Performance Measurement System in the Shipping Industry

Sammanfattning: Since the objective of this thesis is to determine the performance measurement system in companies active in Iranian shipping industry we define what we mean by the performance measurement system. Neely (2005) defines PMS as the set of metrics used to quantify both the efficiency and effectiveness of actions. So the title of this thesis will be ``Performance Measurement System in shipping industry``. Regarding the companies we have selected to analyze, they first of all differ in their size, so our analysis much more were focused on the size but during our work there were other factors that revealed and influenced the difference of performance measurement system and management control in three companies. One of the other and most important factors was culture, considering Iranian culture more as individualistic and high power distance what means that control by the superiors is expanded to their subordinates. Another important factor was also external environment and the impact that competition and also government has especially over the largest company NITC and competition that have more effect over the medium and small one like Alpha and Beta Companies. In this context the most important thing is the performance indicators that three companies have employed, these performance indicators are financial, non- financial and operational measures or indicators that also have an impact in the nature of their business as it is shipping industry.