Perpetual analysis and continuous improvements: a must for organizational competitiveness

Outlines increasing US concern over the inadequacy of traditional cost‐based performance measures in helping manufacturing businesses to achieve excellence in operations and reproduces a case from Tatikonda and Tatikonda (1993) to illustrate the problem. Summarizes some ideas on costing for competitive strength and proposes a framework to enhance competitiveness through profound process knowledge as a basis for fast and continuous improvement. Stresses the importance of determining strategy, using benchmarks based on a good activity‐based costing system and creating a supporting and motivating performance measurement system specific to the needs of the firm as a whole. Calls for further research on developing and implementing these ideas in a specific business and warns that “competitiveness will be a never ending race”.