Performance measures: relating facilities to business indicators

Throughout the 1980s and into the 1990s, manufacturing companies have adopted a wide variety of performance‐improvement programmes. Such approaches have resulted in productivity gains for some companies,although the UK still has few world‐class performers. Despite huge investment in performance‐improvement programmes, competitive advantage for many British companies still remains elusive. Looks at recent developments in thinking which have begun to shed light on why this is happening. Discusses flaws in the widely‐adopted competitive‐forces model and considers the strategic‐capabilities approach as an alternative and potentially crucial model. In the context of the whole organization, it is claimed that the role of facilities management has evolved from merely helping the organization survive, to acting to enhance its potential to prosper in a volatile commercial climate. Thus the challenge for facilities management is indeed the same challenge facing the organization.