A Complete and Balanced Service Scorecard: Creating Value Through Sustained Performance Improvement

Chapter 4. Performance Management for Services

In the next few decades, the major productivity improvement and growth opportunities are expected to take place in the service sector. Major corporations like General Motors and General Electric are shifting their focus from the manufacturing side to the service side of the business—to the point where most of their profits are realized through service elements of the business. In manufacturing, the definition, measurements, and improvement became more exact—in other words, a science. As a result, the manufacturing processes became learnable, repeatable, and measurable. Service businesses do not have exact inventory levels, number of turns, or significant assets to measure utilization. Service firms ...