Int. J. Business Performance Management, Vol. 5, No. 1, 2003

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Implementing performance measurement systems: a literature review Mike Bourne* and Andy Neely
Centre for Business Performance, School of Management, Cranfield University, Cranfield, MK43 0AL, UK E-mail: m.bourne@cranfield.ac.uk *Corresponding author

John Mills and Ken Platts
Centre for Strategy and Performance, Institute for Manufacturing, University of Cambridge, Mill Lane, Cambridge, CB2 1RX, UK
Abstract: Currently, there is a great interest in performance measurement with many companies attempting to implement the balanced scorecard. However, there is also evidence that many of these implementations are not successful. This paper reviews the different performance measurement system design processes published in the literature and creates a framework for comparing alternative approaches. The paper then proceeds to review the literature on performance measurement system implementations and concludes that the performance measurement literature is at the stage of identifying difficulties and pitfalls to be avoided based on practitioner experience with few published research studies. This paper is the first of two, the second going on to consider performance measurement implementation from the point of view of the change management literature. Keywords: Performance measurement; management process implementation. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Bourne, M., Neely, A., Mills, J. and Platts, K. (2003) ‘Implementing performance measurement systems: a literature review’, Int. J. Business Performance Management, Vol. 5, No. 1, pp.1-24. Biographical notes: Dr Mike Bourne is lecturer and Director of Programmes for the Centre for Business Performance, Cranfield School of Management. After a career in industry he spent five years at Cambridge University researching the implementation of