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This paper aims to discuss the impact of institutional pressures on the selection of the performance indicators in 83 balanced scorecards (BSC) used in French real estate companies. The author studied the way in which two factors that are representative of institutional pressures in the real estate sector – namely, “ecology” and “digital innovation” – were incorporated into the BSC causal chains.

The author’s methodology is that of action research. To analyze the balance of indicators between short and long term, the author classified the companies according to their strategic acuity, i.e. their ability to balance an organizational vision (near vision) and an environmental one (distance vision) when choosing their performance indicators. This resulted in a company classification with three categories: emmetropic, hypermetropic and slightly myopic.

This research enabled to observe that the selected ecological indicators in BSCs derive mainly from coercive institutional pressure. Hence, in companies with fewer legal requirements in ecological matters, the selected ecological indicators are included in the BSC causal chain, in that they are used as a commercial argument with a view to improving financial performance. These results are similar to the reactionary and reputational perspectives of the sustainability business case. With regard to the incorporation of digital innovation indicators into BSCs, the author found that the companies that have the most digital innovation indicators are those that mobilize the most ecological indicators. Digital innovation indicators are part of the companies’ internal process perspective and are linked to organizational learning indicators. These results are similar to the responsible and collaborative perspectives of the sustainability business case. The author also found that the companies incorporate digital indicators into their BSCs by institutional mimicry insofar as the selected indicators are not always consistent with a strategic rationale but are chosen by copying what is done in other companies.

The author’s research has two main limitations related to the methodology used. On the one hand, the mobilization of part-time management students to have access to companies can influence the emergence of mimetic isomorphisms. Indeed, these students follow the same training and advise the companies that welcome them according to the training they have followed. On the other hand, the author’s research stops at the development of the BSC. The author does not study the impacts or changes that occurred after the implementation of the tool. This could be the subject of future research on the appropriation and use of the BSC by the company’s actors and their impact on the optimization of global performance measurement system.

This study may be of interest to researchers and managers who wish to reconcile sustainable development and digital innovation in global performance management. It analyzes the impact of institutional pressures on the performance measurement system. It offers insights on how to integrate ecological indicators and digital innovation indicators into the BSC causal chains. It identifies the tensions that managers may face. It reports on practices adopted in the field by managers in action.

This paper reveals the feasibility of measuring global performance integrating ecology and digital innovation. It responds to a preoccupation of recent years in academic research on how to reconcile corporate social responsibility and technological innovation. It shows that the companies that have the most digital innovation indicators are those that mobilize the most ecological indicators. However, it highlights the difficulties encountered by managers in the field when faced with institutional pressures.

The author’s reflection is in line with the literature of recent years that reconciles sustainable development and innovation. The author studied how “ecology” and “digital innovation” are incorporated into the BSC causal chains. To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first time this type of study has been conducted in the literature.

This paper seeks to extend the understanding of how formal management control systems (MCSs) contribute to the construction of performance management systems (PMSs) in the French higher education (HE) sector.

Empirical data are gathered both at the global level and at the local (university) level through an in‐depth case study. This allows a dynamic multi‐level analysis based on a neo‐institutional framework.

This article shows how formal MCSs contribute to the institutionalisation of a wider PMS at the global level of the HE sector. The social context then has a determining influence on universities, through the diffusion of values and norms drained by formal MCSs, calling into question the effectiveness of the autonomy supposed to be given to universities under the new PMS. Moreover, within universities, the complex interactions between MCS and PMS resulting from learning, political interactions and conflicts of values, lead to still uncertain outcomes.

The paper focuses on one main case‐study, which is still undergoing change. Analysis could be reinforced by further longitudinal and comparative research.

Steering organisations within a framework where the State defines strategic priorities requires both appropriate performance indicators and a dialogue allowing objectives to be shared at both the social and local levels.

Institutionalisation of MCSs and accountability are discussed in the specific French context of cultural centralisation.

Overall, the UK’s representation in the top 100 in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings has declined since 2011. The basic rationale of the project is to improve performance of universities generally and their standings in rankings particularly. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

The key research questions of this study ask which performance indicators should be improved and which benchmarking partners should be chosen. Two selected universities have been chosen as featured case studies to illustrate the proposed template.

A user-friendly template for benchmarking has been developed as a tool for self-evaluation and self-improvement by having a systematic comparison of appropriate measures of performance among the universities in the UK. The template can be extended by identifying internal and external benchmarking partners for the corresponding indicators.

There is more work to be done during and after the formal benchmarking activity which has not been addressed in the template.

This is a practical approach. It is very simple to be implemented for self-evaluation and self-improvement.

Once completed it will help institutions to assess their performance, identify areas for benchmarking and select internal and external partners.

This is a new and practical approach. The proposed template is designed to be used before the formal benchmarking activities or site visits.

Implementations of inter-organizational networks are common, following a growing diversity of cooperative modes between the independent companies associated in these networks.

Their scientific analysis has recently intensified, attention to network structures obviously including the study of the way their performance can be measured. Although academic research has mostly dealt with the performance of the network’s members, the concern of this article is rather with the performance of the global network.

Among the numerous forms of existing inter-organizational networks, maritime port communities are complex organizations which have to deal with operational synchronization, strategic cohesiveness and global performance measurement problems.

This article therefore mainly describes a port performance measurement system (PPMS): built in a predominantly empirical research context, the performance model and the associated measurement indicators illustrate the kind of network-level dedicated, performance control systems, on which port communities need to rely when designing their global strategy.

The purpose of this study is to examine the degree, contents and trend development of Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) performance indicators disclosed in sustainability reports of large mining companies in Ghana.

Content analysis methods are used to analyse 50 sustainability reports of ten large-scale mining companies in Ghana, covering the period 2008-2012.

The study finds that there has been a widening and increasing trend in the disclosure of performance indicators in sustainability reports of the large mining companies in Ghana, in accordance with GRI guidelines. The findings suggest that good progress in the strategic sector has been made in the voluntary adoption of the GRI guidelines to increase transparency, credibility and comparability in sustainability reporting. The findings also indicate areas to be improved.

The Government of Ghana and the Ghana Chamber of Mines could learn from the findings about the current status of this matter in order for them to formulate policies and regulations which would encourage the mining sector in moving forward in the adoption of international reporting standards.

This paper initializes investigation into the degree, contents and trends of performance indicators in sustainability reports of large mining companies in Ghana using content analysis.

Performance measurement, especially at the enterprise level, requires intense consideration of experts and managers in organizations from both theoretical and practical aspects. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the overall organizational performance by developing a performance evaluation model, based on integrating two methodologies of balanced scorecard (BSC) – a multiple perspective plan for performance assessment – and analytic hierarchy process (AHP) – a structured technique for organizing and analyzing complex decisions.

The method was conducted in Isfahan Telecommunications Company (ITC), in 2013. In total, 27 managers of ITC were invited to participate. First, according to overall firm goals, key performance indicators (KPIs) were established with respect to four perspectives of BSC framework. Then pairwise comparisons were done, through standard AHP questionnaires, to determine the preference weights of each indicator and perspective and give precedence to them.

Organizational performance can be measured by the proposed model in a telecommunications industry. According to the adopted method, company KPIs, relative importance of BSC perspectives and performance evaluation of functional areas were identified.

This study provides guidance regarding strategies for improving organizational performance beyond the financial perspective.

Previous studies illustrate various applications of joint BSC and AHP. However, this study applies the integrated framework throughout an organization in a new application field and shows not only company’s features but also telecommunications industry features.

The purpose of this paper is to present the “Assessment Model of Lean Effect” (AMLE), a theoretical model that measures Lean manufacturing implementation effect over the global performance of a company.

AMLE model is divided in two criteria types: the “Facilitators criteria” and the “Results criteria”. “Results criteria” are inspired from the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM), Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and ISO 26000. The “Facilitators criteria” are based on the main philosophy of the Lean manufacturing, which is the total elimination of all types of waste. The development of the scoring scale was based on the results, approach, deployment, assessment and review (RADAR) philosophy and the experience of nine consultants from the automotive field; the choice of the consultants was based on three conditions. Furthermore, each consultant has his\her own weight according to its expertise. Lastly, the AMLE was validated via a case study set in an automotive industry company called FEBA. The validation process is divided in two different steps: the first step is related to Facilitators assessment and scoring; via the evaluation of the different projects implemented by FEBA to eliminate the different types of waste. The second step concerns Results assessment and scoring, via the evaluation of the performance measurements used by FEBA to assess the effect of the Facilitators' implementation.

The developed model (AMLE) enabled the Lean manufacturing effect assessment on the global performance of a firm from the automotive field. The case study results reveal that the aforementioned firm does not give priority to social measurements. Consequently, the performance of the firm was negatively impacted.

The criteria of AMLE are inspired from the definition of the Lean manufacturing given by Taiichi Ohno, from ISO 26000 and from GRI; meaning that these criteria could be adjusted if other references existed or developed. In addition, the scoring rules are established according to the experience of a limited number of consultants from the automotive field. The scoring rules establishment would lead to meaningful outcomes, if the number of participants was increased. During the assessment of the global performance, the perception of the auditor plays an important role in terms of scoring because the scoring rules allow the possibility to the auditor to give from the minimum to the maximum of the score, according to his perception and experience. For the case study, the validation of the developed model requires starting with the “Facilitators” implementation process and then measure the generated global performance. However, due to time constraints and limited opportunities for new projects, the validation was based only on existing projects managed by the firm. To address the study limitations, it is envisaged to detail and explain the scoring rules while extending the number of consultants. Furthermore, the assessment of Lean manufacturing global performance through the AMLE model may be subjective and requires a mathematical modeling. In fact, the Lean manufacturing performance assessment via the developed model could have a degree of subjectivity; that is why the design of a mathematical model seems required.

The research findings may direct practitioners and decision makers to the importance of assessing the global effect of the Lean manufacturing on the overall performance of the firm. The AMLE model is a tool allowing the assessment of Lean manufacturing effect over economic, environmental and social performances.

The developed model is the first one assessing the global performance generated by the elimination of waste via the application of the Lean manufacturing.

To increase the global competitiveness of their service business, servitized manufacturers transition towards global services. Yet, the literature has not addressed this development. This study is one of the first to investigate how servitized manufacturers can manage the globalisation of their service business.

The study explores two cases of servitized manufacturers that transitioned from a local organisation of multi-domestic international services to a global-service organisation. The data were collected via semi-structured interviews, observations, and secondary sources.

The authors identify four elements of global service provision: operating model, global performance management, relationship governance, and staffing and employee development. The authors discuss each element and the connections between them, which the authors summarise in a proposed framework for global service provision.

The contributions of this research relate to the proposed framework of global service provision, which extends current conceptualisation of globalisation of routine services. The authors show the unique elements of global service provision of servitized manufacturers and discuss the theoretical and practical implications of the work.

Despite initially being lauded as a revolutionary approach for companies to account to all stakeholders, the shareholder orientation of the international integrated reporting (<IR>) framework gave rise to questions about whether integrated reports would still sufficiently disclose pertinent corporate social responsibility (CSR) information. This paper aims to investigate the extent to which the <IR> framework has impacted the CSR disclosures contained in integrated reports of South African mining companies.

The study deployed a mixed methods research approach, involving thematic content analysis of the CSR disclosures contained in the integrated reports of mining companies with primary listings on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. The resultant qualitative data were subsequently analysed using a T-test of difference.

The study observes that the release of the <IR> framework appears to have had a limited impact on the CSR disclosures in the integrated reports of most companies included in the study. However, where significant differences were identified, the CSR disclosures of some companies were positively impacted after the release of the <IR> framework, whilst others were negatively impacted.

As South Africa is acknowledged as a leader in the global <IR> movement, the paper’s observations have global relevance and suggest that the fundamental principles of <IR> should be reconsidered to improve the alignment with stakeholders’ information needs, as originally conceived.

Despite the shareholder orientation of the <IR> framework, the global mining industry is acknowledged as being at the forefront of implementing CSR interventions to mitigate the adverse impacts of their operations on stakeholders, supporting a stakeholder orientation. As the adoption of <IR> continues to gain traction around the world, this paper’s contribution is that it represents one of the few papers to use the global reporting initiative G4 indicators to specifically examine the impact of <IR> framework on the CSR disclosures on the South African mining industry, where both <IR> and CSR reporting are quasi-mandatory disclosure requirements.

To provide the basis for the development of a specific benchmarking methodology for the foundry industry.

The methodology was developed with the support of the Portuguese Foundry Association (APF). The project was structured in two stages: developing the model for the performance assessment (including performance indicators specially designed for the foundry companies); and conducting a pilot benchmarking exercise in order to validate the model. Both stages received the contribution of eight relevant national foundries.

Provides information about expectations of the benchmarking partners group. Make available a specific benchmarking model for assessing the foudries' performance based on critical factors. Provides foundry‐oriented indicators. Confirms that benchmarking is a time‐consuming tool, demanding continuous commitment of the top‐managers.

A limitation of the study is the number of benchmarking partners (eight foundries). The statistical analysis of the results based on this small sample was not practicable, preventing the definition of the presumed causal relations between improvement practices and performance outcomes.

The benchmarking model is now available at the APF. From now on, this institution can provide its members with a tool for promoting the co‐operation among companies and to enhance and enlarge significantly the available information about this sector. This activity will, certainly, help to improve organisations' performance, upgrading the competitiveness of the metalcasting industry in Portugal.

This paper helps the development of benchmarking in the metalcasting industry in which the number of published studies is very limited.