Module 8 Homework Assignment
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Allied American University

Author Note
This paper was prepared for ACC-227, Module 8 Homework Assignment taught by

Jennifer Biegala.

Module 8 Homework Assignment
Part I: Short Response
1. What are the three leading measures of learning and growth in an organization? The three leading measures of learning and growth in an organization are employee capabilities, information systems capabilities, and organizational structure capabilities. Each of these capabilities is further divided into cost measure, quality measures, and time measures. Cost measures for employee capabilities may include training expense and off-site training expense. Quality measure would include the number of employees obtaining certifications or degrees. Time measures would include the time it takes for an employee to complete one of these programs. A cost measure for information systems capabilities may include the costs invested in computers within a company. Organizational structure capabilities would include the costs invested in building a new communications center.

2. How do companies go about directly managing their return on investment (ROI)? Companies will have after-the-fact results on a monthly basis. This report may be in the form of a profit and loss statement. Leadership and management will use a balance scorecard to drive result in areas needing attention. For example, a profit and loss statement that identifies a unit losing money will be looked at more carefully. This is to determine the cause of the loss. Companies will reiterate the standards which may be in percentage form or targets that each unit must achieve. Managers are empowered to use tools such as counselling to reinforce the company’s mission. Another tool is a scorecard customized to measure individual aspects such as employee retention. According to Accounting: Concepts and Applications (11th Ed.), “The Balanced Scorecard approach to performance measurement recognizes that every organization is unique” (Albrecht et al., 2011, p. 1254). That is why it is important for management and accountants to work together to determine specific areas of opportunities within each individual unit.

3. What are the two issues involved in managing a company's market share of its products? First, the company must retain their customers. This can be done with quality assurance and excellent customer service. A company will lose customers if a product is not desirable or the price is too high. Likewise, the company may lose customer and market share if customer service is less than desirable. Customer service is very important in today’s market because many products are very similar. Therefore, companies will have to spin-off customer service as the product or service’s differential or vantage point.

4. Describe the two classifications of customer performance measures. The two classifications of customer performance measures are leading performance measures and outcome performance measures. Leading performance measures are measured using costs, quality, and time. The costs for leading performance measures may include purchase cost to the customer, delivery costs to the customer, setup costs to the customer, and repair costs to the customer. Quality may be measured using returns, quality ranking, and customer surveys. Time is measure by reliable deliveries and fastest deliveries. Outcome performance measures may include customer retention, customer acquisition, and market share.

5. What are the key ingredients of customer satisfaction? The key ingredients for customer satisfaction are costs, quality, and timeliness. Companies will try to conquer all of these aspects, but they sometime specialize in one. For example, Walmart stores use price or cost to the customer as a vantage point above competitors. McDonald’s restaurants seem to focus on speed of service. Sears concentrates its