The roles of FTA in improving performance measurement systems to enable alignment between business strategy and operations: Insights from three practical cases

Despite the growing number of publications on firms’ performance measurement systems (PMS), consensus has not yet been achieved on the steps for their implementation within an organisation. Against this background the authors report the lessons learnt in developing and testing a new PMS that they have devised advancing on the Balance Scorecard (BSC) approach. In reviewing three cases in which their system was applied, they highlight that the inclusion of Future-oriented Technology Analysis (FTA) would have prevented some of the failures experienced. FTA is seen as crucial in linking strategy and operations with a long-term vision of where a firm sees itself in the future. In this regard, FTA holds the promise to embed critical aspects for jointly shaping common directions to follow across a firm's value chain. These include the notion of stakeholder involvement in decision processes of mutual appreciation and a shared understanding of stakeholders’ views as well as of joint experimentation and mutual learning. The authors conclude by highlighting specific ways in which FTA can be integrated in the PMS proposed.