Date of Award

2012

Document Type

Master Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Business (Research)

Department

Cork Institute of Technology

First Advisor

Sylvia Dempsey

Abstract

Historically management accounting literature has articulated the benefits of performance measurement systems (PMSs) as effectively enforcing and supporting organisations ’ existing strategic objectives. More recently, management accounting literature advocates the uses of PMSs in guiding the review of an organisation's current strategy and enabling the development of future strategy. This literature calls for more empirical evidence of the existence of these benefits. The current competitive and recessionary conditions have led to a reassessment by Irish organisations of their strategic objectives. Multinational companies are tempted to relocate to lower wage rate economies, unless Irish divisions can prove that they can provide added value. To address the dearth of empirical evidence of the use of a PMS in the reassessment of strategy in Irish organisations, this dissertation analyses the strategic development of a .shared services centre, namely PepsiCo's Cork Shared Services Centre (SSC), and the influence of performance measurement on its development.

This dissertation integrates the emergent .strategy framework of Mintzberg (1994) and the contemporary performance measurement literature, mainly of Kaplan and Norton (1992) and Jazayeri and Scapens (2008), to provide a framework to track the .strategic development of the ca.se .study organisation and gain a better understanding of how the PMS influences .strategic change. Cork SSC, the case study u.sed in this dissertation, is the European financial shared services centre of PepsiCo International. It was established in the mid-nineteen nineties in an effort to .solidify the long-term viability of the Finance Department of Cork Concentrates (a production facility in Ireland). This paper produces a timeline depicting how initially the .strategy of the SSC lead to the development of the PMS, and, more significantly for this dissertation, how the PMS highlighted gaps and opportunities within the organisation's strategy and acted as an accelerator in development of the .strategic direction of the organisation.

This dissertation empirically verifies the hypothesis that the PMS can guide the review of an organisation ’.s current .strategy and enable the development of future .strategy. It finds that by focusing on performance measures, an organisation can recognise its strengths and u.se these strengths to avail of opportunities within the environment as they present themselves and realign its strategy accordingly. As companies are actively seeking to reassess their strategies in the volatile business environment that exists today, there is merit in using their performance measurement systems as a driver for determining the strengths and future strategy of the organisation.

Access Level

info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess

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