As the field of Social Enterprises has strongly grown over two decades, the importance of Social Enterprises for the society has also grown and still developing, more and more to a third economic segment between the private and public economy. Within this study we explain how “Small and Medium sized Social Enterprises” (SMSEs) can face the increasing pressure to measure and demonstrate their impact to society and their stakeholders. We especially address the limitations in skill and resource endowment, which SMSEs most commonly face. We execute this research based on a practical and outcome-oriented method and therefore apply an overall pragmatic research philosophy. The research is further designed around a narrative strategy, with an exploratory mono method cross-sectional study. For the collection of empirical data, six semi-structured interviews were conducted with (Social) Entrepreneurs and their stakeholders. This study finds a language barrier between SMSEs and their commercial stakeholders, caused by low willingness from the Social Entrepreneurs’ side to adapt to a commercial business language. The findings of this study further imply that SMSEs are capable of using surveys to measure their performance quantitatively, in terms of in- and output. More importantly, our results suggest that these measurements, completed with additional “soft” measurements to “qualified narratives”, are sufficient to prove the SMSEs’ performance to their stakeholders. Finally, this study takes up an existing contingency model and enriches it with the revealed discoveries, to a more comprehensive measurement approach for SMSEs. It thereby contributes to the field of Social Enterprises and lays valuable foundations for further research.

No description available.

Measuring process safety performance is a challenge, and the wide variations in understanding, compliance, and implementation of process safety programs increase the challenge. Process safety can be measured in three strata: (1) measurement of process safety elements within facilities; (2) benchmarking of process safety elements among facilities; and (3) use of incident data collection from various sources for industrial safety performance assessment. The methods presently available for measurement of process safety within facilities are deficient because the results are strongly dependent on user judgment. Performance benchmarking among facilities is done within closed groups of organizations. Neither the questionnaires nor the results are available to the public. Many organizations collect data on industrial incidents. These organizations differ from each other in their interests, data collection procedures, definitions, and scope, and each of them analyzes its data to achieve its objectives. However, there have been no attempts to explore the potential of integrating data sources and harnessing these databases for industrial safety performance assessment. In this study we developed models to pursue the measurement of samples of the strata described above. The measurement methodologies employed herein overcome the disadvantages of existing methodologies and increase their capabilities.

The competition and increasing customers‘ demands makes traditional manufacturing companies consider new ways of differentiate themselves. One way of doing this is to develop product service system (PSS) solutions. PSS solutions are a total offering, where the customer purchases the use of a solution instead of a physical product. This bachelor thesis within the School of Innovation Design and Engineering at Mälardalen University aims to determine the success factor of PSS development at ICT and AM, which are two traditional Swedish manufacturing companies. To do this, the main challenges of transforming ICT and AM into PSS providers will be identified. The thesis also aims to determine if there is a need for change of performance measurements and key performance indicators (KPIs) to enable this transformation. A theoretical review is presented to help the readers in the understanding of the thesis areas. Interviews at ICT and AM were made to get a view of the situations at the companies considering PSS development. The information gathered at the interviews stated the major challenges of transforming both companies into PSS developers. With the theoretical framework and the stated challenges, an analysis was made to determine the success factors of PSS development.The identified success factors of PSS development were Senior management clarification of strategic intent, Cultural change management, Teamwork culture, Internal communication mechanisms, External communication mechanism, Customer relationship, Motivating breakthrough ideas, Project core competency, Cross-functional collaboration, Cross-functional development, Allocation of resources, Training and education, Knowledge management, Customer satisfaction data, Risk management, Product positioning, Portfolio of product opportunities, Product functional content, Knowledge of market potential, Product service processes, Product environment, Development process, Responsibilities of team members, Concurrent development, Internal task coordination, Organizational readiness for sales, Internal marketing and External marketing.Based on the theoretical framework and interviews a statement was made; it is crucial to change the performance measurement and KPIs if implementing PSS, to support collaboration between departments and contribute to the overall success for the companies.

Utilizing institutional ethnography and a critical analysis, this thesis explicates the textually-mediated process and ruling relations of performance measurement data collection in emergency homeless shelters. The thesis aimed to answer the query of whether the performance measurements collected by a set of programs, within a non-profit social service, adequately captured the full contribution of the work the staff did at their respective emergency shelter. Using literature, that has captured the experiences and insights of frontline workers who feel their work is inadequately captured, as a launch pad, this study spoke to informants who are directly involved in the creation of data collection tools and the reporting of the output and outcome performance measurements. How were these tools created? Who influences the development of the tools? Are some performance indicators (i.e. outputs, quality assurance, outcomes) measured more frequently or thoroughly than others? What are some of the barriers to measuring performance indicators? The study is based on five one-to-one semi-structured interviews, with informants working for a non-profit social service in Southern Ontario, and an analysis of the data collection tools used to compile performance measurements. The purpose of this research is to help social services, especially those that focus on addressing homelessness, improve the tools used to collect statistics on service so as to better articulate the breadth of work done by these services. / Thesis / Master of Social Work (MSW)

<p>According to Atkinson, Banker, Kaplan and Young (1995) management accounting and control practices have an important role within today’s organizations. In order for the organization to be successful, information on the finances and performance are crucial. But in the media industry there are indications that management accounting and control practices are not as accepted as in many other industries (Tjernström, 2002). Since there have not been much research about management accounting in the media industry, compared to what have been done in other industries, like manufacturing and new economy firms, there are less knowledge from this industry.</p><p>The purpose of our thesis is to investigate, explain and analyze the management accounting practices, with focus on performance measurement and what the attitude to performance measurement is within four newspapers in Sweden. This will be done from a management perspective.</p><p>Previous research about agency theory, stewardship theory, budget, responsibility centres, operating- income and margin, reward and incentive plans, balanced scorecard and intellectual capital statement and theories about the newspaper industry are described and used.</p><p>A qualitative research with four interviews was conducted. Three were newspaper managers and one editor in chief.</p><p>From our four researched newspapers we have found that managers described management accounting and performance measurements to be important but still not communicated. Therefore, it is interesting that none of the newspapers measure performances in the editorial department. Journalists have been and are sceptical to management accounting practices and performance measurements but this attitude has changed and is not so strong and not a problem nowadays. Focus on profit has increased but is not considered as a threat to newspaper quality as long as it is not too extreme. Operating margin is the key ra-tio that all four newspapers use.</p>

The use of non-financial performance measurements (such as quality, delivery and customer satisfaction) has received a lot of attention from practitioners and academics over the last two decades in developed countries. This research project is an exploratory study in Libya to investigate the use of non-financial performance measurements (NFPMs) in a developing country's commercial banking sector. The Libyan service sector is the second contributor to the Libyan Gross Domestic Product (GDP) after the oil sector. Within the service sector, the commercial banking sector has been playing a significant role in the development of the Libyan economy. This research project aims to: 1) explore the current use of NFPMs in the Libyan commercial banking sector (LCBS); 2) determine the environmental factors influencing the use of NFPMs in the LCBS; and 3) explore the impact of NFPMs on financial performance measurements (FPMs) in the LCBSA grounded theory methodology was adopted and four case studies (two State owned banks and two private banks) were conducted. Each case study was analysed according to a structured set of coding procedures (based on the grounded theory approach of Strauss and Corbin, 1990) and substantive hypotheses emerged for each case study. A cross-case analysis of the four case studies gave rise to the following nineteen formal hypotheses which (together with the model developed from the four case studies) are the main findings of this study: H1 The limitations of FPMs are one of the major motives leading to a bank's use of NFPMs H2 A more competitive environment is one of the main motives for managers in a bank using NFPMs. H3 Management's knowledge of the relationship between NFPMs and FPMs is one of the major motives leading to the use of NFPMs in a bank. 11 H4 Demanding customers are one of the major motives leading to the use of NFPMs in a bank. H5 The nature of the banking industry as a service oriented industry is one of the major motives leading to the use of NFPMs in a bank. H6 Lower level managers in a bank tend to use NFPMs more than middle and higher level managers do. H7 Operational experience of management, competence of management, management with more authority, top management's interference, stability of management, and collective working group positively affect a bank's use of NFPMs. H8 New regulations and strategies of the Central Bank and the uncertainty of the economic environment positively affect a bank's use of NFPMs. H9 Some of the Central Bank's old regulations, over-control and interference of the Central Bank, information shortage, weakness of infrastructure, traditional educational system, State ownership and the general public's lack of banking knowledge negatively affect a bank's use of NFPMs. H10 The development of human resource strategies to be more service-oriented is associated with a bank's use of NFPMs. H11 The development of the reward system to be linked with non-financial performance and to be more service-oriented is associated with a bank's use of NFPMs. H12 The development of the banking system (operating, information and reporting system) is associated with a bank's use of NFPMs. H13 The development of a bank's management accounting information is associated with its use of NFPMs. H14 The development of a bank's organisational structure is associated with its use of NFPMs. H15 The adoption of advanced management practices is associated with a bank's use of NFPMs. H16 Use of NFPMs encourages a bank to diversify and improve its range of services. H17 Use of NFPMs encourages a bank to adopt advanced technology. H18 Use of NFPMs improves a bank's profitability, customers' deposits and other FPMs in the long-term. H19 Use of NFPMs leads to an increase in a bank's capital expenditure.

<p>This paper deals with performance measurements in 802.11g Wireless Multi-Hop Net- </p><p>works at different locations. After an introduction to 802.11g Wireless LANs and </p><p>Wireless Multi-Hop Networks, the testing environment consisting of hardware, soft- </p><p>ware, configuration, and three different locations is described. Before test series for the </p><p>actual measurements are defined, carried out reference tests provide reference perfor- </p><p>mance data and prove that the used hardware is suitable for testing Wireless Multi-Hop </p><p>Networks. Then the results of the measurements are discussed which show the influ- </p><p>ence of multiple hops on throughput and latency for single and multi channel Multi-Hop </p><p>Networks in indoor, outdoor, and urban environment. Finally, an outlook to further </p><p>tests and improvements of Wireless Multi-Hop Networks is given.</p>

According to Atkinson, Banker, Kaplan and Young (1995) management accounting and control practices have an important role within today’s organizations. In order for the organization to be successful, information on the finances and performance are crucial. But in the media industry there are indications that management accounting and control practices are not as accepted as in many other industries (Tjernström, 2002). Since there have not been much research about management accounting in the media industry, compared to what have been done in other industries, like manufacturing and new economy firms, there are less knowledge from this industry. The purpose of our thesis is to investigate, explain and analyze the management accounting practices, with focus on performance measurement and what the attitude to performance measurement is within four newspapers in Sweden. This will be done from a management perspective. Previous research about agency theory, stewardship theory, budget, responsibility centres, operating- income and margin, reward and incentive plans, balanced scorecard and intellectual capital statement and theories about the newspaper industry are described and used. A qualitative research with four interviews was conducted. Three were newspaper managers and one editor in chief. From our four researched newspapers we have found that managers described management accounting and performance measurements to be important but still not communicated. Therefore, it is interesting that none of the newspapers measure performances in the editorial department. Journalists have been and are sceptical to management accounting practices and performance measurements but this attitude has changed and is not so strong and not a problem nowadays. Focus on profit has increased but is not considered as a threat to newspaper quality as long as it is not too extreme. Operating margin is the key ra-tio that all four newspapers use.

This paper deals with performance measurements in 802.11g Wireless Multi-Hop Net- works at different locations. After an introduction to 802.11g Wireless LANs and Wireless Multi-Hop Networks, the testing environment consisting of hardware, soft- ware, configuration, and three different locations is described. Before test series for the actual measurements are defined, carried out reference tests provide reference perfor- mance data and prove that the used hardware is suitable for testing Wireless Multi-Hop Networks. Then the results of the measurements are discussed which show the influ- ence of multiple hops on throughput and latency for single and multi channel Multi-Hop Networks in indoor, outdoor, and urban environment. Finally, an outlook to further tests and improvements of Wireless Multi-Hop Networks is given.