Overview

The Business Performance Roundtable links research and practice to achieve excellence in business performance measurement and management. It is:

  • A network of executives with a shared desire to improve their organisations' business performance measurement practices
  • A forum where members challenge, discuss, and learn from each other
  • A stimulating learning environment where both academic and practice based knowledge is disseminated and the learning experience is shared.

Who is it for?

Managers of performance measurement and management initiatives and heads of finance, planning and control departments.

Membership benefits

  • Member quarterly meetings
  • Participation in research projects
  • Networking opportunities with like minded executives
  • Access to latest ideas and practices
  • Access to Cranfield faculty publications
  • News and updates on latest thinking
  • Guest speakers and workshops
  • Online portal and knowledgebase

  • Corporate discounts across Cranfield School of Management Executive Doctorate in Business Administration, Executive Masters programmes and Executive Development Programmes.

Meetings and Memberships

Non-competitive environment

The Business Performance Roundtable operates on a non-competitive basis (we will not knowingly accept applications for membership from competitors of any existing members without their permission). This enables Roundtable members to meet and share best practice in an open atmosphere.

Quarterly meetings

The quarterly meetings are key for the functioning of the roundtable. They are devoted to ground-breaking research and best practice applications. These meetings are usually hosted by one of the member organisations or by Cranfield School of Management. They are one to two days in length.

Roundtable research projects topics

Research topics are agreed each year in consultation with members, in response to their main issues or to topics raised by visiting speakers. Recently, the Business Performance Roundtable has been researching different ways of managing through measures, extracting value from data, performance reviews, target setting and linking performance measures to pay.

Business Performance Roundtable meeting themes

The Business Performance Roundtable focuses its attention on how organisations can use performance measurement and performance data to deliver insights, improve decision making and improve performance. Members have discussed issues ranging from data analysis and presentation, to managing with measures. Some examples of presentations at meetings are:

  • Deriving Real Value From The Performance Measurement System", Tony Korycki, BT
  • Reflections on Best Practice in Planning and Budgeting Systems", Phil Berrington, Associate Member, IBM Business Consulting Services
  • Managing Change and Performance Improvement", Ken Lewis OBE, Director of Dutton Engineering
  • The way that Intangibles Drive Corporate Performance at Shell International", Geoff Thomas, Shell International
  • The Co-operative Bank's Membership Approach: Measurement and Management", Jayne Beer, Memberships Manger, Co-operative Bank
  • The Great Myths of Measurement", Professor Andy Neely, Centre for Business Performance
  • Global Supply Chain Risk", Bilal Mahmood, Risk and Assurance Manager, Pentland Brands.

In addition, specialists in the analysis and interpretation of data, and communication of insights from data, have lead discussions on how lessons can be applied to performance measurement and management. These have included:

  • The Power of the Story", Tim Sheppard, Storyteller
  • Extracting value from data: how the detective mind works", Mr. J. Tolson, Ministry of Defence
  • Winning Cases with Data - Gathering data & interpreting events, lessons from the Legal profession", Sean Jones, Barrister
  • Information Visualisation", Professor. Robert Spence, Imperial College
  • Actuary's approach to data analysis", Richard Abramson, Actuary, Watson Wyatt.

How to join

Subject to member agreement, you can join The Business Performance Roundtable at any time. Twelve months membership costs £3000 +VAT and entitles you to all member benefits. Prior to joining you can come to one of our quarterly meetings as a guest. To join, you will need to sign a membership contract, which can be obtained from Michell Steele (Michell.Steele@cranfield.ac.uk) or call us for more information on +44 (0)1234 751122.

The Business Performance Roundtable is co-ordinated by Professor Mike Bourne (m.bourne@cranfield.ac.uk) with the support of Michell Steele (Michell.Steele@cranfield.ac.uk).