Performance measurement frameworks: a conceptual model

Currently, there is an increasing recognition, among organisations, of the importance of performance measurement (PM) in gaining competitive advantage and many companies are attempting to select and implement a system for the evaluation of their performance. A large amount of research in this field addresses the designing of tools, techniques and procedures with the aim of helping organisations to identify a set of performance measures that fits their specific context and appropriately reflects their strategy. The objective of this paper is to provide a critical review of the most popular PM frameworks published in literature. At a more operative level, the paper, starting from a literature survey on PM features and requirements, proposes a conceptual model providing a comprehensive and rigorous set of characteristics to compare alternative approaches. The evaluation of frameworks against the conceptual model is carried out not with the purpose of identifying the one best framework, but in order to overcome the limitations of the traditional reviews, showing in a clear and orderly way the strengths, weaknesses and peculiarities of the different approaches.