A framework to classify PMS adopted by SMEs: an empirical study of the Italian leading companies

This work aims to contribute to the understanding of the evolutionary trend of performance measurement systems (PMS) in small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The paper proposes a framework to classify performance measurement systems and shows how it can be used to study the performance measurement systems adopted by a group of leading Italian SMEs. The purpose of this paper is not to represent the level of development of performance measurement systems in SMEs, but rather to use the collected data to identify the improvement path these systems have in their implementation in SMEs. The framework does not intend to provide a normative or prescriptive reference, but rather to propose a more comprehensive and descriptive reference that can be used to evaluate performance measurement systems in SMEs.