Research Assignment, Strategy, Resource Capacity Planning Obtain from your library a copy of following article: Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton, "Mastering the Management System," Harvard Business Review (January 2008), pp. 63-77. The authors of this article propose a five-stage management system designed to balance strategy and operations, that is, short-term operational concerns with long-term (strategic) priorities. In general, stage three of the process deals with what the authors call dynamic budgeting to include resource and capacity planning. It is this issue that is the subject of the present research assignment. (Note: the following additional source, available for download from the Harvard Business Publishing Web site, may also be helpful: Robert S. Kap- lan, "Resource Capacity Planning in the Strategy Execution System," Balanced Scorecard Report, Reprint No. B0809A [2008].)

Required After reading the above-referenced article(s), please respond to the following questions:

1. Provide an overview of the five-step cycle that comprises the management system proposed by the authors of this article.

2. Stage 3 of the proposed system focuses on "Planning Operations," a significant component of which deals with planning resource capacity. Describe the process of resource-capacity planning within the context of the five-stage management cycle proposed by the authors. For example, discuss the linkage of Stage 3 to both Stage 2 and Stage 4 of the management cycle.

3. The authors indicate that their preferred tool for resource-capacity planning is time-driven activity- based costing (TDABC). Provide a brief overview of TDABC including how this implementation differs from traditional ABC models. (Hint: in addition to the article, refer to Chapter 5 of the text.)

4. Refer to the Towerton Financial example presented on pages 70-71 of the article. How did this organization use TDABC results to determine the level of resource capacity (people and computing) needed to implement its strategy?