Aligning Strategy and Performance Management Systems

This article presents a case study examining the problems and possibilities of performance management in a wind-farm company. Drawing on Ferreira and Otley’s recently developed performance management systems (PMSs) framework, the study demonstrates how the framework facilitates in-depth, holistic, and critical evaluations of existing PMSs, and how these evaluations can drive the development of revised PMSs that balance economic, social, and environmental goals. This integrated focus on PMS evaluation and design is unique as earlier work seeking to develop systems to promote and measure sustainable performance tends to establish them in isolation from informed evaluations of existing systems. Drawing on the case analysis, the article proposes a form of “sustainable balanced scorecard” to enable a company to streamline its management decision making. It also offers guidance for companies on the development of PMSs that can contribute to their survival and growth in a wind energy sector characterized by increasing competition.