What Are the Measures That Matter?
By Art Kleiner A 10-year debate between two feuding gurus sheds some light on a vexing business question. Like all leading characters in a good feud story, Bob Kaplan and Tom Johnson have become living symbols of something much larger than themselves. Once they were research partners and coauthors and shared their success. But they have not spoken in years, and each has publicly staked his professional reputation on the other one being wrong. Their quarrel, which has lasted more than 10 years, is at heart a fundamental disagreement about the source of business success. Does it accrue to those who drive their businesses with numerical targets and performance measures, as Professor Kaplan asserts? Or to those who believe, as Professor Johnson argues, that management through measurement is fundamentally dangerous? The debate, of course, is not just about business measurement. It’s about control. In most companies, top management relies on measurements — not just bottom-line targets, but o
A 10-year debate between two feuding gurus sheds some light on a vexing business question Like all leading characters in a good feud story, Bob Kaplan and Tom Johnson have become living symbols of something much larger than themselves. Once they were research partners and coauthors and shared their success. But they have not spoken in years, and each has publicly staked his professional reputation on the other one being wrong. Their quarrel, which has lasted more than 10 years, is at heart a fundamental disagreement about the source of business success. Does it accrue to those who drive their businesses with numerical targets and performance measures, as Professor Kaplan asserts? Or to those who believe, as Professor Johnson argues, that management through measurement is fundamentally dangerous? The debate, of course, is not just about business measurement. It s about control. In most companies, top management relies on measurements not just bottom-line targets, but other numerical goa
