Abstract:

This paper illustrates the application of an innovative approach, for the design of a performance measurement system in a Research and Technology Organization (RTO). RTOs are knowledge-intensive firms. They tend to rely mainly on their employees and their individual competencies (codified or noncodified), the networks and communities they are involved in as well as the structural resources of the organization itself. All these resources, mainly of intangible nature, are expected to play an important role on the innovation capabilities of RTOs, but tend to be neglected in the traditional performance reporting and management systems. Thus, the main motivation for this research is to foster the introduction of an intangible measurement system in the RTO under investigation.The process of collection and reporting of intangible indicators is defined and validated by relying on an in-house approach and related tool, called EFFICENT, which allow modeling and validating electronic (B2B) transactions. Based on this single case study, EFFICIENT appears to be suitable for modeling complex transactions between different stakeholders involved in the process of intangible reporting.