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Focuses on the changes in performance measurement, following research conducted with executives in a number of leading European companies. Found that there is a growing trend towards managing performance improvement through focusing on the underlying drivers of performance, whether improvements in the processes or the underlying resources that give these processes capability. The past obsession with pure financial performance is decreasing and there may be a recognition that there is a trade off between hitting today’s financial results and sustaining the capabilities and competences that allow companies to compete effectively in the future.

Noting the claim that 70 per cent of balanced scorecard implementations fail, sets out to explore the two main reasons for the failure of measurement systems – namely poor design and difficulty of implementation. Considers the measurement revolution over the past 20 years noting developments such as the early budgetary control measures in DuPont and General Motors during the early 1990s. Looks at the appropriate design of measurement systems and suggests that companies should start with a “success map” – a cause and affect diagram which shows how the company operates. Points to three causes of implementation failure – political, infrastructural and focus and details of each of these. Suggests that the challenge for the twenty‐first century is how to extract maximum value from our performance measurement data.