A rationale for change
The measurement of corporate performance has
been recognized as an important topic in management accounting for many years,
but it was not until the late 1980s and early 1990s that the focus of both
academic and practitioners’ attention grew dramatically (Kaplan,
1994). Neely reported that between 1994 and 1996
publication volumes were equivalent ‘to one new article on business performance
measurement appearing every five hours of every working day’
(1999:2tY7). The move from the industrial age to the information
age with the dramatic developments in the nature and intensity of
business and commerce changed the way companies compete. It
is no longer sufficient to be first to market with new technological
innovations; to be successful companies now have to focus on customers not products, relationships rather than lead times and they need to 'exploit intangible or invisible assets’ (Kaplan and Norton,1996b:3).