ABSTRACT
The short-term performance requirements that greatly infl uence organisations in the West may encourage business decisions that can run counter to their longer-term performance. Activity designed to enable impressive fi nancial results to be declared from quarter to quarter can lead to over-regulated management styles; a sort of management autopilot. A signifi cant change in the business environment may therefore result in an organisation losing its way, failing to impress with its quarterly fi nancial results and sliding into trouble. This chapter argues that wise organisations carefully tune their activities to prepare for success over the medium to long term. In times of global oversupply and intense competition this is of paramount importance. The alternative – not planning to achieve the right balance between effectiveness and effi ciency is, sadly, to plan for failure.
