Fitting management control systems to the competitive advantage: A research note

Abstract

Recent publications suggest that existing management accounting and control systems prevent business unit managers from realizing their desired competitive advantage. Although the concept of competitive advantage has already been thoroughly discussed in strategy literature, it has not yet been integrated into the management accounting and management control frameworks. Only a limited number of researchers have concentrated on contingency research in this area. Contingency theory simply states that organizational structure, process, and management control systems are contingent upon various internal and external factors, such as industry, technology, size, culture, and strategy. An attempt is made to identify and investigate the management control and strategy relationship. The results of exploratory field research in 18 companies (32 business units) are reported. Based on the results, some hypotheses are formulated on the observed characteristics of the management control process in case of low-cost strategy, differentiation strategy in a standard product environment, and differentiation strategy for customized products.