| Summary
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Organisations exist in a vast range of types and sizes. While it is generally known that start-ups
suffer a high rate of infant mortality for various reasons, it is clear that there are many different
successful approaches to achieving stability and worthwhile contribution. Even the fortunes of large
companies are not immune to ebb and flow, and these phenomena are manifested in the effects they have,
both on the communities in which they are placed, and on their trading partners. Therefore there is
more to sustainable success than size or other traditional financial measures such as turnover, profit,
return on investment etc. This thesis is inspired by the need to identify a way of characterising the
contributions of organisations as a framework of performance measurement that is meaningful to all
organisations regardless of type or size, and systematically relating that view of contributions to
organisations' strategic and operational activities.
Business processes are used within organisations to control productive activity and therefore are at
the root of all aspects of an organisation's output. There are, however, a number of reasons for
processes to be disconnected from the strategic intentions of an organisation, whereupon the processes,
and the activities within them, become less efficient and effective in serving the needs of the
organisation than they should be. Traditional methods of performance measurement do not adequately
address this problem, so a new model for the measurement and improvement of organisational performance
is required.
In reviewing theories and empirical viewpoints concerning stakeholders it is found that there are
several distinct topics of interest within that field. These are brought together in the form of a
standardised list of stakeholder groups, which is then field tested for general applicability. A method
for expressing the strategic intentions of an organisation, based on this standardised list, is then
developed and is also field tested. The group structure is extended by identifying a number of factors
that determine the satisfaction of stakeholders, and these are also field tested for applicability.
Using the structured analysis of stakeholders by groups, and the factors that determine their
satisfaction, a model is proposed (the Performance Boundary Model) that shows stakeholders and the
organisation itself as distinct but connected domains. This concept is developed, by building on
established theory and the findings of the field research, into a representation or model. This model
provides a structured connection between strategic intentions and measured operational performance,
and these are connected into the organisation through its processes. The model thus provides structured
links between organisational strategy, operational processes and objective performance measures.
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