Considers the relationship between the types of targets or benchmarks used and reward structures adopted in two contrasting performance improvement strategies – continuous improvement and radical change. Hypothesises that the process of target setting and the reward structures adopted will be...

This paper suggests that there is a natural tension between operations managers and management accountants. This tension is particularly evident when decisions are being made about process change. Semi‐structured interviews with 40 operations managers revealed that accountants were only...

Regulatory efforts within the UK water industry in recent years have been predominated by the concern for measuring the cost efficiencies of the privatized companies. More recent regulatory work, however, has moved away from the assessment of performance on the strict basis of financial...

Economic regulators provide incentives for good quality of service as well as constraints on the prices or revenue which can be charged by firms with monopoly power. Economic theory suggests that regulators should choose standards according to consumers' valuation and the marginal cost of...