What is Competitive Strategy

Universities are a particular public entity where knowledge is a critical competitive resource. One of the main economic and social aims of universities is the generation of new knowledge for supporting innovation activities of knowledge capital-intensive industries. For ensuring the implementation of effective knowledge transferring process, management control systems tools, typically adopted in the private businesses sector, may effectively be used in public sector. In particular, the adoption of strategic performance measurement systems (SPMS) become important in public sector because it should affect organizational performance. Management studies have not taken into account explicitly the role of the SPMS in the public sector. This study aims to fill these gaps and demonstrates how SPMS influence organizational performance by supporting the strategic plan implementation of Ca' Foscari University of Venice. More specifically, the authors analyze how the use of SPMS facilitate strategic control and the mobilization of strategic organizational knowledge into a coherent strategic intent.