The Measurement Nightmare: How the Theory of Constraints Can Resolve Conflicting Strategies, Policies, and Measures
Author: Debra A. Smith
List Price: $49.95
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ISBN: 1574442465
Publisher: Saint Lucie Press (22 December, 1999)
Sales Rank: 60,843
Average Customer Rating: 4.71 out of 5
Customer Reviews
Rating: 4 out of 5
Great Material - Difficult Read
This is an excellent book if you are serious about TOC. It covers the basic how-to subjects currently in the liturature, and goes into new territory showing how to reconcile Management/Throughput Accounting with GAAP Acounting. Despite the great material I have two complaints: 1) The book is difficult to read due to the small font and wordy style 2) The book fails to recognize the existance of Lean Manufacturing and Six-Sigma tools that could break the dilemia presented about sprint capacity and buffer size. The second issue is one that any experience practitioner of Lean/6-sigma will easily recognise and correct.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Getting to the core of the problem
The book focusses on the root problem behind all those dysfunctional metrics around us. It explains very clearly (also for people not trained in financial jargon) how the wrong focus on the wrong metrics in the top of the organization can have impact on the complete organization and may impact negatively the quality of decisions throughout the company.Very much recommended!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Seamless blend of traditional (GAAP) and TOC
This remarkable book manages to cover a wide array of topics (TOC, metrics, accounting and GAAP compliance and implementation and strategy issues)in approximately 200 pages and still impart a deep message. The message is not subtle - don't be a lemming just because 'you've always done it this way'. Actually, the message is much deeper and also encompasses how to measure the right things.What I like most is the fact that the author can write clearly and hold your attention while at the same time providing you with enough information to cause you to rethink the way you're currently doing business - and giving you a clear path to doing it better. The book starts out with eye-opening stories from the author's past experience of companies what were measuring the wrong things based on myopia. She then introduces TOC, discusses how traditional accounting metrics and indicators can be aligned to TOC, and goes deeper into TOC with a direct emphasis on how it relates to accounting methods. From there the book goes into TOC metrics and how to align them to GAAP financial statements. This short book wraps up with excellent implementation advice that is based on a strategic approach.
Overall, this book is easy to read, but is rich with information beyond what one would expect is such a short book. The author backs up her proposed approach with real life experience and compelling facts that are logically presented and based on hard numbers, and is an obvious expert in both accounting and TOC.
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Book Index