I believe that the most appropriate way to begin this project is to remark that
all the work and the effort I have put into this paper has been possible thanks to the
University of Bologna, which has been responsible for providing me with all the
information and tools needed to deepen in the subject. In fact, my project could be
considered as a collaboration or contribution to a larger project being developed by
the University of Bologna and the University of Warwick, whose principal objective is
to analyse the relationship between the use of performance measurement systems
(PMS) made by Italian companies and their ability to innovate.
Nevertheless, in particular, the purpose of this paper is to realise which PMS
tools are being used by these Italian companies, as well as which type of use they are
giving to them and what kind of performance they obtain. Moreover, I will delve into
the study of possible correlations between the different uses and performances in
order to discern if any specific use leads to an improvement in a particular
performance.
In regard to the scope of this project, 153 enterprises from Italy are involved in
the study. As we shall discuss below, there are a wide variety of companies in terms of
sectors to which they belong, annual turnover or number of employees, among others.
Concerning the method whereby all the information was collected, a
questionnaire was performed. It was a scientific statistical survey with an estimated
time to complete it of around 10 minutes. The questionnaire was divided into 5
sections. In the first section, there were 20 questions about the uses of performance
measurement systems, as well as an introductory question in which every company
had to indicate which tools of PMS they are using. The second section was focused on
questions of innovation. 24 questions were asked. In the third section, a total of 17
questions referring to performance were included. The aim of fourth section was to
inquire about the competitive environment with 14 different questions. Finally, a fifth
section was incorporated (17 questions) in which only general information was
required. Every company had to answer all the questions with a number between 1
and 7 to show disagreement (represented by the number 1) or agreement (represented by the number 7). Once all the 153 companies completed the
questionnaire, a database in excel with all the information was created. I must expose
that all this arduous work was done by the University of Bologna and the University of
Warwick. My role in this project is to analyse the database in different ways with excel
tools.
To start with, I will explain some of the concepts that are going to be discussed
throughout the paper. Then, I shall present all the companies in the database in terms
of size, turnover, location or sector, among others. Thereupon, the PMS tools will be
introduced from different points of view. The same procedure will be followed to
present the different uses that the companies give to these tools. In the end, I will go
in depth into the different performances achieved by the companies and the possible
correlations between uses and performances within the enterprises.
As will be observed later, Analytical Accounting and Budget are the most
frequently used PMS tools, whereas the most popular use of the PMS tools in general
is the diagnostic use. Regarding the performance of the companies, the operational
performance is the most achieved. Finally, it seems that, from an overall view, we can
consider that there is a meaningful correlation between uses and performances. |