The unveiling of the key performance indicators (KPIs) were mostly financial targets.
Most of the 15 GLCs touched on return on equity (ROE), profit and supporting financials but Boustead Holdings Bhd showed they target dividend payout of 16 sen for FY06 (FY05: 16 sen), while Malaysia Airlines (MAS) summarised its 50-page business turnaround plan supported with a scorecard to track its business performance.
Proton Holdings Bhd identified customer satisfaction as one of its KPIs.
Boustead told Bursa Malaysia that its dividend payout ratio would rise to 49.9% this year and 50% next year from 35.6% in 2005. But its ROE would fall from 10.8% last year to 7.9% this year.
Fresh from the signing of a RM6.7bil deal to buy Southern Bank Bhd, Bumiputra-Commerce Holdings Bhd targeted a higher ROE of 13% against 8.9% last year. Its medium-term target was for its total shareholders' return to outperform the KL Composite Index (KLCI).
Malaysia Building Society Bhd (MBSB) affirmed that “it was in a good position to achieve the set 2006 ROE target of 9% versus 7% last year.’’
The country’s largest bank in terms of assets, Malayan Banking Bhd (MBB) had targeted its ROE at 18% each year from 2006 to 2008 and minimum revenue growth of 10% each year for the three years.
Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) included its unplanned outage rate as its KPI and said it would drop to 5% from 6.1%. It also assured that interruptions would be reduced to 133 minutes from 148 minutes. Its ROE target was 2.4% against the previous 2.2%.
Analysts welcomed the KPIs saying they were “fairly reasonable".
Are we seeing things what ought to be seen and heard?
Is that's what KPIs are meant for?
Interestingly, each of these GLCs spents hundreds of thousands and some millions to prepare these KPIs over the last one year and the ultimate result? Fallacious!
Basically, what they had paraded in the name of KPI is: WHAT they are going to do and what they will get!
But the fundamental of KPIs is: What they should achieve with what cost they had employed. As an example, the KPI of MAS was: (1) reduce net loss to RM620 million; (2) cash surplus of RM1 billion, and(3) MAS Kargo profit RM107 million. There is one simple way to reduce net loss in accounting - sell asset, sell investments - the net paper loss will drastically reduced. However, the sales of asset and investment will also reduced it's future revenue and it's NTA will remain the same irrespective. Secondly, a target of cash surplus of RM1 billion by MAS which has revenue inexcess of multi-billion is just to show they are ensuring sufficient cash flow. It means nothing and will be wallop up within a short period if revenue is affected by certain events or if short-term loans matured and had to be parred.
I just wonder how the analysis could express satisfaction when the facts and figures paraded express nothing of it's competitiveness, it's long-term sustainability, and it's competitive advantages. The fundamentals of KPIs is about optimisation and maximisation of resources translating into ROIs. It is not ROI per se.
What should we see in an effective and efficient organizational KPIs?
Most fundamental of all is:
(1)Productivity Indices - Return on Employee (ROE), productivity per employee as benchmark against the industry standard as minimum and industry's best (in the long-term). Productivity will be measured in terms of efforts/hours, revenue and profits/hour or day for each employee or mean-averaged. It is useless to say that the ROE is $10 per employee-day. It is also useless to say net income RM50 million for FY07. What needs to be measured is ROE of $10 is comparable or better than the regional competitors whose ROE is only $8. Ironically, the Regional's ROE could be more than twice of that targeted by the GLC. So, what's the point of parading a figure that looks impressive without competitive comparison. It will not indicate the potential risks and competitiveness in the business and it's sustainability.
(2) Cost Performance Indices (CPI) - From the 15 GLCs report, I had not read any one that pronounced their CPI. What is the cost and what is their Cost of Poor Quality (COPQ)and what is the benchmark? For example, in MAS, what is the cost of fuel per passenger as compared to it's regional competitors? What is the cost of overheads and capital expenditures per employee based on mean average and compared with industry's best? What is the cost of Food and Beverages per passenger, per flight, per revenue, and what's the ratio against revenue and profit?
(3) Profitability Index and Debt Ratios - what was the current ratio and what is the targeted ratio? What is the plan to parred down the debts and reduce gearing? What's the growth factor over the next 5-years (Mission) and long-term (Vision).
(4) Balance Score Card (BSC) - Most of the GLCs had been ultilising the BSC - Balancing Financial-Internal Business Process-Customer-Learning & Growth. In view of the fact that all these GLCs were part of Khazanah Group, part of their businesses may be competing against each other and thus caused tension and reduce profits. Similarly, within each organization, there are various business units that may also compete against each other for the same customers. At such, these internal competition may force profit down. Therefore, BSC will be deployed. Another factor is that each organization consists of profit-center management and cost-center management. Those profit-centers will need strong support from the cost-center and service-centers to boost their service quality, maintenance support and maintaining customer satisfaction. If rich rewards are given to those in profit-centers personnels, then those supporting staffs will be sideline and demotivated to perform in support of the businesses. At such, BSC is needed to balance the system and everyone is rewarded accordingly.
(4) Optimisation and Maximisation - This is about lean management. It is about using less resources and generating more. It is about the doctrine of 1+1=3. Sometimes it is about 4-3=2. It's Doing More with Less". Fundamentally, the concept won't work if they are not in measurable terms. "What can't be Measured, can't be Managed." Everything is Statistical and Statistical Process Control (SPC) must be deployed and managed.
Can the analysis reassess the KPIs and tell us again whether they are satisfied with the information of the 15-GLCs?
Do we know what we don't know? Or, we know what we had always known!
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