Understanding management control systems and strategy

This chapter explains the relationship between management control systems (MCS) and strategy, and how this research area has developed over the last two decades. Examples of empirical studies that utilize various theoretical frameworks and research methods are presented to indicate the breadth of the research area and the ways that researchers have studied the field. Section 11.2 defines different perspectives of strategy that have emerged and explains how they have been used in MCS research. Section 11.3 tracks the development of MCS from its origins as a static cybernetic process, through to its focus as a strategic tool. The remainder of the chapter gives detailed examples of empirical research in the MCS-strategy area that illustrates the major types of research that have influenced our thinking of the MCS-strategy relationship.