ABSTRACT
Managers, financial analysts and academics are all agreed that the performance of a business system cannot be judged by a single measure and that it requires a variety of criteria. In the literature this has found expression in a bewildering array of techniques under the general umbrella of multi-criteria decision making’, the purpose of which is to reconcile the demands imposed by diverse managerial objectives. The extensive literature is evidence of the tireless research that has been undertaken, attempting to throw further light on this difficult area. Problems of veracity and interpretation of data do occur in the measurement process, whatever the chosen criteria, and in some cases the arbitrary nature of the accounting conventions lead to greater distortions than in others. But perhaps the lesson to be learnt is that a single criterion, however important, cannot be relied upon to provide an adequate picture of corporate performance.
