Two challenges facing U.S. businesses raise the question of how well our performance management systems are performing. One: Although average worker productivity has risen briskly for two decades average wages have stagnated. Two: The flattening of U.S. consumer demand has put intense pressure on business leaders to pinpoint what drives success in new export markets. Yet early indications are that German and Japanese firms are adapting to new markets in places like China and India more quickly than U.S. firms. The criticism is that balanced scorecards track too many irrelevant factors to provide focus. The challenge is finding metrics that matter.

Assumption-based metrics (PDF)