In the wake of an economic downturn that caught many
companies off guard, business leaders have taken steps
to manage costs and drive greater efficiencies throughout
their organizations. As they wait to experience
the full impact of these measures, their businesses
compete in market conditions that continue to be
volatile. Against this backdrop they must also respond
to new regulatory pressures, which demand unprecedented
levels of transparency into performance and performance
drivers.

Business performance today is under intense scrutiny
from all sides, internally and externally. Under this
pressure, weaknesses in entrenched approaches to managing
business performance are making themselves felt:
established activities for managing performance are
inflexible and disconnected; corporate strategy is not
well understood throughout the ranks; and, as a result,
execution suffers.