The wide range of possible performance criteria for business enterprises raises serious questions of definition and measurement. Indeed, measurement is at the heart of the analysis of success and failure of business operations, and much depends on the quality of the information that is available. The evaluation of business performance comes into sharp focus with the pUblication of companies' annual and semi-annual accounts, which are then followed by commentaries from skbrokers and business analysts in reports to investors and in articles in the financial press. Captains of industry may not have to suffer the indignity of frequent public opinion polls that gauge the popularity of politicians. Nevertheless, they are plagued by a similar phenomenon, in that views expressed by analysts, customers, shareholders and investors, serve as powerful reminders to senior executives that the business world is subject to many upheavals and that even the most seemingly secure can suddenly fall from grace.
