To fully appreciate the game of football we need a clear understanding of the rules and aim of the game. Once we realise that the basic objective is for each team to place the ball in its opponent’s goal we can start to appraise each team’s performance.We may also propose improvements to a team’s tactics to enhance its chance of achieving its objective. This sporting analogy has clear relevance to our study of the firm. To understand and appraise a firm’s performance we must first find out what the firm is seeking to achieve