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The essential investments in new product development (NPD) made by industrial companies entail effective management of NPD activities. In this context, performance measurement is one of the means that can be employed in the pursuit of effectiveness.

Research on how performance measurement systems affect employees’ perceptions of workplace fairness is important. As organizations often rely on their performance measurement systems to communicate information to their employees, it is useful to ascertain if and how the developments of performance measurement systems that are far more comprehensive than traditional financial systems affect employees’ perceptions of informational fairness through the information communicated to employees. Informational fairness refers to employees’ perceptions of workplace fairness that is based on the amount and the truthfulness of information that organizations provide to their employees. Based on a sample of managers from manufacturing organizations, the Partial Least Square results indicate that comprehensive performance measurement systems (comprehensive PMS) have a significant direct effect on job-relevant information. They also indicate that comprehensive PMS have an indirect effect on informational fairness via job-relevant information. In contrast, systems that are based on financial measures have no significant effects on job-relevant information and informational fairness. These results demonstrate how comprehensive PMS (through the communication of a greater amount of job-relevant information) can be used to engender employees’ perceptions of high workplace fairness.

This article focuses on the role of accounting performance measurement in the creation of public value in the context of the network associated with the justice portfolio within the Australian Commonwealth.

We use concepts of bonding and bridging social capital to theorize the use of performance measurement in government networks.

We find that there is relatively little use of performance measures that reported network level performance and the primary emphasis was on building social capital with funders rather than across network partner agencies. We therefore conclude that existing Australian public sector performance measurement practices are not supportive of intra-governmental networks and therefore the notion that improvement in performance measurement will deliver public value needs further reflection.

The research scope is restricted to governmental network performance measures from a justice portfolio budget perspective. Despite the focused attention of the research, the application of the findings has relevance across all government portfolios and broader public management more generally.

Despite calls for accountability and governance innovation where public value is delivered across organizational boundaries through dependency and collaboration, the case environment offers little evidence that forms of performance measurement over the period examined recognize this practicality. The research primarily adds considerable weight to the argument that the delivery of public value by networks requires an evolution in accountability and performance reporting away from traditional institutional forms of performance representation.

The research is highly novel in its unveiling and examination of contemporary performance measurement reporting from a network perspective.

Purpose – The purpose of this chapter is to present a state of the art of performance measurement and management control systems based on the papers presented in the 6th Conference on Performance Measurement and Management Control in Nice, France, 2011. The chapter is structured around two main topics: performance measurement and control systems.

Methodology/approach – The chapter is based on a thorough review of all the papers presented at the conference. Each paper was classified according to the topic it dealt with and the methodology used in the paper.

Findings – We structure the papers around the following topics: cost measurement and management, mapping the landscape, financial measures, nonfinancial performance frameworks, performance measurement design, sector-specific measures, and marketing measures within performance measurement. The topics identified in management control systems are compensation, management control systems' design, motivational aspects, strategy, risk management and enterprise software, governance, nonprofit organizations, and innovation.

Research limitations/implications – The chapter provides a comprehensive review of these topics. The review is limited to the selection bias implicit in the papers submitted to the conference. However, with almost 200 papers, the conference includes a large set of papers and topics. The analysis indicates that the field is dynamic with close connections to practice and promising research lines.

Practical implications (if applicable) – This state-of-the-art review reveals relevant research findings for companies and organizations. It also indicates that the research community is tackling important issues to society and the evolution of research promises to offer interesting alternatives to tackle these problems.

Social implications – Performance measurement and management control systems are important topics for management. Recent work is extending the implications of these fields beyond companies to include nonprofit organizations and public sector departments. Advances will definitely shape the way societies are designed.

Originality/value of chapter – The chapter provides a review of the field based on the contributions at the conference. As such it portrays the state of the field and gives researchers as well as practitioners a quick way to update their knowledge of the topics that are dominating the field.

Information and communications technology (ICT) offers enormous opportunities for individuals, businesses and society. The application of ICT is equally important to economic and non-economic activities. Researchers have increasingly focused on the adoption and use of ICT by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) as the economic development of a country is largely dependent on them. Following the success of ICT utilisation in SMEs in developed countries, many developing countries are looking to utilise the potential of the technology to develop SMEs. Past studies have shown that the contribution of ICT to the performance of SMEs is not clear and certain. Thus, it is crucial to determine the effectiveness of ICT in generating firm performance since this has implications for SMEs’ expenditure on the technology. This research examines the diffusion of ICT among SMEs with respect to the typical stages from innovation adoption to post-adoption, by analysing the actual usage of ICT and value creation. The mediating effects of integration and utilisation on SME performance are also studied. Grounded in the innovation diffusion literature, institutional theory and resource-based theory, this study has developed a comprehensive integrated research model focused on the research objectives. Following a positivist research paradigm, this study employs a mixed-method research approach. A preliminary conceptual framework is developed through an extensive literature review and is refined by results from an in-depth field study. During the field study, a total of 11 SME owners or decision-makers were interviewed. The recorded interviews were transcribed and analysed using NVivo 10 to refine the model to develop the research hypotheses. The final research model is composed of 30 first-order and five higher-order constructs which involve both reflective and formative measures. Partial least squares-based structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) is employed to test the theoretical model with a cross-sectional data set of 282 SMEs in Bangladesh. Survey data were collected using a structured questionnaire issued to SMEs selected by applying a stratified random sampling technique. The structural equation modelling utilises a two-step procedure of data analysis. Prior to estimating the structural model, the measurement model is examined for construct validity of the study variables (i.e. convergent and discriminant validity).

The estimates show cognitive evaluation as an important antecedent for expectation which is shaped primarily by the entrepreneurs’ beliefs (perception) and also influenced by the owners’ innovativeness and culture. Culture further influences expectation. The study finds that facilitating condition, environmental pressure and country readiness are important antecedents of expectation and ICT use. The results also reveal that integration and the degree of ICT utilisation significantly affect SMEs’ performance. Surprisingly, the findings do not reveal any significant impact of ICT usage on performance which apparently suggests the possibility of the ICT productivity paradox. However, the analysis finally proves the non-existence of the paradox by demonstrating the mediating role of ICT integration and degree of utilisation explain the influence of information technology (IT) usage on firm performance which is consistent with the resource-based theory. The results suggest that the use of ICT can enhance SMEs’ performance if the technology is integrated and properly utilised. SME owners or managers, interested stakeholders and policy makers may follow the study’s outcomes and focus on ICT integration and degree of utilisation with a view to attaining superior organisational performance.

This study urges concerned business enterprises and government to look at the environmental and cultural factors with a view to achieving ICT usage success in terms of enhanced firm performance. In particular, improving organisational practices and procedures by eliminating the traditional power distance inside organisations and implementing necessary rules and regulations are important actions for managing environmental and cultural uncertainties. The application of a Bengali user interface may help to ensure the productivity of ICT use by SMEs in Bangladesh. Establishing a favourable national technology infrastructure and legal environment may contribute positively to improving the overall situation. This study also suggests some changes and modifications in the country’s existing policies and strategies. The government and policy makers should undertake mass promotional programs to disseminate information about the various uses of computers and their contribution in developing better organisational performance. Organising specialised training programs for SME capacity building may succeed in attaining the motivation for SMEs to use ICT. Ensuring easy access to the technology by providing loans, grants and subsidies is important. Various stakeholders, partners and related organisations should come forward to support government policies and priorities in order to ensure the productive use of ICT among SMEs which finally will help to foster Bangladesh’s economic development.

The current study aims to advance the understanding of the role of performance measurement systems (PMS) in the improvement of companies’ performance, as well to contribute to the limited knowledge of this issue in transition economies. In order to do so, performance effects of PMS are examined, testing both dominant approaches: the performance measurement diversity view and performance measurement alignment view.

A survey using questionnaire was conducted on a sample of large- and medium-sized manufacturing companies in Serbia.

The results of the research support the performance measurement diversity view, as we found evidence that a broader scope PMS is positively associated with performance. However, we also found partial support for the influence of the strategy–PMS alignment on performance.

This study investigates the complex mechanism of PMS effect on performance in a particular context – the transition economy. Moreover, this study represents a pioneering attempt to evaluate the state of performance measurement practice in Serbia and is one of the rare studies of this type on transition economies.

This research aimed to verify how the performance measurement system (PMS) and the quality management system (QMS) work in small and medium Brazilian enterprises in the light of the typology proposed by Garengo (2009).

Using a qualitative approach PMS’s and QMS’s managers were interviewed. The data from the first interview were analyzed using the technique of content analysis and have been subsequently triangulated with other data collected. The study was conducted by means of two questionnaires, two semi-structured interviews, and the analysis of the performance measures used by five small/medium manufactures based in the State of São Paulo.

It was found that in four out of five companies, PMS does not function singly, but along with QMS, mainly with respect to performance indicators. In spite of that intrinsic operation, the systems are in different stages of evolution. It was also found that in three out of five companies, quality management area is responsible for coordinating the process of PMS use, without effective participation from the controlling and/or accounting areas in this process.

The typology of Garengo (2009), used to check the stage of the PMS, was validated and can be used by practitioners to diagnose and improve the PMS in their enterprises; companies with QMS certified by ISO, particularly with higher degree of quality management maturity, can be encouraged to implement or improve the PMS in their organizations.

Purpose – The notion of output (Bouckaert, 2005; OECD, 2007) is more and more widespread in the performance measurement systems in the public sector. More generally, several reforms are promoting the implementation of key indicators such as management by objectives and quality management.

Our study introduces a first reflection about a performance measurement model of output based on the Theory of Constraints (TOC) in one public administration. The particularity of our model is the combination of theoretical design and practical implementation. Thus, an adjustment stage has been achieved in order to reach a realistic and sturdy model. It is also an opportunity to test the TOC indicators system, which is becoming prevalent in research activities (Davies & Mabin, 2009).

Methodology/approach – First of all, we present a literature review, which associates the concept of output, the TOC, and the notion of performance in a public administration. After that, we explain the design stage to define the key performance indicators.

During a two-month test phase, this measurement system was implemented in one public administration in Luxembourg; data were collected to draw up a dashboard. Subsequently, the model was adjusted in order to fit with the practice and observed cases.

Findings – We consider the limits of this measurement system, especially on certain aspects like the compliance with law. Furthermore, we show the major contribution of our model based on the TOC, which is to move from one local optimum to a global optimum.

Originality/value of paper – Thus, this publication highlights a model of performance measurement in a public administration, and the results of its implementation. It emphasizes the practical value of these indicators, the decision-making efficiency, and the appropriate level of use. The measurement model based on the TOC had a high interest for operational as well as for the managerial staff.