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Management control design in long-term buyer-supplier relationships: Unpacking the learning process
Stouthuysen, Kristof Van den Abbeele, Alexandra Van der Meer-Kooistra, Jeltje Roodhooft, Filip
Stouthuysen, Kristof
Van den Abbeele, Alexandra
Van der Meer-Kooistra, Jeltje
Roodhooft, Filip
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Publication Type
Journal article with impact factor
Editor
Supervisor
Publication Year
2019
Journal
Management Accounting Research
Book
Publication Volume
45
Publication Issue
December
Publication Begin page
1044
Publication End page
Publication Number of pages
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Abstract
Management control (MC) design is crucial to the success of buyer-supplier relationships, yet we know little about how a buying company designs the management controls (MCs) of such relationships over time. In this paper, we use data collected in a six-year field study on the design of the MCs of a new facilities management (FM) outsourcing relationship. We find that boundary spanners learn to control in multiple ways, including trial and error, advice from third parties, experimentation, cross-level learning (i.e., corporate boundary spanners learning from operating boundary spanners), and advice from the partner. Moreover, the role of boundary spanners influences their focus of learning attention, with corporate boundary spanners focusing more on strategic aspects of the relationship (such as reducing appropriation concerns), and operating boundary spanners focusing more on FM activities and the coordination problems related to these activities. The lessons learned by both types of boundary spanners lead to the design of different types of control.
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Keywords
Management Control, Learning Processes, Boundary Spanners, Multi-level Process Analysis, Long-term Buyer-supplier Relationships