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The work suggests a defining approach aimed at understanding the relations between client satisfaction and business profitability, with specific reference to services management. The paper makes use of the analysis of the reasons for the separation of the client satisfaction and cost containment orientations – a separation which is a weak point in the case of service businesses. It then develops a methodological approach for bringing together client satisfaction research and cost optimisation, the application of which is presented by means of a business case concerning a firm which offers a database service. This approach makes it possible to put in relationship the utility perceived by the customer with reference to the different attributes of the offer and the price which the customer is prepared to pay to obtain the utility. At the same time it makes it possible to compare the price thus determined and the effective cost of the activities which determine the services delivered. Research into compatibility between competitive and financial success is therefore allowed by reference to analysis of the service characteristics. These permit a joining together – the external and internal process of the company, or rather the value as perceived by customers (the relationship between utility and price sustained) and the cost sustained by the company in the generation of this value.

The purpose of this paper is to present and discuss an accounting innovation in the cost measurement system of rail transport companies.

The authors identify the distinctive features that cost accounting systems should have in order to capture the particular structure of the production process of rail transport companies and develop an innovative accounting practice that addresses the specific features of railway services, particularly the high fixed costs associated with the infrastructure. This accounting innovation is applied to Trentino Trasporti, a medium-sized, privately owned passenger railway company operating in the Trentino Alto Adige region of Italy.

Evidence suggests that the new accounting practice facilitates the operational connection between the company's resources and their consumption during the provision of transport services.

This connection enables companies to identify new opportunities for improvement and cost optimisation by finding the real origins of cost consumption in the provision of rail transport services.

The case analysed also shows the necessity of integrating activity-based costing (ABC) with an accounting innovation that can represent the resources consumed by the various elements of the infrastructure that support the provision of services. This innovation has important managerial outcomes for all service companies that operate with an infrastructure network, including transport, service, and utility companies, and useful implications for the accounting profession that deals with cost systems in networked-based companies.

Notwithstanding a growing interest on destination management, little is known about the formation and evaluation of destination managers' strategies. Strategy assessment is essential to understand whether, and how, destination managers allow the reconciliation of the diverse stakeholders' interests within an integrated destination plan, pursuing the development of the destination. The purpose of this paper is the exploration and building of a strategy assessment approach.

A qualitative methodology is adopted, to identify key dimensions of strategy assessment and their combination within an integrated destination plan. Data come from the city of Turin, and the destination management organization developed for 2006 Winter Olympic Games.

The use of balanced scorecard approaches points out how a financial dimension is key in meta‐management contexts, notwithstanding the public interests of the destination supply system. Also, this work discloses the formative process that characterizes strategic planning within supply networks of tourism destination. It describes the hierarchy of strategy assessment, taking into consideration externalities emerging from integrated supply systems developed at the destination level.

Limitations are intrinsic to case study methods, and points on findings generalizability.

The paper offers insights on developing analytical capability within meta‐management organizations, to diagnose value creation and competitiveness gaps. Also, it gives insights on developing co‐ordination capabilities, allowing different strategic goals to be drawn into an integrated design.

The paper offers a novel approach for developing a strategy map, and contributes to prior research on strategy assessment in meta‐management.

Nowadays, especially after the recent financial downturn, companies are looking for much more efficient and creative business processes management. They need to place better solutions on the market in less time and with lower costs. Companies are achieving these goals of efficiency always more by using the offshoring strategy. It commonly describes a company’s relocation of a business process from one country to another, typically manufacturing processes towards low-cost countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – BRICS area). The purpose of this paper is to propose a methodological approach based on project management tools that supports the decision-making process in order to help companies in optimizing the re-engineering production processes and improve management costs. The framework provided in this paper is grounded on available literature and from the authors’ personal experiences in managing several projects.

This paper seeks to propose a Project Management Process Reengineering performance model (PMPR) for managing projects of reengineering of processes and applies it in a real case study concerning the relocation of an automotive glass production line.

The model proposed in this paper should serve as a valuable tool to facilitate a successful BPR design in the project management and intends to assist companies as they operate projects of transferring and optimizing production lines.

This paper proposes a PMPR model with a methodological approach which integrates efficiency and effectiveness estimators applicable to company needs. Thus, the aim of the paper is to develop a methodology and technical approach for the redesign and realization of a production line in consequence of its relocation.