"Hit or miss?": performance/target ratios as a measure of management control

This article describes the derivation of a "performance/target ratio" and its practical application to the quality of service performance of two public sector industries. The material is based on the authors' work for the Monopolies and Mergers Commission and the data used has been published in the Commission's reports. The authors would like to thank the MMC for permission to publish, but the views expressed in the article are those of the authors alone.