Aligning service strategy through Super-Measure management

This paper focuses on the role of Super-Measures in management. The challenging process of aligning strategy and its implementation has long been supported by the use of performance measures. Many service enterprises, in particular, have clearly designed operating systems serving well-defined target markets. Some of these firms direct their strategy with one principal measure. We call it a Super-Measure or SM. A Super-Measure aligns the behaviors and actions of the various parts of a firm with its customers' needs. A Super-Measure focuses a firm more intensely on its chosen direction than would a complex set of measures. Using a number of examples, this paper discusses the uses and limitations of the Super-Measure approach.