector whilst measuring “efficiency” is much simpler. This creates a dilemma very reminiscent of measuring IT investment, which consistently has shown no return, whilst companies still continue to invest. The authors argue that just because quality is difficult to measure, we shouldn’t shy away from measuring it as it is an important component of the public sector performance debate.

Mike Bourne