Gap Analysis - Its Implication for Private and Public Sectors - Research Paper Example

 Introduction Strategic management seeks to achieve organisational goals taking into account the internal resources and capabilities of the organisation in relation to the challenges and opportunities in the environment. Management may establish goals that are more or less ambitious but there is a need to forecast or project future available resources so that its goals, whether short or long run, can be achieved. It is the difference between what the organisation aspires to and where it will be without additional resources and activities that the determines the gap. Gap analysis will enable the strategic planner to determine what needs to be done – whether it be scaling down the targets, acquiring the means to bridge the gap, or a combination of both. This study seeks to examine gap analysis as a concept and how organisations use this knowledge to formulate their corporate and business strategies. There are many approaches in management literature that can help the strategic planner to eliminate the gap . Then it will discuss performance measurement and control systems that have been designed and are accessible to all who would want to use them. They consist of financial and non-financial measurement systems. An assessment of their value will enable the researcher to reach conclusions about what system may apply in diverse situations and contexts, whether in the private or public sector. Gap Analysis The Business Dictionary defines gap analysis as a "technique for determining the steps to be taken in moving from a current state to a desired future-state. It begins with (1) listing of characteristic factors (such as attributes, competencies, performance levels) of the present situation ("what is"), (2) cross-lists factors required to achieve the future objectives ("what should be"), and then (3) highlights the 'gaps' that exist and need to be 'filled.' (Gap analysis) Prof. Igor Ansoff, in his book Corporate Strategy, built the concept of gap analysis as an addition to the strategy grid he had developed -- the Ansoff matrix -- whereby a firm could use market penetration, product development, market development, expansion, and diversification strategies as responses to the opportunities and challenges of the environment. Basically, the gap analysis concept attempts to assess where the firm is today compared to where it would like to be in some future time and to determine the gap that must be filled to reach its goal through what he termed as "gap-reducing actions." (Ansoff 1965) Gap analysis may also be viewed as a major element of any business planning technique that relates to financial performance in terms of either turnover ( sales or revenue) or profit. The gap is the difference between the corporate aspirations for turnover or profit and the expected achievement in the absence of new activities (Twiss, BC 1990) The following chart will illustrate the concept: The illustration shows the trajectory of, say, sales over a period of time if no changes are made in present activities, with a tendency to drop gradually unless propped up by new funds, increased efficiency, dynamism and innovations, increase in manpower and other resources, among others. The corporate strategic plan sets quantitative goals over this span of time. The size of the gap increases continuously unless management develops new products, finds new markets and/or acquires additional businesses. Rational planning requires that logical and realistic activities, supported by additional resources, be undertaken in order to close the gap. The company can aim to improve its performance through organic growth, i.e., by means of earnings expansion of present business, or through external acquisitions that would enable it take advantage of synergies derived from either vertical or horizontal integration, or from diversification into new areas of business. Or perhaps the company could combine both strategies if it has adequate resources to do so. The organisation may determine the gap in the aggregate or it may break it down into components that can be more easily analyzed. In this sense it can identify the distribution gap, the product gap, the competitive gap, and the gap in segmental sales. The CIMA has defined these concepts. The demand gap is the difference between the total market potential and the current market demand. The product gap is the ratio of lost market demand due to product failure or product-positioning decisions. The competitive gap is the loss in sales due to failures in pricing or promotion. The gap in segmental sales (where applicable) pertains to shortfall in sales when no additional activities are undertaken. In planning to reduce the performance gap, it necessary to make projections on the basis of certain assumptions and constraints. According to the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), a projection is defined as expected future trend pattern obtained by extrapolation, usually quantitative in nature, whereas a forecast includes judgment. The element of uncertainty is present in forecasting whereas in making projections, the analyst uses past data which are assumed to be reliable (CIMA). Consequently, according to Botten (2008 ) companies tend to develop their core competencies instead. Rational planning and rational decision making Rational planning can only flourish where uncertainty is reduced. Planners and managers therefore tend to find other approaches to strategic planning to supplement gap analysis. The idea of scenario planning which takes into account diverse assumptions concerning the unpredictable future is an interesting area to explore. The term "rational" applies to problems solving, decision making, policy making, as well as planning. It is characterised by the use of certain logical steps that start with identifying and defining the problem or issue, establishing the decision parameters, finding and comparing alternatives, choosing the best solution, implementing, and evaluating. A matrix is often employed where the alternatives are given scores on the basis of their importance/urgency in relation to certain weighted criteria. A rational method proceeds on the basis of adequate information, availability of all alternatives, and the use of objective criteria in making choices. However, information is not always complete, not all alternatives can be considered, time is not adequate to make for thorough deliberation by participants. All these and other limitations have led Nobel laureate Herbert Simon to propose what he termed as "bounded rationality." Management control. Because rational planning involves setting targets, it is the task of corporate management to establish the conditions by which they can be achieved, leading to closing the gap. A strategic or operational plan cannot achieve its goals and objectives unless good controls are established. Good controls ensure that the goals that have been set during the planning process are achieved. For a plan sets the targets or standard, and control makes sure that what is going on -- the process – conforms to the plan. The deviations from the standard are noted and reported to management so that corrective action can be taken. Generally there are three types of control: feedforward control, concurrent control, and feedback control. Feedfoward control anticipates problems or deviations from the standard before they occur. Concurrent (or steering) control takes place while an activity is going on. Feedback control measures activities that have already occurred and corrective actions are taken after the fact. Feedback control is encountered most often in the operational setting as exemplified by performance appraisals, budgetary results, and product quality inspections. (Mosley et al. 1996) Many writers on management mention the following steps in the control process: 1) establishing performance standards, 2) measuring performance, 3) comparing performance with standards and analyzing deviations, and 4) taking corrective actions if needed. A step that managers often use to determine whether corrective action needs to be taken is Management by Exception (MBE) where, to save manpower time and effort, only exceptional, significant deviations are recognised and addressed. The budget is the most widely employed control device in business and government. Budget preparation is an integral part of the planning process, and budget control is the mode of controlling the implementation of the budget. Deviations from the target figures in the budget are a signal to management to take steps to explore the reasons for such deviations so that changes in assumptions for the next planning process can be made. Audits can be used to examines activities and records to verify their effectiveness and accuracy. In the study of financial statements, there are some financial control tools that management can use. One of these is ratio analysis. Ratios are computed from financial statements (namely, the balance sheet, income statement, and the cash flow statement) so that management can obtain a good notion about the liquidity, general efficiency of operations, leverage (the proportion of debt to equity), and profitability of the business. The return on investments (ROI) gives a picture of how well the company has achieved its profit goals for its investors. Another financial control tool is the break-even point, a tool that measures the volume and price where a firm or project revenues equal expenses, which means that any added sales will make it profitable. Financial and non-financial performance measurement While ratio analysis and break-even point analysis can inform management about the financial health of the business, it is useful to point out that in carrying out their strategic and operational plans, companies use a variety of means to measure performance. Such performance measurement approaches can be divided into financial and non-financial. Both types will be discussed in significant detail in this paper. Financial performance measurements. a. Activity-based costing (ABC) ABC is a costing system that identifies the various activities performed in a firm and uses multiple cost drivers (volume and non-volume based cost drivers) to assign overhead costs (or indirect costs) to products. ABC recognises the causal relationship of cost drivers with activities (Activity-based costing). ABC was developed in order to provide better insight into how overhead costs should be allocated to individual products or customers instead of arbitrarily allocating them to the product items produced as is done in conventional accounting. Thus expenses related to resources supplied are linked to the activities performed, and then to products, services and customers. In this manner management can identify profitable activities as well as unprofitable ones. The ABC method enables a business to decide which products, services, and resources are increasing their profitability, and which are contributing to losses. b. Economic value added. Considered as the most contemporary measure of investment center performance, economic value added (EVA) informs management whether shareholder wealth is being created by focusing on after-tax profits being greater than the cost of capital. It considers the actual cost of capital for both debt and equity. The cost of debt is the actual interest paid, while the cost of equity could be based on the opportunity cost of capital or what an investor could earn elsewhere on an investment carrying similar risk. For analysts with advanced knowledge of finance, the weighted average cost of capital (WACC) is the favorite figure to use. One aspect of EVA which differs from conventional rate of return calculation is the fact that expenditures on research and development, employee training, and customer development can be capitalised instead of being expensed, without violating the generally accepted accounting principles. (See Jackson and Sawyers 2001). The formula for the EVA is: Economic value added = After-tax operating profit -[(Total assets - Current liabilities) x Weighted average cost of capital) c. Cost-benefit analysis Cost-benefit analysis is a measure usually employed in the public sector to evaluate a project proposal. While the cost of a project can be quantified, the benefits, both direct and indirect, generated by a public project is often difficult to measure. Nevertheless, project analysts and proponents attempt to quantify such benefits, particularly for state projects with a programmed income stream such as a toll road or an irrigation project. The procedure of computing such benefit is to obtain the discounted cash flow of both the expenditure and future revenues. Where the benefit expected from a project matches or exceeds some standard return on capital, the project gets the go-ahead signal to be pursued further in the normal procedure of obtaining funding support from the government or from the government jointly with other investment sources. When the project has been approved and funded through the state's budgetary process, it is then implemented. The post-project evaluation should be able to determine whether the projections of revenues over the years were reached. Because the management of state projects are often diluted by the influence of politicians and because of the common inefficiency of public functionaries in general, it is often a good option to have their implementation done by private contractors, in other words, through "privatisation." The United States experience regarding the benefit-cost analysis approach has shown that this measure has often fallen short of expectations. Truett and Truett (2004) have enumerated the pitfalls of benefit-cost analysis as follows: 1. Estimation, particularly of indirect benefits, is not governed by strict standards, so an analysis can be "cooked" to show what the sponsors want to show. 2. The opportunity-cost approach to the social rate of discount may bias the analysis against many worthwhile undertakings. 3. The sheer cost of performing a credible cost-benefit analysis makes the approach infeasible for many public investment decisions. Businesses, on the other hand, normally carry out projects using more comprehensive and rigorous evaluation criteria. They assess the value of a project also in terms of discounted cash flows or easy-to-measure internal rate of return (besides other measures such as the payback period and accounting rate of return) and pick the project that is not only economically feasible but also has the highest projected return on investment in the list of projects. In addition, a sensitivity analysis or a simulation may be conducted in order to assess the impact of certain possible environmental variables, such as a recession, or an significant increase in interest rate, or certain moves of competitors, on the project. b. Non-financial performance measurement There has been a steadily growing amount of recognition of the value of non-financial performance measurement systems not only from corporate planners and executives but also from the viewpoint of those in the management accounting profession. Among the most prominent of such performance measurement systems are the 1) Balanced Scorecard, 2) Quality Management, 3) Customer value analysis and customer relationship, and 4) Performance Prism, and 5) Intellectual Capital Navigator. Jackson and Sawyers (2001), in their book Managerial Accounting: A focus on decision making, have devoted a a chapter on non-financial measures of performance, particularly the Balanced Scorecard. 1) The Balanced Scorecard The Balanced Scorecard (BSC) was developed in 1992 as a performance management system by Robert Kaplan and David Norton at the Harvard Business School. It differs from other performance measurement systems in that it considers both financial and non-financial measures that are linked to the critical success factors of the firm. By thus integrating both both measures, the BSC helps management to focus on all - and not just some -- critical success factors. It also keeps short-term operating performance in alignment with the long-term strategy of the business. Performance is measured along several perspectives, namely, a financial perspective, a customer perspective, an internal business process perspective, and a learning and growth perspective. In the process, the BSC is able to capture both the lagging and leading performance indicators, which can yield a more balanced view of company performance. Lagging indicators are the financial measures such as sales growth and profitability. Leading indicators include new product development, customer satisfaction, on-time delivery, among others. The following schematic diagram from the authors illustrate the concept as shown below. While there are a total of 20 measures shown above, companies over the years have been known to pick fewer than 10 or as many as a few hundreds, but Kaplan and Norton, through their empirical studies, have found that an optimal number of indicators would be within the 20- 25 range. There is also a greater emphasis on internal business perspective than on the others because strategic planning is done within the business itself. Thousands of companies in the United States, Europe, and even Asia have adopted the BSC in their strategy planning since the system was introduced in the early 1990s and, according to Kaplan and Norton, have reaped benefits from it because they have been able to: 1. Align their organisations around a single coherent strategy 2. Translate strategy into more easily understood operational metrics and goals 3. Make strategy improvement a continual process 4. Make strategy everyone’s job, from the CEO to the entry-level employee; and 5. Mobilise change through strong, effective leadership. (Kaplan and Norton 1989) Contrary to the criticism that the BSC does not adequately consider financial measurements, the financial perspective is one of the cornerstones of the system, which enumerates such indicators as sales, profitability, and return on capital employed. In addition, there is a causal linkage between these indicators with the other measures. For example, the financial aim of increasing returns on capital employed in TetraPak was translated into operational factors for each of the Balance Scorecard segments (Mooraj, Oyon and Hostettler 1999) b. Quality management Quality and quality improvement have been the emphasis of many businesses during the past two decades. Managers have come to realise that good quality of product or service means increased sales, customer satisfaction, reduced costs, and long-term profitability for their businesses. Quality means "meeting or exceeding customers' expectations,” but it also could mean that the product performs as intended and that it is durable, dependable, and purchased at a competitive price. The concept of quality brings to mind Total Quality Management (TQM), market-driven quality (MDQ), and strategic quality management. TQM was developed by management theorist W. Edwards Deming. It is an approach that emphasises “ continuous improvement, a philosophy of "doing it right the first time" and striving for zero defects and elimination of all waste. It is a concept of using quality methods and techniques to strategic advantage within firms.” (Total quality management). MDQ, used years ago by IBM but now largely superseded, described an approach that lets the market determine through the price mechanism the quality standards a company uses for its products. Strategic quality management, as the term denotes, is one where a firm's TQM system is tightly interwoven with its strategy formulation process, thus contributing to a sustainable competitive advantage. All these initiatives focus on meeting or exceeding customer expectations, continuous improvement, and employee empowerment. The kaisen in Japan, an idea adopted by Toyota Motor and others, believes in a series of gradual and small improvements rather than those requiring very large investments. It also encourages all officers and employees to participate in the continuous improvement efforts. Empowerment refers to the support given by management to employees in terms of training, skills development, and advancement so that they would be able to participate in continuous improvement of the operational processes. ISO certification is also sought by companies who want to advertise the quality of their products and services to the market, based on compliance with a set of guidelines for quality management prescribed by he International Standards Organisation. Companies, particularly those in the United States, may also compete for the Malcolm Baldridge Quality Award, which was started in 1987 to recognise quality excellence in manufacturing, small business education, service, and health care (Jackson & Sawyers 2001). c. Customer value analysis (CVA) and customer relationship management (CRM) Customer-centric management of businesses have recently emerged, implying the recognition of the strategic importance of the customer. Companies have thus sought to find better and more robust ways to generate customer satisfaction and to be able to measure them. The Baldridge National Quality Award has the customer focus and satisfaction criteria as an important factor in its scoring system. Three distinct disciplines in the CVA/CRM and marketing literature are brand management, customer value analysis, and customer loyalty analysis. Each of these has its own measurement approaches. Corresponding to these disciplines have evolved frameworks by which to frame the three top-level areas: value equity (value as perceived by the customer), brand equity (customer's subjective appraisal of a brand), and retention equity (relationships with customers that encourage repeat buying). Because customer perspective is one of the pillars of the Balance Scorecard, companies would do well to integrate CVA/CRM into their application of the measurement system. d. Accenture's Performance Prism The Performance Prism is a customised version of the Balance Scorecard, developed by Accenture and the Cranfield School of Management in 2000. Under this system, organisations view their operations from five perspectives, rather than the four basic perspectives formulated by Kaplan and Norton. These five perspectives are:stakeholder satisfaction, strategies to satisfy the key stakeholders, the processes required to execute these strategies, capabilities that would enable the company to operate and enhance these processes, and stakeholder contributions that would enable the company to maintain and develop these capabilities. The performance Prism may be illustrated as shown below: Clearly, the BSC can be used as prescribed, or it can be modified according to the unique nature of a company's business. Skandia”s Intellectual Capital Navigator (ICN) Model Where knowledge management is important for business success, particularly in the service industry, the ICN model might be a useful concept to apply. A more systematic and advanced system of knowledge management as the one employed by Skandia can promote significant growth and competitive advantage. Knowledge sharing within the organisation and with its external network of partners is essential for the company's business model to succeed in actualising high growth.(Skandia's ICN Model). The company's unique organisational culture may be summed up by the following quote: Skandia is a very social company with a very flexible structure, in which dialogue, knowledge sharing, trust, and collaboration are all part of daily business life. The informality of the structure and the ease with which tacit knowledge is transferred in meetings and knowledge cafes fosters sharing and leveraging of tacit knowledge. This structure is supported by a very strong collaborative culture. (Skandia's ICN Model). The Innovation and Learning perspective of the Balanced Scorecard is the segment where knowledge management is important. A company that finds itself less than well balanced in its choice of indicators may profit from studying the experience of Skandia and incorporating the practice in its Balanced Scoecard.. Performance Management in the Public Sector The previous discussions on performance management and evaluation had the tacit assumption of the private sector operating in its own environment. Given that the public sector differs from the private sector in significant respects, it is important that a comparison and contrast between the two sectors be made in order to arrive at a better understanding of how each faces its unique challenges and takes advantage of its opportunities. The way the performance of these sectors are measured should take into account the specific constraints and boundaries that they individually face. Shafritz and Russell (2004) define performance management as the systematic integration of an organisation's efforts to achieve its objectives. In contrast to management as a general concept, performance management lays emphasis on systematic integration, which includes “comprehensive control, audit, and evaluation of all aspects of the organisation's performance.” The components of performance management are: 1) clear and measurable organisational objectives, 2) the systematic use of performance indicators to assess organisational output (linked to standards such as industry averages, best practice, and benchmarking – a systematic comparison between/among organisations); 3) performance appraisal which seeks to align individual performance with organisational objectives; 4) performance incentives; 5) linking resource allocation to an annual management or budget cycle; and 6) regular review at the end of each planning cycle of the extent to which the goals have been achieved. Performance management begins with planning. The common understanding of planning is that it uses a rational and linear approach consisting of data gathering and analysis, setting goals and objectives, identifying and selecting from alternatives, designing the implementation program, and evaluating the programs. In the public sector context, however, planning is inherently a political process. This means that the planner has to be politically astute to gain credibility and respect of the policy makers. Often, however, planning is a political necessity because it is part of the political platform of the executive who wanted to win – and succeeded to win the election. A management control system is a necessity in performance management because it will enable the government executive to find out what is happening in the organisation as well as its impact on its environment, and to enable him to respond to external groups. The executive needs to monitor individual or group behavior or activities in the organisation with respect to their contribution to achieving its goals. In all organisations, but particularly more so in the public sector, organisational goals can be lost as individuals may have goals of their own which are not congruent with those of the organisation. Performance management seeks to link all management processes and systems so that they would be aligned in an efficient manner for the achievement of organisational goals. Productivity of any organisation, program, or individual is a critical problem in the public sector because the difficulty in defining outputs and outcomes and lack of quantifiable measures of effectiveness, efficiency, and impact. The benefits that private businesses extract from their operations are quite clear-cut – profits and returns for stockholders – but public sector benefits, such as those resulting from the implementation of social welfare programs are difficult to measure. Nevertheless the public sector has in recent years recognised the importance of productivity and quality improvement. Total quality management (TQM) was introduced by W.E. Deming in Japan in the 1950s and the United States followed suit after being impressed by the subsequent leadership of Japan in productivity and quality improvement. The public sector in the United States took notice in the 1990s when the Government Accounting Office came up with its conceptual definition of “quality management.” – as a leadership philosophy that demands a relentless pursuit of quality and the stamina for continuous improvement in all aspects of operations, whose major components would be leadership, a customer focus, continuous improvement, and employee empowerment (See Shafritz and Russell 2004). The public sector in some respects has attempted to install a semblance of quality in their programs, as exemplified by the U.S. Postal Service, but considering the bureaucratic and political realities and constraints, the public sector would be hard put to keep pace with the progress achieved by private businesses. However, some state enterprises such as those in Canada, have attempted to adopt the best practice in productivity in order to emulate the performance of the private companies. Evaluation in the Public Sector. The evaluation of public sector performance can be focused on policies or programs. Policy analysis that is undertaken on a public sector program that has been in effect is called program evaluation. Such program evaluation faces many constraints because of the dynamic political environment, so that “an ideal organisation should be self-evaluating.” (Wildavsky 1972, cited in Shaftitz and Russell 2004). This is confirmed by the observation that public managers generally resist evaluation by outsiders. Evaluation is conducted on the premise that change may have to be recommended, but the public manager, pressed with many demands of his job, would be prefer stability. Also, most feasible organisational strategies, Widavsky argued, would be ones that minimised disruption. Summary Gap analysis was a term given by Prof. Igor Ansoff to a situation where an organisation, within the context of strategic management, compares what it must do to what it is actually doing. In order to bridge the gap between the two contemplated states, the organisation must make an analysis of its resources and capabilities as well as the activities that need to be undertaken. A rational planning approach, where certain defined steps are articulated, is the straightforward means of achieving the gap closure. Management control at the operational level is necessary in order that a company can be steered in a consistent manner towards goals that it has set to accomplish. Standards or benchmarks are set, and any deviations are examined so that successive improvement of quality in the future will attained. Controls can also be in the form of budgets and financial ratios. There are valid strategies that can be employed to create success in achieving targeted revenues or profits over a certain time. Certain financial performance measures such as activity-based costing, economic value added, and cost-benefit analysis are of interest, particularly for the management accountant. Quality management, Customer Value Analysis and Customer Relationship Management, the Performance Prism, and the Intellectual Capital Navigator are the major non-financial measurement systems that are being used by companies in the private sector. The Balanced Scorecard is by far the most comprehensive of these systems, as it is “balanced” in terms of the financial and non-financial indicators that make up the system. It is also flexible because companies can choose from among the many leading and lagging indicators that fall under the four perspectives that comprise the system. It can also be the basis of some customised systems such as the Performance Prism or Customer Relationship Management. Some evaluation methods in the BSC have also been made more intensive, particularly in the business processes perspective, where productivity improvement through Total Quality Management and the Intellectual Capital Navigator can be cited as examples. The value of the BSC is that it can be used to link the various efforts and activities at all levels so that they can be in an optimal alignment for the achievement of strategic goals. Although there are some criticisms of BSC concerning the cause-effect linkage between the system and financial performance, still it is believed that more research needs to be undertaken in order to validate the charge. The public sector is slowly adopting managerial innovations and systems that are or have been implemented successfully by private businesses. Some ambiguities of goal setting and uncertainties created by political realities, however, hamper the public sector in setting targets. At the same time, the provision of budgets for future activities are beset with uncertainties because budgets are enacted on an annual basis and changes in the political landscape can upset plans that could have been carried out or be continued beyond one year. Closing the gap, in the sense of gap analysis as conceptualised by Ansoff and others, is therefore characterised by peculiar uncertainties in the public sector. BIBLIOGRAPHY "Activity-based costing." Dictionary of Accounting Terms. Barron's Educational Series, Inc, 2005. Answers.com 26 Nov. 2009. http://www.answers.com/topic/activity-based-costing http://www.answers.com/topic/activity-based-costing Ansoff, Igor Corporate Strategy McGraw Hill, New York, 1965. Botten, N. 2008, Management Accounting Business Strategy , Elsevier, London CIMA: Management accounting: Official terminology Elsevier, London Crown Corporations Council, 2001, Corporate Performance Measurement and reporting. Viewed November 24, 2009 at http:/www.corwncc.mb.ca/Criteria/Criteria.pdf Dye, TR 1992, Understanding public policy. 7th edn., Simon & Schuster, New York Gap analysis, Business Dictionary. Viewed November 25, 2009 at http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/gap-analysis.html Jackson, S & Sawyers, R 2001, Managerial accounting: A focus on decision making, Harcourt Brace, Orlando, FL Johnson, CC Introduction to the Balanced Scorecard and Performance Measurement Systems Viewed November 24, 2009 at http://www.adb.org/Documents/Books/Balanced-Scorecard/chap1.pdf Kaplan R S and Norton D P (1996) “Balanced Scorecard: Translating Strategy into Action” Harvard Business School Press Mooraj, S, Oyon, D, & Hostettler, D. 1999 October, The Balanced Scorecard: A necessary good, or an unnecessary evil? European Management Journal, pp. 481-490 Mosley, D.C., Pietri, P.H. & Megginson, L.C. (1996). Management: Leadership in action. (5th edn.). New York: HarperCollins Publishers Shafritz, JM & Russell, EW 2004, Introducing public administration, 4th edn. Addison-Wesley, New York Skandia's ICM Model – More than a navigator. Viewed November 25, 2009 at http://www.wdc-econdev.com/skandia-icm-model.html Thompson Jr, AA & Strickland III, AJ 2001, Crafting and executing strategy, 12 edn, McGraw Hill, New York Total quality management. (n.d.). Dictionary of Accounting . Viewed November 26, 2009, at Answers.com Web site: http://www.answers.com/topic/tqm Truett, LJ & Truett, DB 2004, Managerial economics, John Wiley & Sons, New York. Twiss, BC 2OOO Business for engineers. 1990. Peter Peregrinus Ltd, London. Read More