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As calls have been made to characterize and theorise performance measurement systems (PMS) and as these systems are highly contextualised because of their mission-critical nature, the purpose of this paper is to generate empirically-valid and useful findings with regard to their characterisation as information technology artefacts through an approach founded upon the user’s perspective.

Using both qualitative and quantitative data collection approaches, the authors conducted a field study through extensive interviews in situ with the owner-managers of 16 small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

The PMS are characterised, from their users’ point of view, in terms of their functional attributes as information systems dedicated to the management of organisational performance, that is, as being either operational, functional, managerial or organisational systems.

Having modelled the PMS artefact in terms of its artefactual dimensions and features, the authors have empirically validated a characterisation approach that allows researchers to circumscribe this artefact within its specific usage context and to identify its salient attributes as study variables.

The research findings provide an empirical basis for the design and evaluation of PMS that is coherent with the specific context of their use in SMEs.

This study validates a novel and demonstrably useful artefactual perspective to characterize and theorise PMS as objects of empirical research.

Considering performance measurement and management systems (PMMS) to be “mission-critical” information systems for many business organisations, calls have been made for researchers to shift from studying the use of such systems to studying their “effective” use, and in so doing to focus on their characterisation as information technology (IT) artefacts. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

In seeking to answer these calls, the authors apply Burton-Jones and Grange’s theoretical framework to study the dimensions, contextual drivers and benefits of the effective use of PMMS. This is done through a field study of 16 PMMS artefacts as used in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

In characterising, contextualising and valuing the effective use of PMMS, this study provides answers to the following questions: What constitutes the effective use of PMMS? What are the user, artefactual and task-related drivers of such use? And what are the benefits for SMEs of using performance measurement and management (PMM) systems effectively?

With regard to the design of a PMMS artefact, the findings imply that one should concentrate on those artefactual attributes that most enable informed action on the part of owner-managers, as it is these actions have the greater consequences for the realisation of IT business value in SMEs. Moreover, the nomological network resulting from this research provides the theoretical and methodological underpinnings of a diagnostic tool meant to develop the PMM function in SMEs.

This study provides further empirical grounding and understanding. This study provides further empirical grounding and understanding of the concept of effective use, as well as further applicability and actionability to this concept and to the nomological network of its dimensions, contextual drivers and benefits in the case of PMMS and in the context of SMEs.

In 1972, the first laboratory prototypes were shown to the public, with a further fifteen years passing before the appearance of tangible economic results. French telematics, which may be considered as probably the world's most highly developed union of telecommunication and computer technology, has therefore had to undergo the usual long testing process by which a technical innovation is transformed into an economically feasible product.

This paper aims to clarify the notions that underlie performance measurement systems (PMS) and to propose an information systems (IS)‐based characterisation and definition of PMS, that is, as a performance management information system (PMIS).

Research on PMS can be enhanced by a clear, precise and uniform characterisation of this research object in IS terms A classification scheme is developed and the contribution areas of an IS perspective to PMS research are presented and exemplified.

The knowledge developed in IS research in the form of IS theories, models and methods can be applied in research on PMS, particularly in empirical studies that analyse the individual and organisational behaviours associated with the PMS phenomenon.

The conceptualisation and definition of PMS, as found in the literature, have not truly reflected their basic nature and characterisation as IS.

The research benefits of an IS‐based approach are illustrated through a PMS usage model founded on IS theory. In so doing, a contribution is made to the PMS research field by reinforcing its theoretical and empirical foundations.

This study proposes a novel and demonstrably useful IS‐based perspective, including an improved conceptualization and definition of PMS.

The Minitel videotex system has been a success in France, connecting millions of people to information services of every description via their home telephone system. It has been examined by both information specialists and business people to determine the reasons for its unique success. But, how many librarians outside of France know about the information available on Minitel and use this tool in their work? Assuming that those librarians who use the Internet and participate in library‐oriented discussion lists are the most likely at least to be aware of Minitel and its services, the author queried the participants of two discussion lists, LIBREF‐L (reference librarians) and PACS‐L (computer service librarians), to find out if anyone outside of France is using Minitel in the library environment. This article will trace the history of Minitel and will conclude with the results of the informal Internet survey, along with some suggestions for exploration of Minitel services.

The purpose of this paper is to set a relation through adaptive multi-level optimization between two physical models with different accuracies; a fast coarse model and a fine time consuming model. The use case is the optimization of a permanent magnet axial flux electrical machine.

The paper opted to set the relation between the two models through radial basis function (RBF). The optimization is held on the coarse model. The deduced solutions are used to evaluate the fine model. Thus, through an iterative process a residue RBF between models responses is built to endorse an adaptive correction.

The paper shows how the use of a residue function permits, to diminish optimization time, to reduce the misalignment between the two models in a structured strategy and to find optimum solution of the fine model based on the optimization of the coarse one. The paper also provides comparison between the proposed methodology and the traditional approach (output space mapping (OSM)) and shows that in case of large misalignment between models the OSM fails.

This paper proposes an original methodology in electromechanical design based on building a surrogate model by means of RBF on the bulk of existing physical model.

The purpose of this study is to perform a historical analysis of the brand management system (BMS) to understand why and how, over the past century, the BMS has become the dominant marketing organizational model across Western countries and sectors and what the lessons can be learned from history to enlighten its current changes in today’s digitized environment.

Building on Low and Fullerton’s work (1994), the paper traces the evolution of the BMS from its creation in the 1930s to the recent digital era. Data from various sources – research papers, historical business books, case studies, newspaper articles and internal documents – are analyzed to inform an intellectual historical analysis of the BMS’s development.

The paper uses the prism of institutional isomorphism to highlight four distinct periods that show that the BMS has gradually imposed itself on the Western world and managed to adapt to an ever-changing environment. Moreover, it shows that in the current digital age, the BMS is now torn between two opposing directions: the brand manager should act as both absolute expert and galvanic facilitator and the BMS needs to reinvent itself once again.

This paper provides a broad perspective on the BMS function to help marketing scholars, historians and practitioners gain a better understanding of the issues currently facing the BMS and its relevance in the digital age.

The purpose of this paper is to extend to accounting and accounting texts the arguments of Phillips which suggest that organisational analysis can be enriched by a greater interface with narrative fiction as a means to bring organisations to life. The paper also introduces the work of Bottin which argues that accounting manuals can be considered as source documents for economic history, more than simply being of purely pedagogical value. Both approaches inform the research into the specialised accounting manual, the Guide du Commerce of Gaignat de l'Aulnais.

This paper uses archival‐based historical methods to examine the Guide du Commerce and the social and economic milieu presented therein. It has developed its analysis through the examination of both primary and secondary sources to underscore the business and social networks of the milieu and to illustrate accounting as narrative.

In his manual, Gaignat recreates merchant activities and commercial relations of eighteenth century France. Gaignat does not content himself with re‐copying material at his disposal or with creating fictitious examples. Rather, through his in‐depth development of case studies and examples of actual accounting methods, he offers the reader insights into the strategic nature of the social and economic milieu in which commercial success might be achieved.

The research approach is transferable to other settings, motivating renewed interest in the history of accounting literature. The stories related in the Guide du Commerce point to the potential value of accounting manuals and other similar documents as historical sources when such sources no longer exist or are limited.

The research method is original in that the methodological approach is new to accounting history, but part of a debate within history more generally.

Maintaining a healthy and productive workforce is a challenge for most organizations. This is even truer for health organization, facing staff shortages and work overload. The aim of this study is to identify the resources and constraints that influence managers' mental health and better understand how they are affected by them.

A qualitative approach was chosen to document the resources, the constraints as well as their consequences on managers in their day-to-day realities. The sample included executive-, intermediate- and first-level managers from a Canadian healthcare facility. A total of 62 semi-structured interviews were conducted. The coding process was based on the IGLOO model of Nielsen et al. (2018) to which an employee-related level was added (IGELOO).

Results highlight the importance of considering both resources as well as constraints in examining managers' mental health. Overarching context, organizational constraints and the management of difficult employees played important roles in the stress experienced by managers.

The results offer a better understanding of the importance of intervening at different levels to promote better organizational health. Results also highlight the importance of setting up organizational resources and act on the various constraints to reduce them. Different individual strategies used by managers to deal with the various constraints and maintain their mental health also emerge from those results.

In addition to addressing the reality of healthcare managers, this study supplements a theoretical model and suggests avenues for interventions promoting more sustainable organizational health.