Despite the fact that assessing strategic performance and forming a conclusion about how well the organisation is doing is critical, the topic is given little rigorous attention in strategy writing and practice. It seems to be assumed that people know how to measure performance arid what the set of measures means but, in both practice and theory, people are very unclear about this, while shareholder value creation is clearly an important, area of performance for major companies, the development of the sustainable balanced scorecard, reflecting a stakeholder perspective of the organization, coupled with the recent development of the triple bottom line, is the most appropriate way of measuring performance.
The chapter discussed what should be measured, depending on the type of organisation, the specific industry and the strategic situation.
Establishing the specific measures to use, gaining useful information against which to compare each measure, analysing performance on each measure and combining the individual analyses into an integrated whole, are all necessary if strategic organisation performance assessment is to be usefully carried out. Communicating this information to those inside and outside the organisation is important in influencing future behaviour and improving the possibilities of better future performance. Being aware of the traps in communication that exist is necessary for good analysis. Finally, a summary of the findings of major studies that have sought to identify 'successful' organisations was given, to demonstrate the complex nature of strategic assessment: