Conclusions Research reported within in the academic literature on transformation has, up to now, concentrated on the com-plexity of change. It would have us believe that there are multiple critical success factors that need to be present for effective organisational transformation. This multi-factor view results in overly complex situations that practition-ers find difficult to manage and academics find difficult to research and make sense of. More recently there have been suggestions that more research is required into the effects of single factors on transformation with Franco-Santoset al. (2012) specifically citing performance measurement systems as particularly important while highlighting the relative lack of longitudinal research studies in this area.This paper has sought to fill both these gaps by carry-ing out a longitudinal and deep analysis of a strategictransformation where the use of a performance measure-ment system was a key factor in the transformation’ssuccess. While this is only a single case study it does stronglysuggest three conclusions; firstly, that in a complex trans-for mational change it is very difficult to create a context where all the necessary factors identified by the literatureare present; secondly, a more operational mechanism, in this case the performance measurement system, if consis-tently applied, can stimulate the activity necessary from the bottom-up to create the changes necessary; and thirdly,the use of operational mechanisms alone can to someextent lead to strategic change.This paper therefore suggests that multi-factor models of change, while comprehensive, do not contain enoughgranularity to explain the subtleties of transformation and while greater success is probable in the presence of the identified critical success factors it is unlikely that all can beachieved in a complex context. At an operational level clearmeasures and targets, aligned to the strategic objectives of the organisation, packaged in a format that is visible to all and integrated into the management reporting system can be enough to ensure success by creating a bottom-upchange program.Kee and Newcomer (2008) have argued that inad-equate measurement systems are a major reason why change efforts fail and Bititci (2007) suggests they are the cement that binds all other components together. This paper expands on these assertions by further arguing that performance measurement systems should be regarded as more than a hygiene factor and can in isolation effectively drive transformational change.While the conclusions proposed are clear we recognise that more in-depth research is required to characterise the effect of single factors on the process of transformation and also to provide in-depth and rich case studies which expose the detail of what is going on within companies which areunder going a transformation process.