An investigation of the integration of business intelligence tools with the roles of performance management of wholesale SMEs in the UK: to enhance decision making that maintains/improves operational performance

This thesis investigates the role of business intelligence tools (BI) in performance management activities within small to medium enterprises(SME). The purpose of this investigation is to align the features of BI tools with the performance management activities in a model that supports the roles of performance management in the targeted sector. The proposed model also considers the characteristics of SMEs by choosing the appropriate technologies to support the role of BI with regard to the limited capabilities of SMEs. In general, this research proposes a model that supports the adoption of BI tools to enhance decision making that improves performance management activities in SMEs.

After identifying the influential sectors in the UK region, this investigation has targeted the wholesale industry because it is a major contributor to the national economy. In addition, the nature of the wholesale industry makes it more appropriate for the purpose of this research, to be able to generalise the results across the targeted sector. The purpose of this research is described through the research aims; these aims are 1) to encourage the use of BI tools to improve performance within the targeted sector, and 2).to remove the barriers facing wholesale SMEs when attempting to adopt BI tools. In course of this research, the accomplishment of these aims is described in a third aim, which is the principle aim of the research. This aim is to establish the basis for a new policy that encourages and promotes the adoption of BI tools in performance management activities, to enhance decision making that improves performance management within wholesale SMEs in the UK.

The features of the proposed model incorporate the defined BI tools and the performance management activities with the factors that influence 1) the strengths and weaknesses of SMEs in general, 2) performance management in wholesale SMEs and 3) the adoption of BI tools. The proposed model was developed through a literature survey that identifies the critical success factors (CSFs) that influence the functions of the model, the performance management activities at the operational level of performance management, and the appropriate BI tools that enhance decision making to improve the performance management activities. The model is further validated using a quantitative questionnaire survey using to validate the model within wholesale SMEs in the UK. And finally, the practicality of the proposed model in real life situations is evaluated through an interview with a manager of a wholesale SME.