Measurement of Business Performance in Strategy Research: A Comparison of Approaches

Abstract

Performance ' -being a central theme for both normative and descriptive research in strategic managementis of interest to both academic scholars and practitioners.While prescriptions for improving and managing organizational performance are widely available (see, for instance Nash, 1983), the academic community has been preoccupied with discussions and debates around issues of terminology, levels of analy- sis (i.e., individual, work-unit, and business, as a whole), and concep- tual bases for assessment of performance.Organizational effectiveness, which is a concept broader than organizational performance, has been a subject of extensive writing (see especially Campbell, 1977; Connolly,