Key Performance Indicators in Business Model Innovation: A Strategic Conciliation for Managing Agricultural Innovation Through the Lens of the Quadruple Helix Model
摘要
Existing performance measurement frameworks (PMFs), such as the Balanced Scorecard and Six Sigma, are widely applied to manage Research and Development (R&D) performance; however, they remain overly generic, inflexible, and insufficiently sensitive to the rapid strategic shifts inherent in R&D. Consequently, these frameworks struggle to support Business Model Innovation (BMI), and set Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) embedded within a coherent KPI circuit that enables continuous feedback, learning, and adaptation. Viewed outside the lens of the Quadruple Helix Innovation (QHI) framework, conventional KPI systems also fail to capture the collaborative and societal dimensions of R&D involving academia, industry, government, and civil society. This study examines how KPIs can be reconfigured as dynamic circuits within BMI, viewed through the QHI lens, to improve R&D performance management in the commercial agriculture (CA) sector. The study adopts a qualitative research design based on in-depth interviews with 32 senior research leaders from Sri Lankan CA research institutions. Thematic analysis is used to identify the limitations of existing KPI frameworks, revealing five interrelated performance themes that include “Research Commercialization” and “Research for Society” as core pillars. The study proposes a KPI-driven PMF that incorporates an action–reaction model, enabling iterative KPI adaptation across successive BMI versions. The proposed PMF aligns institutional performance with national priorities and systematically embeds civil society within innovation processes. This study contributes by advancing one of the first empirically grounded frameworks that integrates BMI and QHI through KPI circuits, offering a flexible and digitally enabled alternative to conventional R&D performance management systems.