The Use of Dashboards, an Essential Lever to Improve the Financial Performance of Public Enterprises in Morocco: The Case of Morocco Chemicals

Abstract

performance of public companies in Morocco, particularly through improved cost control. Dashboard design is dependent on several contingency factors: corporate strategy, and the nature of financial and non-financial indicators (Chenhall and Langfield-Smith 1998, Hoque and James 2000). These two factors represent elements that determine the design of a dashboard at the organizational level. The concept of financial performance, on the other hand, refers to a company's ability to achieve its financial objectives as part of its overall strategy (Philippe Lorino, 2003). In this article, we review the literature on these two concepts. Then, based on contingency theory (Burns and Stalker 1961, Lawrence and Lorsch 1967), we will attempt to answer the following research questions: can the dashboard improve the financial performance of public companies? What is the link between the dashboard, financial performance and cost control? This study adopted a qualitative approach based on an action-research methodology at the level of chemical Morocco, with semi-directive interviews conducted with a representative sample of managers and agents. Qualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews, based on the thematic content analysis method, revealed that the variable costs dashboard recently implemented at Maroc Chimie can contribute to improving the financial performance of various Maroc Chimie production facilities. The results of this study highlighted several important elements. Firstly, the dashboard has enabled Maroc Chimie to optimize the management of its resources and improve its economic performance. There is therefore a positive link between the introduction of the dashboard and the improvement in Maroc Chimie's financial performance. Next, the results show the existence of two variables that enable the construction of a dashboard capable of strengthening the company's financial performance. These are strategy and the balance between financial and non-financial indicators. Finally, the action-research approach led to the proposal of a dashboard for monitoring auxiliary materials, to overcome the problem of false imputations, which makes it difficult to control costs. The company can then directly increase its profitability. Hence, we confirm the positive link between cost control and Financial performance.

Keywords: Management control, dashboards, financial performance, public enterprise, Maroc chimie

Classification JEL : L32

Paper type: Empirical Research