Syftet med denna studie är att skapa en ökad förståelse och en klarare bild för hur de formella styrmedlen väljs och används inom kundägda företag. Studien utgår från en kvalitativ forskningsmetod där fyra intervjuer har hållits på Länsförsäkringar Göinge-Kristianstad samt Länsförsäkringar Blekinge. Vidare har även tidigare forskning i form av vetenskapliga artiklar tagits i beaktning. Vår studie har visat att kundägda bolag inte är vinstdrivande på samma sätt som andra bolagsformer. Det framkom också att om bolaget är regionalt eller lokalt känner kunderna en starkare tillhörighet till organisationen. Valet och användandet av formella styrmedel i kundägda bolag har visats sig bero på bolagsformen, marknadspositionen och att kundernas behov är det centrala.

ITC/USA 2011 Conference Proceedings / The Forty-Seventh Annual International Telemetering Conference and Technical Exhibition / October 24-27, 2011 / Bally's Las Vegas, Las Vegas, Nevada / The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Space Network (SN) consists of a Space Segment, composed of the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) fleet, and a Ground Segment that includes the White Sands Ground Terminal (WSGT), Second TDRS Ground Terminal (STGT) and the Guam Remote Ground Terminal (GRGT). Collectively, the SN Ground Segment is commonly referred to as the White Sands Complex (WSC). Traditional methods of latency and performance measurement across the component links of network have relied on the use of simplified test patterns and basic data formats that are often specific to the instruments providing the measurements. These tests do not often correlate to the operational data normally transferred through the network. This paper discusses an alternative approach to performance measurement within the Space Network. By embedding and extracting performance metrics directly within simulated data sets that closely resemble operational traffic, performance measurement can be combined with link verification and validation to provide a single, comprehensive set of test and measurement activities.

Background: Management control systems (MCS) are used to control organizations and make employees behave and act in the desirable way. Performance measurement (PM) systems one type of MCS and are used to communicate company strategies throughout the organization, motivate the employees to work towards company goals, and measure the outcome. PM systems can be a powerful tool, but if used in the wrong way they can have adverse effects. Aim: This thesis focused on the use of PM systems for management control purposes in research and development (R&D) organisations with the question: How can performance measurement systems be utilized in R&D organizations? Method: The thesis is based on a literature study, complemented by a case study (metric analysis, survey and deep interviews) at a R&D department. The department was investigated at two time points, in between which the PM system was re-designed. In the metric analysis, the performance targets of the PM system were categorized into quantitative-objective, quantitative-subjective and qualitative-subjective targets. Results: The results from the case study were in line with findings from the literature. At study point 2, when the PM system had been re-designed, the employees felt more involved in shaping and influencing the goals. Also the follow-up of the goals was experienced as more implemented at study point two. The types of measured targets had shifted from quantitative to qualitative, including soft values such as team spirit, at study point 2. However, the members did not feel that the goals motivated them at any time point. . Conclusion: In the literature review it was evident from the number of publications that there is a great interest in measuring R&D performance, and that PM systems are an important tool to R&D managers. Just as the company in this case study, each organization needs to analyze its own needs and adopt the PM system thereafter. Moreover, no system should be seen as static, instead it should be continuously evaluated and adjusted to make sure it measures what it is intended to measure and that it does not cause adverse effects on the organization.

<p>The importance of entrepreneurship has been widely acknowledged by many scholars, however, there is an argument that entrepreneurship tends to pose a unique dilemma with management accounting – a part of management control in organizations. The purpose of this paper is to find a solution for the apparent conflict between management accounting and entrepreneurship through a single case study of Litium – a new economy firm operating in information technology industry. The study of Litium reveals that a simple and solid management accounting is an effective way in order to keep management accounting in harmony with entrepreneurial spirit. This finding goes in line with the suggestion of loosely coupled management control in new economy firms by Lukka and Granlund (2003).</p><p>The paper reviews various relevant literatures so as to build a collected framework about management accounting in new economy firms. The framework then provides a guideline for empirical findings and analysis part. We acknowledged that the studies of Lukka and Granlund (2003), Granlund and Taipaleenmaki (2005), Lovstal (2001) and Morris, Allen, Schindehutte, and Avila (2006) are very useful for studying management accounting in new economy firms where entrepreneurship is highly emphasized. In addition, life-cycle perspective is also valuable to understand thoroughly the practice of management accounting in new economy firms. In accordance with the topic and the purpose of our case study, we recognized that qualitative research method is most suitable. Moreover, the interview – one type of qualitative methods – was chosen as a main tool for colleting data in our study since it can provide the authors with important insights into a situation and use-ful shortcuts to the prior history of the situation</p>

This thesis addresses the problem of the influence of a control system on the behaviour of an actor in a social or socio-technical system. In particular, the influence of a performance measurement mechanism on the behaviour of an actor and on the development of workarounds is being studied. <br /><br /> Current literature on those topics generally addresses only selected and rather obvious reasons for the existence of dysfunctional behaviour or the workarounds. However, no precise models of the cognitive processes or the explanation of the mechanisms, which govern this problem, are proposed in a satisfactory manner. In addition, most researchers have focused only on the system?s point of view of the task, paying less attention to the actors? perception of that task. Furthermore, the existing body of work mainly uses a case study format to explain the phenomenon or to validate the proposed solutions and theories. <br /><br /> In this thesis, the problem of the influence control system on the behaviour of the actor is framed in terms of four major concepts: (1) the concept of complexity of the task not being fully captured by the performance measurement mechanism; (2) the concept of an actor perceiving that extra complexity is not being captured by the system and thus choosing alternate paths other than the system-prescribed path; (3) the concept of a network of valence forces associated with alternate paths; and finally, (4) the concept of similarity judgment between the alternative paths and the system-prescribed path based on the actor?s model of the control system?s point of view. <br /><br /> This thesis develops the theoretical framework for analyzing and understanding the issues of dysfunctional behaviour and workarounds. It also presents an empirical experimental study in support of the theoretical discussion and the hypothesis. The experiment examines subjects? rating of quality, defined as a degree of similarity to a target object, of several objects on a page under various performance measurement conditions. The stimulus used for experiment was made up of two dimensional quadrangle figures, including rectangle, parallelograms and trapezes, in various shades of red colour.

Nowadays software performance is evaluated not only by specialized review companies but it is more and more starting to be a common practice for the software developers themselves. Companies are often forced to develop and maintain their own tools for measuring performance of the developed applications. On the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics there has been created a toolkit for automation of software performance evaluation called BEEN. This toolkit should significantly ease the management of individual performance measurements but it is not possible to test it thoroughly in the environment where it was created. The goal of this thesis is to deploy BEEN in a real environment of commercially oriented company and evaluate the usability of this toolkit for the developers. We will focus on evaluating both objective and subjective positives and drawbacks of this toolkit as observed by unbiased users.

M. Comm. / The aim of this study is to present a practical solution to companies for creating a mechanism whereby the conversion of organisational goals to concrete action items becomes reality. "Over the years we have seen many senior executives that believe that they have a well-developed well-understood and articulated vision that most employees buy into, but without understanding or providing an adequate mechanism with which to actually accomplish the goals" (Best, 1998: 5-9). The references made to the concepts of quality and productivity will refer to the following two definitions respectively: Quality of Organisation "As is the case so often in South Africa, it is quite possible to produce a quality product with a very ineffective and inefficient business process: the penalty that customers pay is getting a quality product which is totally overpriced in order to subsidise the inefficiencies of the business process" (Scholtz, 1998: 33-39). Productivity "The orientation of any new measures will be less concerned with the volume of output (such as the number of orders processed) and more concerned with the value-adding content of work (whether orders are processed correctly the first time and without delay)" (Hope and Hope, 1997: 191-192). Tom Peters supports the view taken on these two definitions in his book Thriving on Chaos (1987:23). Tom Peters is of the opinion that adding value will result from superior quality of products and in exceptional service and responsiveness to customers. Through experience gained in the banking, education, retail and chemical sectors, the problem of dealing with inefficient processes and not having a single accurate, timely and comprehensive source of reference information for decision-making, has been encountered on numerous occasions.

Este trabalho tem por objetivo desenvolver diretrizes para avaliar o uso dos princípios da produção enxuta (PE). Estes princípios foram identificados com base em uma revisão da literatura, enfatizando obras de autores clássicos do sistema da PE. As diretrizes foram testadas por meio de um estudo de caso em uma fábrica de pregos que faz parte de uma planta siderúrgica, que vem adotando a filosofia enxuta desde 2004. As etapas da avaliação dos princípios foram as seguintes: a) avaliar qualitativamente um conjunto de práticas da PE presentes no setor estudado; b) entrevistas com treze operadores para avaliar o seu conhecimento e uso dos princípios da PE; c) elaboração de um questionário para avaliar o uso dos princípios da PE no setor; d) aplicação do questionário junto a 44 funcionários; e) análise dos resultados e f) reunião de retorno dos questionários aos funcionários. No estudo de caso os resultados foram agrupados em quatro constructos: solução de problemas, funcionários e fornecedores externos, processo e filosofia. Os resultados mostraram que os operadores julgam conhecer e vivenciar os princípios da PE no seu dia-a-dia. Entretanto, alguns princípios, como “produzir em fluxo contínuo” e “puxar a produção”, não tiveram respaldo na etapa de observação direta do processo. De fato, embora os operadores tenham respondido nos questionários que usavam esses princípios com grande intensidade, isso não corresponde à realidade no chão de fábrica. / This work aims to develop guidelines to evaluate the use of lean production (LP) principles. These principles have been identified based on a review of the literature, emphasizing works of classic authors of the LP system. The guidelines were tested through a case study in a nail factory that is part of a steel plant, which has adopted the lean philosophy since 2004. The stages of assessment principles are as follows: a) to evaluate qualitatively a set of LP practices present in the studied factory; b) interviews with thirteen operators to assess their knowledge and use of the LP principles; c) development of a questionnaire to evaluate the use of the LP principles in the factory; d) application of the questionnaire to 44 members; e) result analysis and f) return the questionnaires results in a meeting with the employees. In the case study, results were grouped into four constructs: problem solving, staff and external suppliers, process and philosophy. The results showed that the operators assume they know and live the LP principles in their day-to-day. However, certain principles such as "to produce in continuous flow" and "pulled production", they had not support in the stage of direct observation of the process. In fact, although the operators have answered that used these principles with great intensity, that is not the reality on the factory floor.

No cenário onde a concorrência assume escalas globais e posturas cada vez mais agressivas, as empresas são forçadas a fornecerem para seus clientes, além de preços adequados, produtos/serviços com melhores níveis de qualidade, rapidez de entrega, estética, leque de opções, dentre outras. Neste sentido, as organizações precisam contemplar estas dimensões competitivas para o desenvolvimento e entrega de seus produtos/serviços.Consequentemente, seus sistemas de medição de desempenho também precisam refletir esta mudança, fornecendo informações mais adequadas para suportar o gerenciamento do negócio. Neste contexto, esta dissertação tem por objetivo apresentar uma sistemática para desenvolver indicadores de desempenho, visando suportar esta nova postura estratégica. Na condução do presente estudo foi adotado o método de pesquisa-ação. O princípio básico que guiou esta escolha foi o refinamento, por meio de discussões com o meio empresarial, de importantes idéias que orbitam no meio acadêmico sobre medição de desempenho. Esta interação permitiu elaborar uma metodologia consistente com as necessidades da era pós Produção em Massa. Valorização da visão sistêmica/contingencial, atenção dos interesses dos stakeholders, envolvimento dos usuários durante o desenvolvimento dos indicadores, estratégias para a transformação de dados em informação, foram importantes contribuições que surgiram desta interação e que acabaram incorporadas na sistemática.Uma experimentação da proposta foi apresentada, baseada no estudo de uma organização industrial. Objetivou-se ilustrar o modelo, não havendo a pretensão de validá-lo. / The global industrial scenario, wherein concurrence assumes a growing aggressive standing, companies are pushed up to deliver their customers beyond appealing prices, more accurate products/services and higher levels of deliverance effectiveness, esthetics, and options guide. Consequently, the companies' performance measurement systems shall reflect such change, being capable of providing more accurate information, in order to support the business management. Within this context, this study aims presenting a systematic approach for performance indicators development, to support this new strategic standing.For conducting this study, the action-research method was adopted. The driving basic principle is related to the need of constant improvement, by means of recurrent workshops within the industrial environment, of academic concepts that spin around performance measurement. Such opportunity of interaction provided the chance of setting up a methodology, which showed itself coherent with the post "Mass Production Era". The systemic/contingent view, the stakeholders interests, users involvement during the indicators development, and strategies for transforming data into information were important contribution that came up from this interaction, whose were finally incorporated within the proposed approach.An experimentation of the proposal is presented, based on the study of a industrial organization. It was aimed the model's illustration ,without purposes of validating it.

Este estudo propõe um método de avaliação de desempenho de práticas típicas da produção enxuta em indústrias de manufatura. As práticas utilizadas no método proposto são práticas enxutas operacionais (por exemplo, gerenciamento visual e troca rápida de ferramentas), diferentemente de estudos anteriores que focavam principalmente em práticas enxutas gerenciais. O método foi desenvolvido e testado em um estudo de caso realizado em uma empresa fabricante de juntas homocinéticas. Essa empresa vem adotando a produção enxuta (PE) como estratégia de produção em nível corporativo desde 2002. O método é composto de oito etapas: (a) uma avaliação da sua aplicabilidade, a qual implica em verificar se os objetivos das estratégias de manufatura podem ser atingidos através da produção enxuta; (b) uma avaliação preliminar do quanto a cultura organizacional é consistente com os princípios da produção enxuta – essa avaliação é feita através da aplicação de um checklist baseado em requisitos estabelecidos pelas Normas SAE J4000 e J4001; (c) entrevistas com gerentes para verificar suas percepções sobre os pontos fortes e fracos na implementação da produção enxuta – nesse estudo de caso, sete gerentes foram entrevistados: (d) aplicação de um checklist para avaliar o desempenho de um grupo de práticas enxutas, baseado na percepção de gerentes – nesse estudo de caso, sete gerentes preencheram o checklist e a média de desempenho de cada prática enxuta foi calculada; (e) o desenvolvimento de um ranking para avaliar a importância de práticas enxutas, baseadas na percepção de alguns gerentes envolvidos na etapa anterior; (f) seleção de indicadores de desempenho que possam quantificar indiretamente o desempenho de práticas enxutas, considerando os indicadores utilizados na empresa e indicadores utilizados em estudos anteriores; (g) coleta de dados referentes aos indicadores selecionados na etapa anterior ; (h) seminário para discutir os resultados coletados em todas as etapas anteriores. Os passos (g) e (h) não foram aplicados nesse estudo de caso. De forma geral, os resultados demonstraram que práticas enxutas fortemente associadas com a estabilidade básica, tais como a padronização, apresentaram desempenho fraco. / This study presents a method for assessing the performance of typical lean production practices in manufacturing industry. The practices encompassed by the proposed method are related to operational lean practices (e.g. visual management and single minute exchange of dies and tools), differently from previous similar studies that focused mostly on managerial lean practices. The method was developed and tested in a case study undertaken in a manufacturer of automobile axiles. This company has been adopting lean production as its manufacturing strategy since 2002. The method involves eight stages: (a) an assessment of its applicability, which implies checking whether the manufacturing strategy targets might be achieved through lean production; (b) a preliminary assessment of the extent to which the organizational culture is consistent with lean production principles – this assessment is made through the application of a check-list based on the requirements established by SAE J4000 and J4001 standards; (c) interviews with managers to identify their perceptions on strenghts and weaknesses of lean production implementation – in the case study, seven managers were interviewed; (d) application of a check-list to assess the performance of a set of lean practices based on managers perceptions – in the case study, seven managers filled out the check-list and an average degree of performance for each lean practice was then calculated; (e) the development of a ranking to assess the importance of lean practices, based on the perceptions of some of the same managers involved in the previous stages; (f) selection of performance indicators that could indirectly quantify the performance of lean practices, considering both the existing indicators in the company and existing indicators proposed in previous studies; (g) data gathering concerning results of the selected indicators; (h) a seminar to discuss the data collected during all the previous stages. Stages (g) and (h) were not carried out in the case study. Overall, the results pointed out that lean practices that are closely associated with basic stability, such as standardization, performed poorly.