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The introduction of performance-related pay with performance management in the state school sector of England and Wales represents a considerable change in the school management system. After 2000, all teachers were subject to annual goal setting performance reviews. Experienced teachers were offered an extended pay scale based on performance instead of seniority, and to gain access to the new upper pay scale, teachers had to go through a ‘threshold assessment’ based on their professional skills and performance. This paper reports the results of a panel survey of classroom and head teachers which started in 2000 just before implementation of the new system, and then after one and after four years of operation. We find that both classroom and head teacher views have changed considerably over time, from initial general scepticism and opposition towards a more positive view, especially among head teachers by 2004. We argue that the adoption of an integrative bargaining approach to performance reviews explains why a growing minority of schools have achieved improved goal setting and improved pupil attainments as they have implemented performance management. Pay for performance has been one of the measures of organisational support that head teachers could bring to induce changes in teachers’ classroom priorities. We argue that the teachers’ case shows that a wider range of performance incentives than previously thought can be offered to employees in such occupations, provided that goal setting and performance measurement are approached as a form of negotiation instead of top-down.

A perception gap refers to the differences in perception among the stakeholders regarding any aspect of the supply chain relationship. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the perception gap among service supply chain partners relating to the relative importance of key performance indicators (KPIs) and the association of this gap with service performance.

This paper presents an integrative framework that combines statistical methods and data envelopment analysis for computing perception and performance gaps, and for identifying the association between the gaps. The study follows a middle-range theorizing research approach where general inferences are induced from instances, and a theory can be developed from the observation of empirical reality.

Analysis of data from a leading global insurance service supply chain suggests that perception gap exists and can be recognised as a factor associated with performance gaps. The results suggest that the perception gap not only affects performance but can also be tracked as a meta-KPI to improve performance throughout the service supply chain.

The key implication of the presented research is that service companies can identify and resolve the differences in perceptions regarding the importance of the KPIs, by methodologically computing the gaps and tracking them as meta-KPIs.

The study extends the theoretical boundary of supply chain performance management by introducing the perception and performance gaps as novel meta-KPIs. These meta-KPIs can be computed through the integrative framework developed in the study.

This chapter reviews empirical studies into the relationship between management control, strategy and sustainability.

The review explores the theoretical frameworks and models used in previous empirical research as well as the research questions and methods applied to empirically explore this emerging research area.

Even if a growing body of empirical research has emerged over the last decade, our knowledge of how companies design or use management control to support sustainability strategy appears to be limited, providing considerable scope for further research.

This review structures the state of our empirical knowledge in the area of management control, strategy and sustainability and makes suggestions for future research paths.

This study aims to develop a framework for applying performance management principles to implementing a pluralistic model of scholarly impact in business schools to increase the value and relevance scholarly research to multiple stakeholder groups.

Performance management principles were studied with case study data of scholarly impact that included bibliographic measures and altmetrics. An analytical model was built for a focal business school that provided benchmarks for managing scholarly impact by using data from three peer schools.

Bibliographic, scholarly output measures and altmetrics were consistent across the focal school and peer schools, thereby providing a solid foundation for establishing performance benchmarks for annual performance reviews, promotion and tenure decisions and organizational impact goals.

This paper provides guidance for designing, building and implementing performance management systems to foster scholarly impact.

This paper integrates pluralistic impact models and performance management systems to build faculty expertise and align it with multiple impact domains.

The purpose of this explanatory research was to understand how firms align strategic planning and budgeting both ex ante and ex post. After the literature review indicated that there was a shortcoming in explaining how the alignment was done, we interviewed management accountants at 20 large, profitable, stock-market listed firms with head offices in the Toronto area of Canada. To understand practice through interviews, we used qualitative, multi-case field research to address our research question, how do firms achieve alignment between their strategic plans and budgets, both ex ante and ex post? Our findings and contribution were that, rather than multiple processes (strategy, strategic planning, budgeting, and forecasting), strategic planning and budgeting are part of a single process. Alignment of strategic planning and budgeting is undertaken prior to the beginning of the fiscal year (ex ante) and during the fiscal year (ex post). Both provide opportunities to change ineffective strategies, strategic plans, and actions to minimize financial harm. Ex ante and ex post alignments enable the accomplishment of firms’ financial objectives through explicit and verifiable decisions. With forecasting heretofore being an unclear and ambiguous subprocess, this chapter has made it transparent and manageable in assisting with accomplishing the strategy, strategic plan, and budget.

There is a relatively low risk management (RM) level and maturity in China’s state-owned construction enterprises (CSCEs). The purpose of this paper is to find the main factors impacting RM in practice to promote rapid, sound and sustained development in CSCEs.

There are a few state-owned CSCEs in China. Most enterprises know little about RM. Because of the limited number of RM departments in these enterprises, 200 questionnaires were sent to the enterprises to investigate the RM strategies employed by them. The research is quantitative and used a questionnaire survey to determine the important factors influencing RM practice. The collected data were analyzed with the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences to identify the most important factors affecting RM as well as the extent of influence of these factors, in order to facilitate further research.

The survey revealed the top eight factors (i.e. leaders’ support, personnel’s responsibility, comprehensiveness of identification, costs and benefits, risk appetite, understanding of language, frequency of training and performance management) that highly impact RM in CSCEs and the extent to which these factors impact RM. The data reveal that the average RM level is low. Some methods have been recommended to improve RM.

The research lays the foundation for further RM development in CSCEs. The low RM level in CSCEs should encourage researchers to find better ways to improve RM. Some factors in the research will function as valuable guides for China’s private and public-private partnership enterprises.

A quantitative analysis methodology for RM has been developed for CSCEs that can reflect their RM level. In addition, the degree of impact of key factors on RM has been shown. The results can act as a reference to improve RM quantitatively, making the RM system more explicit in dealing with risks more accurately and instructively.

Structural RM research is utilized to evaluate RM in CSCEs by following an empirical method. With the continuous improvement in RM, CSCEs can cooperate well with construction enterprises of other countries for infrastructure projects and gain more benefits.

This paper aims to examine the use of the balanced scorecard (BSC) as a performance management tool in the public sector. Drawing on a New Zealand study of local government organzations (LGOs), it seeks to identify issues and challenges in implementing the BSC in public sector contexts.

A postal questionnaire was used to solicit public sector managers' views on the usefulness of the BSC and the factors that support or impede its implementation in practice. Follow‐up interviews with selected respondents allowed for more in‐depth exploration of managers' experiences of BSC use and outcomes.

The findings reveal low rates of BSC adoption amongst the studied LGOs. Further, perceived BSC utility is dominated by performance measurement and reporting, while the performance management role of the BSC remains relatively under‐exploited. This study identifies users' perceptions of the key challenges impeding BSC implementation in the public sector, and highlights their significance for both practice and theory.

This paper highlights the need for improved theorisation on several issues that present particular challenges in public sector BSC practice: modifying the BSC dimensions, designing measures that capture important qualitative outcomes, identifying the “customer” and/or achieving a genuine multi‐stakeholder approach, and mapping BSC causality relationships.

Improved awareness of the factors perceived to lead to successful and unsuccessful BSC implementation may enhance the uptake and utility of the BSC for measuring and managing performance in public sector organisations.

This study examines BSC use in local government, where it has been relatively under‐researched. It adds to prior studies by specifically examining the factors that support and impede the effective implementation of the BSC in public sector contexts.

The purpose of this paper is to draw on the perspectives and experiences of New Zealand board members to propose a balanced scorecard (BSC) for use in measuring and managing the performance of boards.

The views of 35 board members were elicited via semi‐structured interviews. The interview evidence was analysed using a multi‐step coding process to arrive at key themes on the functions, characteristics and outcomes of effective and ineffective boards. These themes were then used as a basis for proposing an appropriate structure and content for a BSC that reflects board members' perceptions of key factors driving board performance.

New Zealand board members see behavioural measures of board performance as generally more useful than operational and financial measures. Further, strong relationships and strategic clarity are seen as both drivers of good performance and key outcomes of effective boards. Consequently, the proposed BSC incorporates multi‐dimensional outcome (i.e. lagging) measures. It also recognises the importance of including subjective measures, rather than focusing on readily quantifiable measures that board members perceive as less informative.

This paper provides insight into the perspectives of practising board members and informs the literature on board effectiveness. The proposed BSC adds to the performance management literature in regard to evaluating and managing the performance of boards. However, further studies are now required to test its practical utility.

The proposed BSC provides a potentially useful tool for evaluating the performance of boards of directors.

Few studies of board effectiveness have accessed the views and experiences of practising board members as this study does. Also, little prior research exists on the potential for applying a BSC approach to measuring and managing board performance.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether business strategy influences strategic management accounting (SMA) usage. Business strategy has been operationalized through strategic pattern, mission and positioning.

The paper is based on an internet questionnaire survey of Italian companies. Multiple regression analysis is used to test the impact of strategic variables (pattern, mission and positioning) on SMA usage. Company size is included as control variable.

Several SMA techniques appear to be used in Italian companies as they are in other countries investigated in different studies. Customer accounting, competitive position monitoring, competitor performance appraisal based on published financial statement and quality costing represent the most widely used SMA techniques in the Italian sample. From the regression analysis, both defender‐ and cost leader‐type of strategy are found to be more willing to use SMA techniques addressing cost information.

The issue, common in contingent research, of business strategy definition and operationalization constitutes the main limitation of the paper; in an attempt to restrict its effect, it uses three strategic typologies (pattern, mission and positioning) and employs a measurement method used in previous studies. A second issue concerns the definition of SMA techniques. There is no concurred list of SMA techniques in the literature and further discussion is expected in the future.

First, empirical evidence is provided to a field (SMA) where empirical research is needed in order to be comparable with traditional management accounting techniques. Second, for the first time in SMA studies, a framework is employed that considers all of the three main strategic variables (pattern, mission and positioning) used in management accounting literature. As a result, the loose coupling between SMA techniques and business strategy typologies indicates (with the possible exception of cost‐related SMA techniques) that the same SMA technique can support different strategic approaches of the company.