In this thesis, we first show that the performance of ranking and selection (R&S) procedures in steady-state simulations depends highly on the quality of the variance estimates that are used. We study the performance of R&S procedures using three variance estimators --- overlapping area, overlapping Cramer--von Mises, and overlapping modified jackknifed Durbin--Watson estimators --- that show better long-run performance than other estimators previously used in conjunction with R&S procedures for steady-state simulations. We devote additional study to the development of the new overlapping modified jackknifed Durbin--Watson estimator and demonstrate some of its useful properties. Next, we consider the problem of finding the best simulated system under a primary performance measure, while also satisfying stochastic constraints on secondary performance measures, known as constrained ranking and selection. We first present a new framework that allows certain systems to become dormant, halting sampling for those systems as the procedure continues. We also develop general procedures for constrained R&S that guarantee a nominal probability of correct selection, under any number of constraints and correlation across systems. In addition, we address new topics critical to efficiency of the these procedures, namely the allocation of error between feasibility check and selection, the use of common random numbers, and the cost of switching between simulated systems.

近年來，隨著國民中學相繼成立及教育經費嚴重的不足，整個國民中學的教學環境已大不如前，在這種愈來愈多公私立國民中學，搶愈來愈少的學生情況下，如何提昇學校之整體績效，將有限的資源做最有效的運用，已成為現今學校績效衡量的重要課題。 本研究採用平衡計分卡之觀念，彙整有關國民中學整體績效衡量指標，同時參考其所扮演的角色及功能，設計問卷，並針對教育人員為實證研究的對象，進行問卷調查，問卷調查所得資料運用電腦統計軟體SPSS for Windows 12.0版，以描述性統計分析、t考驗、單因子變異數分析等統計分析方法進行資料處理。研究結果顯示所有指標在國民中學教育人員的重要性認知選取上平均值都大於3.5，顯示其皆認為這些指標對於國民中學績效衡量上都非常重要。在各構面整體績效衡量指標方面，「財務構面」平均值最高，其次為「內部流程構面」、「顧客構面」、「學習與成長構面」，而「學習與成長構面」受重視程度為最低。在不同樣本特徵之重要性認知差異性分析方面，受試教育人員因性別、年齡、教育程度、現任職務、服務總年資、是否參與決策的不同而有顯著差異。 總之藉由平衡計分卡之觀念彙整成國民中學整體績效衡量指標，對教育人員所作實證性研究，萃取出教育人員之角度對績效指標重要性程度之認知情形，可提供國民中學依其自身的策略、願景按照此平衡計分卡四大構面和績效衡量指標增刪適合其學校目標所需，以建立一套策略性績效評估制度；並可作為教育主管行政機關日後建構績效衡量參考，以補救現行公立高級中等以下學校教師成績考核辦法總結性評量之缺失，藉以提昇學校總體競爭力。 關鍵字：平衡計分卡、績效衡量 / The serious deficiency of education funds in recent years, as junior high schools are established in succession, the teaching environment of the whole junior high school has already been in a greatly reduced state compared with what it used to be. Besides, more and more public and private junior high schools have to vie with each other for students that are getting fewer and fewer. Under the circumstances, how to promote the whole performance of the school and make the most effective use of the limited resources have already become important subjects that assess the performance of a school now. This research adopts the idea of the balance scorecard and gathers together the relevant indicators of the whole performance of junior high school and the role and function they act. According to those mentioned above, the questionnaire was designed and took education personnel as the target to carry out the survey. With the help of the computer software SPSS for Windows edition 12.0, all the questionnaires were analyzed by methods such as describing statistical analysis, t test, and the single factor making a variation, etc. The research shows the average of all the indicators of the choice of secondary school education personnel's importance cognition is greater than3.5, and it also shows that these indicators matter much to the performance of junior high school. As for the indicators in each perspective of the whole performance, the “Financial Perspective” gets the highest average, and then the ”Internal Business Process Perspective”, the “Customer Perspective”, and the “Learning and Growth Perspective.” The “Learning and Growth Perspective” receives the least attention of all. In the discrepancy analysis on importance cognition under different samples, the target varies with the sex, age, education degree, rank, year in service, and decision participating. To sum up, by gathering together the indicators of the whole performance of junior high school with the idea of the balance scorecard, studying the real examples about education personnel, extracting out the cognitive situation of the importance of performance indicators from education personnel’s viewpoint, this research can offer a junior high school to establish a set of tactical performance assessment system according to the school’s strategies and visions which are suggested by the four perspectives of the balance scorecard and the perform indicators. Furthermore, it can also be a reference for the administration of education to set up the performance assessment system in the future which may be a remedy for the current assessment of the teachers under the public high schools and promote the overall competitiveness of the school. Key words: Balance scorecard, Performance measures

Bakgrund och problem: Under de senaste åren har antalet företagsförvärv ökat kraftigt. Det ses numera som ett vanligt alternativ för att få företag att växa. Med dessa förvärv uppkommer ett behov av att integrera de sammanslagna verksamheterna, något som inte alltid är så enkelt. Det är flera faktorer som behöver sammanfalla för att nå en lyckad integration. En viktig faktor är kommunikation, som är en nyckel för att förmedla såväl målbild som prestationer inom koncernen. Kommunikationen kan ske med hjälp av flera verktyg och ofta används rapporter för att förmedla såväl ekonomisk ställning som information kring den operativa verksamheten. Syfte: Uppsatsen syftar till att genom empiri beskriva samt genom teori förklara problematik vid kommunikation av prestationsmått, med fokus på integrationsprocessen vid företagsförvärv. För att vidare identifiera faktorer som spelar in vid kommunikation av prestationsmått. Metod: Uppsatsen grundas i en empiridriven ansats och en kvalitativ forskningsinriktning. Vi har valt att använda semi-strukturerade intervjuer i insamlingen av empiriskt material. Urvalet grundas i det fallföretag som vi arbetat med under studien. Under arbetet med uppsatsen har vi också tagit hänsyn till faktorer så som etiska överväganden och kvalitetsmått. Slutsats: Det har dragits slutsatser kring faktorer som vi genom teori och empiri funnit spelar in vid kommunikation av prestationsmått. Några av de faktorer vi funnit har en betydande roll är problem i integrationsprocessen, kultur, arbetsätt, val av prestationsmått och informationsmängd. Vi kan konstatera att kommunikationen av prestationsmått berör flera delar av verksamheten och därigenom riskerar att bidra till problem i integrationsprocessen i de fall förmedling av prestationer inte fungerar. Vilket innebär att de faktorer som vi lyft är komponenter som är värdefulla att ta hänsyn till för att skapa den kommunikation av prestationsmått som koncernen eftersträvar. / Background: Mergers and acquisitions have been increasing during the last couple of years and are now considered a common method to make business grow. Along with the acquisitions it is necessary to integrate the merged companies, a process that is not always that easy. There are several parts that must go together in order to reach successful integration. One of these factors is communication, which is a key part in conveying company goals and accomplishments within a group of companies. There are several ways to communicate performance, where reports are a frequently used tool, in order to convey both the financial position as information regarding the operational activities. Purpose: The paper aims to through empirical data describe and through theory explain problems in communicating performance measures, focusing on the integration of company acquisitions. To further identify factors to take into account when communicating performance measures. Method: The paper is based on an empirical-driven approach and a qualitative research approach. We have chosen to use semi-structured interviews in the collection of empirical data. The selection is based on the case company we worked with during the study. During the work with the paper we also took into account factors such as ethical considerations and quality measures. Conclusions: Through this study we have drawn conclusions about the factors that we through theoretical and empirical findings have seen companies take into account in the communication of performance measures. Some of the factors we found to have a significant role are problems in the integration process, culture, way of working, the selection of performance measures and the amount of information. We can conclude that the communication of performance measures affect several parts of the business and thereby run the risk of contributing to problems in the integration process in the cases where the communication regarding performances is not working. This means that the factors that we found are valuable to take into account to create the communication of performance measures that the group of companies requires

Cognitive appraisal is a pivotal construct that has been identified in determining the stress response and coping response. Researchers have shown specific physiological outcomes of initial cognitive appraisals that are taken more as a threat or a challenge. Cognitive appraisal is known to fluctuate, but little is known about what influences these cognitive re-appraisals. While it has been theorized that changes in physiological arousal might impact cognitive re-appraisals, there is little support for this return pathway. Performance with the stressor has however been indicated as impacting cognitive reappraisals. The studies presented here tested the relationships between cognitive appraisal, cognitive re-appraisal, coping response, performance measures, and changes in physiology. A computerized digit-symbol reaction time task presented to participants as "an IQ test" yielded performance measures, while heart rate and mean arterial blood pressure were recorded, as were measures of participants' cognitive appraisal of the stressor. Participants were both male and female undergraduates with 28 in the first study and 71 in the second study. Results from both studies indicate that the initial cognitive appraisal predicted the coping response as self-reported after the task. Initial cognitive appraisal also predicted more than a third of the variance observed in cognitive re-appraisal. The performance measure, percent correct, predicted an additional 15% of the variance. Neither heart rate nor mean arterial pressure was found to influence the cognitive re-appraisal at the end of the task. The second study also had a subjective performance measure and another cognitive re-appraisal after three minutes of rest. Tests indicated that the subjective percent correct predicted over 15% of the variance of cognitive re-appraisal, subsuming the objective measure of percent correct. The second study also found only one physiological measure, the stress response’s mean arterial pressure, predicted 4% of the variance of the latter cognitive re-appraisal. Results identify the initial appraisal of, and the perception of performance with a stressful task as the primary targets for interventions promoting more effective coping and positive emotions. Future research is discussed that can address the limitations of these studies and investigate other environmental and personal factors that may influence cognitive appraisals. / text

This research contributes to improved risk analysis of performance measure forecasts in road safety engineering by designing and applying a method to characterize uncertainty associated with forecast input data in cases where input uncertainty is not known. The research applies this method to quantify uncertainty in three categories of inputs used in risk analysis of performance measure forecasts in road safety engineering: (1) estimates of pedestrian exposure to collision risk; (2) estimates of vehicular exposure to collision risk; and (3) estimates of engineering economics parameters that assign valuations to mortality risk reductions based on individual willingness to pay. The common methods used in each of these categories are repeated comparisons of input ground truth to input estimations, the use of simulation approaches (e.g. the simulation of short-term counts by sampling permanent count data), and the use of non-parametric techniques to characterize input uncertainty. Some highlights of quantified input uncertainty levels include: (1) when obtaining pedestrian risk exposure estimates at a site in Winnipeg, MB by expanding two-hour short-term counts using the National Bicycle and Pedestrian Documentation Project method, 90% of errors are between 62% and 170%; (2) when obtaining estimates of vehicle exposure to collision risk by expanding two 48-hour counts using the individual permanent counter method for Manitoba highways, 92 % of errors are between 9.5% and 10.8%; and (3) when applying an income-disaggregated transfer function to estimate value of a statistical life for road safety in developing countries, 90% of errors are between 53% and 54%. The results provide further detail on the structure of these input uncertainties. Analytic and computational capabilities in forecasting and risk analysis have advanced beyond our understanding of corresponding input uncertainty levels; this research closes some of this gap and enables better risk analysis of performance measure forecasts in road safety engineering.

Pequenas e médias empresas (PMEs) cumprem um importante papel no desenvolvimento econômico e social das nações: geram riquezas, empregos e produzem inovação. Empresas como Apple® e Microsoft®, maiores do mundo na atualidade, já figuraram na dimensão dessas empresas. Entretanto, compreender a dinâmica desse universo empresarial tem se revelado um desafio para a pesquisa acadêmica. No contexto mundial constata-se que em torno de 25% das empresas nascentes sobrevivem menos de dois anos e, em torno de 50%, menos de cinco. O objetivo desta Tese consistiu em identificar e testar os fatores que determinam a sobrevivência e o desempenho de PMEs. A amostra foi formada por 410 empresas da região centro-sul do Estado do Paraná, sendo 74 empresas inativas (não sobreviventes) e 336 ativas (sobreviventes). A medida de desempenho resultou de oito indicadores, e foi testada sob três modalidades: a) sobrevivência versus não sobrevivência; b) grupos: não sobreviventes, sobrevivência marginal e alto desempenho, e; c) desempenho como variável contínua. As variáveis independentes foram distribuídas em oito dimensões: capital humano, capital social, características gerenciais, condições do ambiente, características organizacionais, motivação e percepção do risco, demografia pessoal e tamanho que, por sua vez, formaram as oito hipóteses declaradas no estudo. As inferências foram realizadas no contexto de cada uma das dimensões e em relação ao conjunto geral, mediante utilização das estatísticas análise fatorial, regressão linear múltipla e regressão logística. Das oito dimensões, seis (capital humano, capital social, características gerenciais, condições do ambiente, características organizacionais e tamanho) apresentaram pelo menos um indicador influente, e tiveram a hipótese nula rejeitada. A maior densidade nas evidências foi apresentado pelo modelo logístico geral (R2 = 75%) onde o suporte governamental, experiência ocupacional, capital social, sazonalidade e a qualificação dos empregados foram os indicadores que apresentaram maior poder discriminatório, demonstrando que as chances de sobrevivência de PMEs aumentam com a melhora desses fatores. Pelo modelo multinomial (R2 = 80%) constatou-se que o planejamento antes da abertura da empresa, a disponibilidade de recursos, o acesso ao crédito e as fontes e os custos de financiamento de curto prazo apresentaram maior capacidade de discriminação, demonstrando que o empobrecimento e a deterioração das características gerenciais e de fatores de capital social diminuem a probabilidade da empresa sobreviver ou de obter elevado desempenho. Na regressão linear (R2 = 42%) a qualificação dos empregados (32%) e o suporte governamental (22%) melhor explicaram o desempenho de PMEs. Constatou-se, ainda, que aproximadamente 35% das variáveis influentes estão associadas com a fase anterior à abertura da empresa, como: planejamento ou plano de negócio, experiências e disponibilidade de capital. / Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) play an important role in economic and social development of nations: they generate wealth, jobs and innovation. Companies like Apple® and Microsoft®, the world\'s largest today, have already appeared in the size of these companies. However, understanding the dynamics of these enterprises has proven a challenge for academic research. In the international context it appears that about 25% of new companies survive less than two years, and about 50%, less than five. The aim of this study consisted in to identify and test the factors that determine the survival and performance of SMEs. The sample consisted of 410 companies in the central southern State of Paraná, including 74 inactive companies (non-survivors) and 336 active (survivors). The performance measure resulted from eight indicators, and was tested in three ways: a) survival versus non-survival b) groups: no survivors, marginal survival and high performance, and; c) performance as a continuous variable. The independent variables were divided into eight dimensions: human capital, social capital, managerial characteristics, environmental conditions, organizational characteristics, motivation and perceived risk, personal demographics and size, that, in turn, formed the eight hypothesis reported in the study. Inferences were made in the context of each of the dimensions and in relation to the general assembly by use of statistical factor analysis, multiple linear regression and logistic regression. Of the eight dimensions, six (human capital, social capital, managerial characteristics, environmental conditions, organizational characteristics and size) had at least one influential indicator, and had rejected the null hypothesis. The highest density was presented by the general logistic model (R2 = 75%) where government support, occupational experience, capital, seasonality and quality of staff were indicators that showed greater discriminatory power, demonstrating that the chances of survival of SMEs increase with the improvement of these factors. By multinomial model (R2 = 80%) found that planning before of the opening of the company, the availability of resources, access to credit and the sources and costs of short-term financing had higher capacity discrimination, demonstrating that the impoverishment and deterioration of managerial characteristics and factors of capital decrease the likelihood of the company surviving or get high performance . In OLS regression (R2 = 42%) the quality of staff (32%) and government support (22%) best explained the performance of SMEs. It was noted also that about 35% of influential variables are associated with earlier stage the opening of the company, such as planning or business plan, experience and availability of capital.

O presente estudo apresentou os objetivos de: desenvolver lista de indicadores para compor modelo de avaliação de desempenho para as CEs e após verificar sobre o uso e finalidade dos indicadores CEs, na sequência foi verificado sobre a existência de correlação (associação) dos indicadores com as finalidades de tomada de decisão estratégica, monitoramento e controle, educação e aprendizagem, legitimidade e comunicação externa, e por fim foi verificado sobre as finalidades mais relevantes no uso dos indicadores nas CEs. O desenvolvimento metodológico do estudo ocorreu em três etapas, sendo que na primeira e segunda etapa a pesquisa se caracterizou como do tipo exploratória, com dados coletados por meio das técnicas de pesquisa de grupo focal e Delphi e a terceira etapa da pesquisa foi do tipo descritiva e correlacional, com dados coletados por meio de pesquisa Survey. A primeira etapa do estudo iniciou a partir da relação teórica de trinta e quatro indicadores, que por meio da pesquisa de grupo focal junto a cooperativa Creluz foi possível acrescentar outros trinta e três indicadores de uso das CEs. Estes indicadores foram distribuídos nas seguintes dimensões: econômico-financeira, eficiência operacional, pessoas e inovação, qualidade técnica e comercial, satisfação do consumidor, relacionamento com associados e benefícios sociais e ambientais. Na segunda etapa do estudo, os 67 (sessenta e sete) indicadores foram submetidos a apreciação de quinze especialistas em eletrificação por meio da técnica de pesquisa Delphi, tendo em vista selecionar os indicadores mais importantes (privilegiados) para compor um modelo de avaliação de desempenho para as CEs - MADCE. Os especialistas indicaram quarenta e um indicadores para compor o modelo de avaliação de desempenho. Na sequência na terceira etapa do estudo os quarenta e um indicadores do modelo de avaliação, foram submetidos por meio de um instrumento de coleta de dados junto as CEs, tendo em vista: i) verificar sobre o uso e as finalidades de uso dos indicadores pelas diretorias das CEs, ii) verificar sobre o grau de associação/correlação do uso dos indicadores com as finalidades de tomada de decisão estratégica, monitoramento e controle, legitimidade, educação e aprendizagem e comunicação externa, e iii) verificar sobre as finalidades mais relevantes no uso dos indicadores. Os resultados demonstram que os indicadores que compõe o modelo de avaliação são quase sempre e sempre utilizados pelas CEs, com níveis de uso variando de 0,49 a 0,87 de uma escala de zero a um. Os indicadores mais utilizados pelas CEs fazem parte das dimensões que retratam sobre a eficiência operacional, o relacionamento com associados e econômico-financeiros. Quanto às finalidades das informações dos indicadores pelas diretorias, os resultados demonstram que os indicadores possuem os seguintes propósitos: i) para o monitoramento e controle (0,70), ii) para a tomada de decisão estratégica (0,67), iii) para a comunicação externa (0,66), iv) para a legitimidade (0,63) e v) para a educação e aprendizagem (0,62) de uma escala de zero a um. Após verificou-se sobre os graus de correlação (associação) dos indicadores com as finalidades descritas. Os resultados demonstram correlações fortes e positiva dos indicadores (variáveis) com a tomada de decisão estratégica e monitoramento e controle e correlação moderada e positiva com a educação e aprendizagem, legitimidade e comunicação externa. Por fim, foi possível verificar sobre as finalidades mais relevantes em função da frequência do número de correlações fortes. Os resultados demonstram que as finalidades mais relevantes no uso dos indicadores são as seguintes, pela ordem: tomada de decisão estratégica, monitoramento e controle, legitimidade e educação, aprendizagem e comunicação externa. / The present study has the following objectives: develop list of indicators to compose model performance evaluation for ECs and after checking on the use and purpose of the indicators ECs following was found on the correlation (association) with the indicators purposes of strategic decision making, monitoring and control, education and learning, legitimacy and external communication, and ultimately was found on the most important purposes in the use of indicators in ECs. The methodological development of the study occurred in three stages, with the first and second stage of the study was regarded as exploratory type, with data collected by the techniques of focus group research and Delphi and the third stage of the research was descriptive and correlational, with data collected through Survey Research. The first phase of the study started from the theoretical relationship of thirty-four indicators that through focus group research with the cooperative Creluz could add another thirty-three indicators of use of ECs. These indicators were distributed in the following dimensions: economic and financial, operational efficiency, people and innovation, technical and commercial quality, consumer satisfaction, and relationship with associated social and environmental benefits. In the second stage of the study, 67 (sixty seven) indicators underwent assessment of fifteen experts electrification through the Delphi survey technique, in order to select the most important indicators (privileged) to compose a model of performance evaluation for ECs - MADCE. Experts indicated forty-one indicators to compose the model performance evaluation. Following the third stage of the study the forty-one indicators of the evaluation model, submitted by an instrument to collect data from the ECs, in order to: i) check on the use and purpose of use of indicators by boards of ECs, ii) check on the degree of association / correlation of the use of indicators for the purposes of strategic decision making, monitoring and control, legitimacy, education and learning and external communication, and iii) check on the most important purposes in use of indicators. The results demonstrate that the indicators that make up the evaluation model are almost always used by CEs and always with use levels ranging from 0.49 to 0.87 on a scale of zero to one. The indicators used by more ECs are part of the dimensions that portray on operational efficiency, relationships with associates and economic-financial. As for information purposes by the boards of the indicators, the results show that the indicators have the following purposes: i) to monitor and control (0.70), ii) for strategic decision making (0.67), iii) for external communication (0.66), iv) to the legitimacy (0.63) ev) for education and learning (0.62) on a scale from zero to one. After it was found on the degrees of correlation (association) of the indicators for the purposes described. The results show strong correlations and positive indicators (variables) with strategic decision making and monitoring and control and moderate and positive correlation with education and learning, legitimacy and external communication. Finally, it was possible to check on the most relevant purposes depending on the frequency of the number of strong correlations. The results show that the most important purpose in the use of indicators are as follows, in order: strategic decision making, monitoring and control, legitimacy and education, learning and external communication.

Manufacturing enterprises are a key driver of economic growth (Eurostat, 2016). Implementing continuous improvement (CI) is commonly used to increase competitiveness (Hyland et al., 2007), but despite the well-known theory of CI, many manufacturing companies fail in implementing it (Bhasin, 2012; Nordin et al., 2012; Tiwari et al., 2007). An identified critical success factor in CI implementation is the evaluation of performance, including the performance evaluation system itself, the linkage between targets at different company levels, and continual evaluation of performance (Bakås et al., 2011; Scherrer-Rathje et al., 2009; Ukko et al., 2009). Another critical success factor in CI implementation is the communication of performance measures (Bakås et al., 2011; Ukko et al., 2009). This research explores the communication of performance measures. The aim is to support CI by improving the communication of performance measures, and to this end, this thesis concentrates on identifying the main challenges in the communication of performance measures supporting CI. The research scope is manufacturing companies in general, and manufacturing SMEs in particular. The relevant literature concerning the communication of performance measures in manufacturing companies is identified and summarized. Also, current practice is explored, focusing on how performance measures are communicated in manufacturing companies, and whether and how the communication supports CI. This has been done to identify divergences between current practice and theory. Finally, theory and empirical findings are synthesized to identify some of the main challenges to be addressed in order to succeed in CI. The main task is to support CI efforts in manufacturing SMEs, eliminating the identified divergences in the communication of performance measures by adapting these measures to these manufacturing SMEs. These challenges can be summarized as follows:  - using both financial performance measures as well as objective and subjective, non-financial performance measures  - aligning performance measures with strategy and targets  - integrating all performance measure communication, as related to both daily performance and CI, in the same communication loop.  - forming two-way communication channels between managers and operators  - aligning oral and written communication channels  - exploring how information systems can facilitate the communication of performance measures  - using and optimizing the visual communication of performance measures / <p>I avhandlingen ingår även följande publikationer:</p><p>Larsson, C., Strand, M., Persson, A., &amp; Syberfeldt, A., 2017. Communicating continuous improvement in manufacturing SMEs: Divergences between current practice and theory. Published at PMAA 2017 Conference “New Approaches, Changed Understandings”. Dunedin, New Zeeland, 2017.</p><p>Larsson, C., 2017. How to visualize performance measures in a manufacturing SME. Accepted for publication in Measuring Business Excellence.</p><p>Larsson, C., &amp; Syberfeldt, A., 2016. Communicating performance measures - current practice in manufacturing SMEs. Submitted to International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management.</p>

Abstract This dissertation aims to provide an extensive picture of management accounting systems and explore the relationships between management accounting systems, strategy, information technology, manufacturing technology and organizational performance. The dissertation consists of four essays. The first essay focuses on the adoption and benefits of management accounting practices, whereas the second essay studies the relations between customer-focused strategy, performance measurement techniques, information technology and their link to customer performance. The third essay studies the relations between manufacturing technology, information technology, strategy and organizational performance. The fourth essay, in turn, studies the management accounting systems and their relations to strategy and information technology. The first three essays employ the survey method while the last essay employs the case method. The framework used in this dissertation is the contingency theory. The results indicate that financial performance measures will be important in the future and that greater emphasis will be placed on contemporary management accounting practices such as customer satisfaction surveys and employee attitudes. Also, the relative benefits from the previous three years and the future emphasis in the next three years are generally greater when the size of the firm increases. The results show that there is a significant association between customer performance and the three-way interaction involving customer-focused strategy, contemporary performance measures and advanced information technology. The proposed three-way interaction between financial performance measures, customer-focused strategy and advanced information technology is not supported at conventional levels of statistical significance indicating that financial measures are not important in the model. The results also indicate that contemporary performance measures do not help highly customer-focused firms to achieve customer performance. For firms with a low customer-focus, emphasizing contemporary performance measures and advanced information technology assists in enhancing customer performance. The results also suggest that manufacturing technology and information technology together help firms to improve their organizational performance regardless of their emphasis on differentiation strategy.

Master of Science / Department of Agricultural Economics / Elizabeth Yeager / The main objective of this analysis was to examine the profitability and efficiency of Kansas farms in order to draw inferences among the profitability, efficiency, and growth of agricultural producers in Kansas. The time period analyzed was 2005 to 2015. Farms in the sample include a mix of 564 crop and/or livestock operations with 11 years of continuous data through the Kansas Farm Management Association data-bank. Efficiency scores were calculated to determine how close each farm was to the production possibilities frontier, or their cost efficiency. Profitability measures, (operating profit margin and return on assets), were obtained for each farm. The profitability dynamics in 2014 and 2015 for these farms changed compared to previous years. Crop farms generated less profits in 2014 and 2015 compared to previous years, and relative profits from average fluctuated more for sampled farms in 2014 and 2015. Farms were also categorized into risk classes. These classifications aim at distinguishing farms that are profitable or not, and their level of solvency, utilizing their net farm income from operations and their debt to asset ratio. Farms are migrating from the low risk classification, showing that Kansas farms are becoming less profitable, but are not transitioning to a higher risk solvency state. These farms will need to focus on utilizing their inputs more efficiently to keep their solvency levels in check. After analyzing persistence in profitability, the results suggest that farms with higher return on assets tend to be more solvent, but farms with higher operating profit margin tend to be less solvent. The analysis also suggests that there might have been persistence in profits in the years prior to 2015. The analysis of relative positioning of farms in terms of return on assets suggests that during 2007-2011 some farms were able to consistently differentiate themselves by generating either below or above normal profits. Some farms were able to become more profitable in 2012 and 2013, while others lagged behind supported by regression results that signaled divergence of profitability levels. The relative positioning analysis for operating profit margin indicates that farms had similar operating profit margins from 2010 through 2014, and divergence occurred in 2015 by farms that were able to differentiate themselves more through the average operating profit margin. Next the efficiencies of the farms were examined. Analysis of the efficiency scores suggests that the cost efficiencies of Kansas farms are not explained by risk classification significantly, but the crop-labor percentage ratio significantly explains the cost efficiency of the farms. The relationship between cost efficiency and profitability measures proved to be the strongest out of the three performance measures due to their correlation. The final step in the analysis was to examine farm characteristics of the top performing farms. Farms were ranked by profitability measurements and the efficiency measure. Variables of interest that were significantly different between the top 25 percent and the bottom 25 percent of farms include total farm assets, value of farm production, crop-labor percentage, crop acres, number of workers, and age of operators.