Structure, speed and salience: performance measurement in the supply chain

Abstract

The supply chain presents many challenges for management and for the design of performance measurement systems. It is possibly one of the final structural areas of business in which significant savings are to be made, and it is becoming an increasingly important strategic tool as trade becomes global in perspective. To assess the problems faced in the supply chain, this paper begins with an overview of where we are in terms of the development of performance measurement theory. It then highlights two key issues that the supply chain raises in measuring performance in an intra‐organisation scenario before identifying no fewer than nine preconditions necessary for effective and dynamic performance measurement within supply chains.