Introduction: For business profitability and competitiveness, the establishment of
good overall and operational goals is important. However, most companies lack
important goals in the business and no methodology have been found to analyse
and improve company's overall and operational goals. The purpose of this study is
to develop a methodology to analyse and improve the design of company's overall
and operational goals.
Methods: A case study with an abductive approach has been applied in the study.
In order to answer the study's purpose and questions, a literature review and empirical
collection were performed. The literature review shaped the theoretical
framework and the empirical data collection charted the current situation of the
company. The empirical data consisted of 16 semi structured interviews and 5 observations.
Analysis of theory and empirics underlies the methodology that was
designed.
Methodology: The methodology developed consists of three phases: current situation,
analysis and improvement proposals. First the current situation will be
gathered. Then, analysis of what can be improved, with regard to significant factors
such as: if there are multidimensional overall goals, whether there is a connection
between overall and operational goals, and whether man has been taken
into account when designing goals and measurements. Finally, improvement suggestions
will be given to the company based on the analysis performed.
Conclusion: The theoretical contribution of the study is the developed methodology
as well as essential aspects within the methodology. The practical contribution
to the Company AB is a unique report, where concrete improvements are presented
in an exclusive chapter. In order to evaluate the methodology’s usefulness
and utility with further methodology studies, the methodology needs to be applied
to one or more companies.