The main objective of this thesis is to evaluate the performance of selected production company and subsequent implementation of the model Balanced Scorecard as a strategic tool for performance management. The first part deals with the theoretical knowledge in the field of measuring corporate performance. At the end of the theoretical model is depicting the BSC. The analytical part is devoted to the implementation of the Balanced Scorecard, identification of risks and costs associated with the project and the evaluation of the benefits arising from the implementation of the proposed project.

This master´s thesis deals his issue of company performance measurement. In the first part there is given theoretical framework of this topic. The practical part contains analysis of the current situation of the company with two competitors. Based on the analysis there are proposing measures, which will contribute to improving business performance.

This study explores the leadership role of the Head of Department (HoD) in the teaching of Mathematics.It focuses on the perspectives that the educators hold about the leadership role of HoDs in the teaching of Mathematics in two Gauteng primary schools.The study was framed by the following research question: What perspectives do educators hold about the leadership role of the HoD in the teaching of Mathematics in primary schools? A qualitative case study was employed whereby data were collected in two primary schools in Gauteng Province. To examine the relevance and clarityinterview questions used, a pilot study wasat first conducted in which one HoD and one teacher were interviewed.For the actual study, ten individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with four HoDs, two principals and four teachers in two township schools in a Gauteng district. Documents such as monitoring instruments of HoDs were also collected and analysed for purposes of triangulation. Key findings were that HoDsnever received any formal preparation to lead the teaching of Mathematics. They learned about the role by participating in professional development activities offered by outside actors, upgrading themselves, assisting the Education district department in facilitating workshops for teachers as well as serving as acting HoDs.They provided leadership by monitoring teaching and teachers’ work,checking lesson plans, doing class visits, checking learners’ books and assessment tasks and doing follow ups.Challenges that were identified in relation to the leadership role of the HoD leadership in the teaching of Mathematics includedHoDs’ lack of Mathematics knowledge (SMK) and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), lack of teaching resources, teachers’ lack of knowledge of the new curriculum, a heavy workload, overcrowded classrooms, demotivated teachers, teacher absenteeism and too much paperwork.The perceived strategies that were used by HoDsto address challenges includedthe following:engaging in discussions with teachers in an attempt to collectively find solutions, substituting absent teachers, taking work home, using the expertise of other teachers through delegation, leading by example by presenting lessons for teachers, making learners their first priority followed by paperwork as well as engaging with some stakeholders for support. The following were the recommendations: there should be more clarity about what is expected of HoDs.Sufficient time should be allocated in order for HoDs to be able to balance their leadership duties and teaching effectively;current as well as prospective HoDs should be trained in both the subject in which they are expected to provide leadership as well as the generic leadership part of their job.HoDs should involve Mathematics teachers in the development of the monitoring tools since Mathematics teachers are familiar with a sensible blend of tools, methodologies and approaches that can meet the needs of their learners.HoDs should also be developed on what they should look for as they monitor teachers’ work.In that way they may be able to effectively use the results of their monitoring to support teachers.A final recommendation is that the workload of HoDs be reduced through the allocation of administrative tasks to school administrators and appointing paid HoD assistants such as subject heads. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / gm2014 / Education Management and Policy Studies / unrestricted

Le rôle de l’intelligence économique et stratégique (IES) est maintenant reconnu. Cependant, malgré le développement des pratiques dans les entreprises, des doutes quant à l’efficacité des dispositifs d’IES semblent subsister. Aussi notre recherche propose une contribution à la mesure de l’efficacité de l’IES qui a été très peu étudiée dans la littérature. En l’absence d’une méthodologie disponible pour effectuer cette évaluation, nous avons créé un système de mesure qui repose sur les possibilités offertes par la modélisation de la mise en œuvre du concept d’IES et l’élaboration d’un protocole d’analyse. Plusieurs configurations du modèle ont d’abord été générées à partir de deux critères relatifs à la formation du personnel à l’IES et à l’évaluation des dispositifs d’IES au sein de l’entreprise. Ces configurations ont été ensuite opérationnalisées en utilisant le terrain empirique des entreprises innovantes du secteur de l’aéronautique et de l’espace. Ce choix est justifié par les enjeux de l’innovation et l’importance des pratiques d’IES dans ce secteur de pointe. L’option d’une étude quantitative a permis de calculer des profils de performance servant à positionner une entreprise dans un domaine qui est circonscrit par une limite basse et une limite haute et qui constitue une marge de manœuvre pour l’entreprise. Ce résultat montre la possibilité de mesurer la performance de la mise en œuvre du concept d’IES. Il permet d’envisager l’amélioration de la performance de l’entreprise à la suite de la mise en œuvre d’un processus d’IES. La modélisation de la mise en œuvre du concept d’IES permet de déduire des pistes pour améliorer encore ce processus / The role of Competitive Intelligence (CI) is now recognized. However, despite the development of practices in companies, questions remain concerning the effectiveness of the implementation of CI. Thus, our research provides a contribution to the measurement of the efficiency of CI which has seldom been studied in the literature. In the absence of an available methodology to conduct this evaluation, we created a system of measurement based on the possibilities offered by modeling the implementation of the CI concept and the development of an analysis protocol. Several model configurations were first generated from two criteria based on training of personnel in CI and on the evaluation of CI within the company. These configurations were then put into operation in the empirical field of innovative companies in the aeronautics and aerospace sector. This choice is justified by the importance of innovation and the importance of CI practices in this sector. Conducting a quantitative study allowed us to compute performance profiles for situating businesses in an area bounded by upper and lower limits which provide a certain flexibility for the company. These results show the possibility of measuring the performance of the implementation of the CI concept. It allows businesses to consider improving performance by following the implementation of the CI process. The modeling of the implementation of the CI concept will allow us to deduce future ways to improve this process

The paper refers to the discussion of measuring and assessing knowledge capital. In particular, the interconnectedness of the intangible resources in organizations is not well represented in the methodical approaches. Moreover, the identification of driver resources which is strongly connected with this question is far from being solved in a satisfactory manner. Therefore, this article reviews existing methods of the scenario analysis in view of the performance measurement discussion and contributes towards an advanced analysis of resources in organizations.

Title: Key Performance Indicators - Refine, adjust or remove Level: Final assignment for bachelor's degree in business administration. Author: Isabelle Nilsson and Maria Bäckström  Supervisor: Niklas Bomark Date: Autumn - 20  Aim: The aim of this study is to seek understanding of how the change process of KPIs works and whether information asymmetry and conflicts of interest can arise in the interaction between managers and group leaders in process. Method: The study is based on a qualitative research design and an interpretive hermeneutic research methodology. The empirics are collected through semi-structured interviews with managers and group leaders in a fintech company. A total of 4 managers and 5 team leaders have contributed to the content of the empirics. Secondary data have been collected from previous scientific research. The analysis is structured according to themes that have been compiled based on our research questions as well as collected data from previous research and empirics. Result & Contribution of the thesis: We have come to the conclusion that the process of changing KPIs goes through four different phases; 1. Problems are identified, 2. Measures are taken, 3. Delegation and 4. Evaluation. In connection with this, we have seen that conflicts of interest and/or information asymmetry can arise between managers and group leaders, which should be taken into account in the change process. The study has also found that conflicts of interest may in themselves cause a need to change KPIs. Suggestion for future research: - A longitudinal study could contribute to a deeper understanding of the changing process, by looking at the phenomenon for a longer time and doing repeated analyzes to detect any deviations or patterns. - The possibilities of the study could be broadened by not only measuring the end goal but also the ongoing process in sales, and for example look at factors such as customer satisfaction, returning customers or customer recommendations and references.

Der steigende Effizienzdruck in der Automobilindustrie führt zu der Notwendigkeit bereits in der frühen Planungsphase umfassende Aussagen in Bezug auf die Leistungsfähigkeit des entworfenen Systems zu machen. In der vorliegenden Arbeit wird für den Fertigungsbereich Karosseriebau ein Kennzahlensystem entwickelt, das eine fundierte Entscheidungsbasis für das Management bietet und den Fertigungsplaner mit detaillierten Informationen zur Erkennung von Schwachstellen versorgt. Zur Beherrschung des komplexen Gesamtsystems wird zunächst ein hierarchisches Prozessmodell erarbeitet, anhand dessen die wesentlichen Erfolgsfaktoren des Karosseriebaus identifiziert und parametriert werden. Die Kennzahlen werden definiert und entsprechend ihrer Ursache-Wirkungs-Beziehungen in einem durchgängigen, modularen Kennzahlensystem angeordnet. Zur Sicherung der Praxistauglichkeit werden bei der Entwicklung des Kennzahlensystems der Kennzahlenbedarf und die Kennzahlenverfügbarkeit über den Projektverlauf berücksichtigt. Die Berechnung und Komprimierung der Kennzahlen sowie die Visualisierung der Leistungsentwicklung werden in die Digitale Fabrik integriert und so der manuelle Pflegeaufwand reduziert. Der Nutzen des Kennzahlensystems in der Unternehmerischen Praxis wird anhand von Beispielen verdeutlicht und nachgewiesen.

In the early 1990s, Robert Kaplan and David Norton introduced and developed a new performance measurement and management system called the balanced scorecard (BSC). Most studies have found that evaluators tend to ignore or are not willing to use nonfinancial measures. This study attempts to examine whether the explicit linkage between the evaluator's BSC and the subordinate's BSC makes the evaluators use nonfinancial measures in performance evaluation. This study used an experimental design where subjects were asked to evaluate two managers' performance under explicit linkage versus nonexplicit linkage conditions. The difference between performance evaluation scores of the two managers under the two linkage conditions captures the influence of explicit linkage between BSCs on performance evaluation. I used regression analyses to test my hypothesis. The results of the regression analyses support my hypothesis. This study attempts to explore one possible reason for evaluators' not using nonfinancial measures much in performance evaluation. It is the first one that studies the influence of the linkage between the BSCs on performance evaluation.

Supply chain risk management (SCRM) is a topic that gains more and more interest from both the academic and practitioner’s perspective. The reason for this is the increased complexity in the global supply chain (SC) networks and many managers do not realize the risks they build in their SC by the continuous search to cut cost and decrease tied up capital. One problem with SCRM is that it is hard to measure the performance of it and if it is really beneficial to work with it. The objective for this master thesis is to investigate how companies can evaluate and thereby improve their SCRM efforts by connecting the field of SCRM to the field of performance measurement systems (PMS). First, a thorough literature search was conducted where the current literature about SCRM and PMS was examined to understand what the literature recommends. This was followed by a multiple case study including semi-structured interviews with SC managers at eight companies to get the practical aspect of the problem.The results of the research show that companies work with SCRM in many different ways. The companies that have advanced furthest are the ones that have connected their SCRM to existing key performance indicators (KPIs) and because of that they have been able to measure the results of their SCRM efforts. The top-performers had a comprehensive understanding of their risk drivers and risks that affected their SC, which was consistent with the literature. Connecting the SCRM to the PMS, the companies can better monitor how the SCRM affect the performance goals for the SC performance. Then the next step is then to connect key risk indicators (KRIs) to the key KPIs that will give managers longer time to react to potential risks. Only one company in the study had accomplished this, hence, there is a great space for improvements for many companies.

Six Sigma was developed in 1980s in manufacturing industry and became popular as a process improvement method. However, the adoption of this concept is new in construction industry and the aim of this study is to evaluate Six Sigma as a process improvement method within construction context. This thesis includes Literature Review and three interviews. Literature Review had discussed process improvement methods used in construction industry and analyzed the basic features and principles of Six Sigma. Three interviews were conducted about the basic principles of Six Sigma and Quality Concept. Interviewers are a Project Manager, Field and Cost Engineer. The approach of the interview to Six Sigma is based on quality, performance and management aspects. This study defends that there is no doubt about the positive effects of Six Sigma on construction projects. Particularly, Six Sigma can provide a broader quality concept, detailed performance measurement, coordinated and repeatable process/performance improvement. It has increased quality directly/indirectly and has positive effects on production efficiency. As a 2 management approach, Six Sigma is discussable within construction context due to differences of manufacturing and construction industry. Since construction industry includes lots of unrepeatable tasks and different process design techniques, Six Sigma does not seem applicable as a whole management approach in construction industry. Furthermore, it can be integrated to the existing management procedures of companies. Taking everything into consideration, it is obvious that Six Sigma has a lot in order to accelerate fundamental and cultural challenges construction industry needs.