ABSTRACT
Measurement is about assessing the performance of a thing or process. Many of the measurements which business has traditionally carried out have involved direct inspection of the product or service. A large number of the early initiatives aimed at improving business performance, such as the total quality management (TQM) programmes whose principles were so famously successful in Japan, encouraged business to use these inspection results not only to achieve conformity of the individual product, but also to indicate capability and trends. Effective measurement of business performance is what will ensure that we are real players in the game of commerce, not just practising. In some small organizations, it could be argued that we can achieve all these aims without resorting to formal measurement. This is only partly true. Certainly small-company managers should have a feel for what is happening.
