Although we are aware of the limitations of a study with only four companies,
we found in our research, that the establishment of supplier evaluation led to
improved supplier performance. All companies reported that with the introduction of
performance measurement, the supplier performance increased. After the initial improvement,
supplier performance became stagnant—on a higher level—after about 1 or 2 years.
However, we do not have the data to make a statement whether this could be explained similarly to
the ‘‘Hawthorne effect’’ or whether the companies showed actual learning and continuous
improvement activities. We believe that the issues of benefit of performance measurement and
return of investment on performance measurement initiatives offer opportunities for future research