Management Control Systems and the National Culture

Mouhcine Tallaki () and Enrico Bracci

No 201118, Working Papers from University of Ferrara, Department of Economics

Abstract: The relation between an organization, economic, social and cultural contexts leads to ask the question whether those organizations, not only big companies but also SMEs, can transfer their domestic Management Control Systems (henceforth MCSs) overseas or they need to redesign them according to cultural imperatives of other nation (Graeme et al., 1999). The rise of internationalization versus localization emphasizes the significance of this question. The study of differences in MCSs has been discussed in the literature according to different approaches, namely: the cultural approach, societal effects, new institutionalism and historical approach (Bhimani, 1999). One of management diversity causes which was highlighted by the most of the approaches is the culture. This paper aims to sketch an embryonic conceptual framework to understand the relationship between national culture and MCSs. In doing so, the case of the Italy-Morocco is considered adopting a combination of historical analyses, new institutionalism and cultural approach. Culture is not stable and evolves over the time (Morin, 1984), it is learned and not inherited. With the adoption of an historical approach, we attempt to study the origins of MCSs and to understand the circumstances under which they were born, spread and institutionalized. New institutionalism helps us to understand how organizational ideals become common and how they are shared in languages and symbols. Cultural approach instead explains how cultural values may affect the management, this approach was developed with the apparition of Hofstede study about culture and management.

Keywords: management control; national culture; management diversity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: M16 M41 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 26 pages
Date: 2011-11-28
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his
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