1. Find one research article entitled 'Using the balance scorecard as a strategic management system' attached here with. Read this article carefully and give your comments. You may want to attempt the following questions:-

(a)  How balance scorecard system is used to evaluate performance? 

(b)  Briefly summarize the main components of balance scorecard system.

(c)   What do you think are the important points authors have introduced in this article?

(d)  Critically discuss some of the points where you don't agree with the authors.

2. (a)  What is the relationship between management by exception and variance analysis? What type of variances would be most likely to suggest that a company should consider making a change in its strategy? Do you think variance analysis helps in continuous improvement? Support your arguments.

(b) 'Benchmarking against other companies enables a company to identify the lowest-cost producer. This amount should become the performance measure for next year." Critically comment on this statement.