Instructions
The purpose of the Learner’s Log Book (LLB) is to document the achievements of the learner in a central repository that will be considered as evidence on the effectiveness of the learning process. It is a ‘monitoring tool’ that e-tutors use to report on individual learners’ progress and it is a way of ensuring that learners:
- Are engaged in their learning process.
- They are experimenting by doing the tasks subscribed to them by the e-tutor.
- Avoid plagiarism because learners have to be engaged on a continuous basis and the informal assessment can therefore be used to ensure consistency with the main formal assessment.
- Provide e-Tutors with the opportunity to get to know the learners evaluate them and mentor them properly.
- There are templates which will reflect whether learners read, whether they understand, whether they assimilate the knowledge, whether they develop enquiry ability, whether they have the potential to conduct critical thinking and whether they can reflect on the knowledge accumulated by relating to real situations.
The onus is mainly on learners to furnish the required information in the templates after each unit based on the Read and Analyze Activity. After filling the information in the template they need to e-mail it back to the e-Tutor.
e-Tutor will then comments on the work done and the involvement that takes place and give overall impressions on the learners at the end of the module.
General Information
- Learner Name:
- ID Number:
- Course Title:
- Article Title:
- Date of Submission:
- Date of Received Feedback: ————————————————
Summary
Provide a summary in your own words on the article you requested to read and analyze in the following space.
The given article is focused on the importance of business performance measurement with regards to the existing developments at the international business market. The article states that the main reasons why business performance measurement has become crucial are the following “the changing nature of work; increasing competition; specific improvement initiatives; national and international quality awards; changing organisational roles; changing external demands; and the power of information technology” (Neely, 1999, p. 205).
To support the argument concerning the factors that affect the significance of business performance measurement in today’s business situation, the author of the article provides validation from academic and practitioner journals, specialists opinions’ obtained from interviews and discussions, and a broad review of current business performance measurement (Neely, 1999). In addition, the article offers a framework for the future research in the area of business performance measurement and demonstrates the limitations observed as a result of the current literature review.
Key Learning Points
Identify the key learning points in the read and analyze assigned activity.
The key learning points in the read are
- the rationale of the significance of business performance measurement for business players and
- the explanations of grounds for continuation of research in the area of business performance measurement.
Analyzing the assigned activity, it should be stated that understating different aspects of business performance measurement is the key element of effective management of an organization (Dossi, Patteli & Zoni, 2010).
In a case a firm leader is well-trained in terms of stakeholder wealth assessment and is knowledgeable regarding the factors that contribute to firm value increase, performance of this firm is at the high level (Glavan, 2012). Furthermore, nowadays enterprises do business in the ever-changing situation that becomes complicated due to a variety of reasons such as multiple military conflicts, setbacks in the global financial system, and instable political state and thus, constant research in the field of business performance measurement is required.
Relevant Statements to the Session
While you reading, identify the relevant statements to the session and insert them in order in the following space.
While reading, I identified the following statements that are relevant to the session:
- “There can be little doubt that the level of competition that firms face is increasing on a global basis. Businesses all around the world are under continual pressure to reduce costs and enhance the value they deliver to their customers” (Neely, 1999, p. 211).
- “Competing on the basis of non-financial factors means that these organisations need information on how well they are performing across a broad spectrum of dimensions” (Neely, 1999, p. 211).
- “The essence of continuous improvement, for example, is to seek constantly ways in which products and processes can be improved, so that greater value can be delivered to customers at ever greater levels of efficiency. Before any organisation can determine what it needs to improve, however, it has to establish where and why its current performance falls short. Hence the need for performance measures” (Neely, 1999, p. 213).
- “It is widely accepted that business performance is a multi-faceted concept and hence it is not surprising that once again the question of how business performance can best be measured has been tackled by a variety of people from different disciplines. (Neely, 1999, p. 222).
Critical Analysis
This is the most important section in your analysis. To complete it sucessfully, learner is to consider the following guiding steps:
- Present arguments coherently, supported by evidence and facts to substantiate on why you may take a particular stance and/ or position towards a particular approach whether against or in support of it;
- Capable of bridging the gap between the theory and conceptual work with the application under consideration.
The given article is of high value in regard to the current business situation and the needs of the global market. Addressing the validity of its argument, it is necessary to state that it is supported by the strong body of evidence from varied sources. In addition, the theoretical information provided in the article fully reflects the main development at the real life business stage. Today, researchers continue to make an emphasis on the existing demand for the highly-effective performance measurement strategies (Taticchi, Tonelli, & Cagnazzo, 2010).
According to Bititci, Garengo, Dörfler and Nudurupati (2012), in the nearest future, the changing business environment will cause creation of such conditions for the market players, in which only the enterprises that managed to develop effective business performance measurement strategies including more variables than accounting measurement will succeed.
The value of Neely’s findings in the given article is twofold since the author not only provides an explanation of the seven factors that affect modern business performance strategies but also suggests the outline for actualizing the existing body of knowledge and covering the gaps that limit understanding of effective business performance measurement.
In the article toward the latest tendencies in the business performance research written by Taticchi et al. (2010), similar key objectives as for the best practices in the studied field are identified including the need to actualize knowledge concerning the role of market share assessment in business performance measurement, the importance of customer satisfaction measurement and the role of the investment rating in the evaluation process. Also, supporting the findings that Neely made in the given article, Kauhanen and Napari (2012) have stated that financial performance should become the lag indicator of business performance since it only contributes to measurement of the past plans effectiveness and does not influence future products.
Practical Implications
How could you apply the subject matter from the article in a real business case?
Speaking about the application of the article in a real business case, it is of high value with regards to the assessment of profitability of a firm and making conclusions on the subject of the causes of possible failures. This research study has indicated the fields that must be measured to determine the real source of the problem. In contrast to the traditional idea that accounting measurement or simply saying, financial performance are the best practices to identify the existing organizational problems, the article proposes a number of the key area that have to be subjected to an investigation.
What have you learnt? Critical thinking is about lessons learnt to be drawn from the analysis.
The analysis of the given article appeared well applicable in connection with studying the problems that I may encounter in the nearest future in my business. Today, after 15 years since the publication of Neely’s paper, the struggle between competitors has only intensified to make the importance of business performance measurement essential for the survival in the ever-changing business environment. In addition, the world became highly unstable due to the complicated political contradictions. To continue in business, I will need to improve my performance assessment skills by paying more attention to the lead indicators such as customer satisfaction, market share, and book-to-bill ratio.
References
Bititci, U., Garengo, P., Dörfler, V., & Nudurupati, S. (2012). Performance measurement: Challenges for tomorrow. International Journal of Management Reviews, 14(3), 305-327.
Dossi, A., Patteli, L., & Zoni, L. (2010). The missing link between corporate performance measurement systems and chief executive officer incentive plans. Journal of Accounting, Auditing & Finance, 25(4), 531-558.
Glavan, L. M. (2012). Performance measurement system for process-oriented companies. The Business Review, 19(2), 136-143.
Kauhanen, A., & Napari, S. (2012). Performance measurement and incentive plans. Industrial Relations, 51(3), 645-669.
Neely, A. (1999). The performance measurement revolution: Why now and what next? International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 19(2), 205-228.
Taticchi, P., Tonelli, F., & Cagnazzo, L. (2010). Performance measurement and management: A literature review and a research agenda. Measuring Business Excellence, 14(1), 4-18.