…using the indirect method with apologies to Robert Pirsig.

Harley Davidson Nightster’s are joy to view, ride, and tune and so are BMW Roadsters; despite many similarities however their respective twin cylinder designs lean towards drag racing and sport touring. Both motorcycles are products of organizations organized and staffed so that they consistently and profitably (productivity =output/input) meet the design specifications for their product (quality of conformance). Both organizations systematically produce designs, which meet customer (CRM) expectations (design for six sigma). HD has 9,300 employees and BMW has 98,261 while today’s HD (HOG) stock price is $ 21.85 and BMW’s (ETR:BMW) stock is $ 31.77. Although there is certainly a minimum amount of employees necessary to meet the mission of motorcycle development and production, focusing solely upon the number of employees does not sufficiently describe the situation so that we can confidently invest our hard earned cash.

The SWOT and Value Chain Analysis are pretty powerful ways to systematically assess an organizations reach and effectiveness. HD and BMW’s histories need to be considered as well.

To further examine where to invest scare resources for maximum return, modeling and simulation offer a cheap way to consider the effects of the good, bad, and ugly. Factors used to model stock prices with may be described as fundamental factors (valuation, solvency, operational efficiency, operating profitability, financial risk, and liquidity risk), technical factors (usually constructed from past price & volume data), and economic factors (GDP growth, yield-curve slope, unemployment, and inflation), among others (steel, aluminum, tires, etc). Knowing which factors to examine and incorporate into a model at which times can be tricky, time consuming and costly or profitable depending upon who is doing the modeling.

Sometimes it’s faster and easier to find someone who represents the organization we are studying and who can share his or her insights with us. Some questions might be how long have John Olin and Stefan Quandt been doing their particular type of work, how many years/type of education do they have, who do they know, who are they related to, what are the resources at their command, how effective are they, and are they representative of the organization? Perhaps 'outsiders' have important information to consider.

Can business analysis methods apply to assessing public institutions? If not what methods are better suited? Lets consider some of the State Department’s internal QA/QC analysis, produced by it's Middle East Regional Office, of its efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan:

Review of the Roles, Staffing, and Effectiveness of Regional Embassy Offices in Iraq, OIG Report No. MERO-IQO-09-09, August 2009

Performance Audit of Embassy Baghdad’s Transition Planning for a Reduced United States Military Presence in Iraq, OIG Report Number MERO-A-09-10, August 2009

Lets consider some of the DOD's & DOS' internal QA/QC analysis produced by SIGR:

Iraq Reconstruction: Lessons Learned in Human Capital Management, January 2006

Hard Lessons: The Iraq Reconstruction Experience, January 2009