eThesis - School of Business electronic theses

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This thesis investigates how process performance measurement can be designed, implemented, used and refreshed in a large contemporary organization and what are the different forces that affect the performance measurement environment.

The thesis is conducted as a case study to a large, publicly listed, multinational industrial company where the research concentrates on a group level Purchase-to-Pay function, which coordinates, develops and ensures quality of certain accounts payable and purchasing processes.

The literature review provides insight into how performance measurement is approached in academic journals and performance measurement books. Here the focus is on theoretical frameworks, design and use of the system as well as on other factors affecting performance measurement such as different organizational cultures and employee motivation.

The empirical part is based on a single case study where a constructive research approach is used to create a performance measurement model for the case company. The findings from the empirical research are reflected against the theoretical background and a new performance measurement framework is created based on the different forces affecting the measurement system.

Based on the research, there are five main factors that affect the performance measurement system design and use: organization's vision, organizational culture and context, company infrastructure and IT, inter-organizational cooperation and stakeholder groups with diverse expectations. In addition, resource constraints are seen as a dominant factor affecting both the measurement system and all of the stakeholders involved in the environment.

Besides the forces affecting performance measurement, communication can be seen as a highly important and central factor in the creation of a successful performance measurement system. This is recognized in the background literature and receives constant support through the empirical research.