A circular approach to performance measurement in SMEs

In the last 25 years, design and implementation issues have been recognized as key factors influencing PMS success; many structured methodologies for designing and implementing PMS have been proposed (Bourne et al., 2000; Kaplan and Norton, 2001, Neely et al., 2002; Thakkar et al., 2007). Different approaches have been developed which consider both the hierarchical and process views; but currently available research has mainly focused on large companies. Recently, some researchers have begun to investigate both the characteristics of the PMS used by SMEs and the factors influencing PMS adoption (Bititci et al., 2000; Hudson et al., 2001; Garengo and Bititci, 2007) however, study of PMS implementation processes is still largely neglected (Channel et al., 2000; Hudson et al., 2001). This paper seeks to contribute to filling the research gap in performance measurement system studies. The purpose is to define an innovative methodology to support the effective introduction of PMS in small and medium enterprises.