This study has sought to advance a balanced and systematic
understanding of how different performance
measure types—financial, nonfinancial, and subjective—
may contribute to effective management. Taken
as a whole, a rather clear implication of the findings is
the need to be cautious about popular claims that nonfinancial
measures are “superior” to traditional financial
measures across the board. Rather than being an
either/or choice, the challenge is to select the optimal
combination of measures across the different types.
This inference is supported by our finding that the different
measure types are seen as having different
strengths and weaknesses (e.g., encouraging risk taking
vs. supporting decision making). While some types can
be used occasionally as substitutes for others, it may be
best to look at the different types of measures as complements
to each other. Further support is provided by
the pattern of performance measurement usage across
firms with different emphases on quality in
manufacturing.