Operational performances in manufacturing and service industries: conceptual framework and research agenda

This paper deals with measurement practices and expertises in both manufacturing and service industries. It states that the issue of ‘what to measure’ still needs further research and discussion, even though there is a general acceptance that the key operational performances of a production system are quality, time, cost and flexibility. Borrowing control system’s design principles outlined by the accounting and by the control theory literatures, the paper proposes a conceptual framework suitable to classify manufacturing and services industries; then, it presents a review of the main contributions on performance measurement practices peculiar of each typology. Finally, it argues that a gap between measurement expertises and control requirements can be observed in some industries. On the basis of such evidence, we propose a research agenda for performance measurement in manufacturing and service industries.