Proefschrift Rijksuniversiteit Groningen. / Lit. opg. - Met een samenvatting in het Nederlands.

Robert G. Gallager. / "January 1982" / "ONR/N00014-75-C-1183" "NSF/ECS 79-20834"

In 2014, Volkswagen (VW) became the only owner of Scania, acquiring full-control of the company (Pohl, 2017). Scania is the only truck manufacturer that has been able through long period of time to show black figures constantly. VW and Scania have two separate and well- established MACS, namely budgetary system at VW, while lean accounting and rolling forecast at Scania. After the acquisition, the two MACS have presumably been integrated to some extent, in one way or another. The differences in MACS can create barriers for integration and tension may arise. The broad topic of the thesis is management accounting and control challenges and consequences in post-acquisition phase. In previous research, scholars have identified a number of factors that are critical to facilitate the integration of MACS, among other things, the similarities regarding, corporate culture, style of management, and working methods. Otherwise, the subsidiary may choose to adopt one or more containment mechanisms to ease the tension between the two MACS. Our result is in line with Tillema and Van der Steen (2015) who have identified three mechanisms to deal with the tension, namely, colonizing, compromising, decoupling.

Cette thèse s'intéresse au rôle des outils de contrôle dans l'accomplissement des pratiques de responsabilité sociale des entreprises (RSE). La RSE se définit comme les "politiques et pratiques des entreprises qui reflètent leur responsabilité vis-à-vis du bien commun" (Matten et Moon, 2008: 405). Isolément, les objectifs de la RSE sont tous désirables : respect the l'environnement, équité sociale, écoute des parties prenantes... Des problèmes émergent, cependant, lorsqu'il s'agit pour les entreprises de déployer simultanément des pratiques exhaustives et cohérentes. Leurs acteurs sont alors confrontés à des injonctions contradictoires impliquant des arbitrages quant à la priorisation des objectifs, ainsi qu'à de nombreuses tensions mettant en péril la durabilité de leurs initiatives (Hahn et al., 2015). Cette thèse apporte un nouvel éclairage à la question étudiée sous deux rapports. D'un point de vue empirique, son originalité provient d'une étude ethnographique de plus d'un an dans une entreprise de jeu d'argent. Les données ont été collectées au travers de phases d'immersion dans l'équipe RSE de cette entreprise, complétées par des entretiens, des observations participantes lors de réunions ou d'événements organisationnels ainsi que par l'analyse de documents internes et externes. Cet engagement intense sur le terrain a permis une connaissance détaillée des dynamiques organisationnelles entourant la RSE. Par ailleurs, le choix d'une entreprise de jeu d'argent pour étudier la RSE permet de mettre l'accent sur les tensions potentielles qui émergent d'une telle combinaison. En effet, l'industrie des jeux d'argent est communément considérée comme socialement irresponsable du fait du pouvoir addictif de ses produits (Schültz, 2012; Yani-de Soriano et al., 2012) ainsi que de ses pratiques marketing contestables (Landman et Petty, 2000). Cette étude empirique offre donc un contexte intéressant pour s'interroger sur la façon dont les entreprises peuvent parvenir à réconcilier les oppositions inhérentes à la RSE / The research project presented in this document enriches our understanding of these questions by unbundling the micro-level activities and socio-material dynamics underpinning the use of control tools in CSR implementation. Its key originality comes from a long-term ethnographic study in a French gambling company, which provided an in-depth empirical knowledge about what happened in this organization as a CSR policy was executed. Through spending one year with the CSR team, interviews with managers organization-wide, participant observations and access to documents, I was able to grasp a detailed insight into the multiple facets of organizing dynamics surrounding CSR, such as the everyday activities of CSR managers, the development and use of CSR control tools by various actors, CSR's impacts on managers' practices and at the organizational level, and collective dynamics spawned by this new organizational practice. This dissertation also brings novelty to the management control for sustainability research area by adopting a practice-based perspective. Although its potential for understanding control processes has been put forth in previous research (Ahrens and Chapman, 2007; Nama and Lowe, 2014), this lens remains relatively unexplored in the study of management control for CSR1 (Bebbington and Fraser, 2014). Yet, this approach can shed new light on this question because it foregrounds the performative role of artefacts. Its inquiry can highlight how tools are enacted to construct and maintain practices, and how this affects organizing processes. Therefore, it appears fruitful for the study of CSR implementation dynamics because it accounts for the relationality, complexity and ambiguity of organizational phenomena (Feldman and Orlikowski, 2011). The purpose of this introduction is to present and problematize the various literatures articulated in the project (namely, CSR, management control and practice-based perspectives). It clarifies the research question and the angles through which this research has tackled it. It exposes the structure of this document and introduces its constitutive chapters.

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No. of bitstreams: 1 Pereira, Geronilson Ferreira.pdf: 3822766 bytes, checksum: 61cbefc78828105dff9ccd3647bd8682 (MD5) / Tem se tornado evidente para a comunidade acadêmica, empresarial, nas ações das políticas públicas que a competitividade do mercado, até mesmo da agricultura familiar rural, somente poderá ser construída, em bases sustentáveis, por meio da adoção de práticas que estimulem a união, o controle gerencial e a cooperação entre os agentes e atores econômicos de uma cadeia produtiva e, complementarmente entre os poderes governamentais. Uma proposta junto à associação dos quilombolas do Alto Bonito de uma gestão adequada através de construção coletiva, ofertando condições para inovar que é defendida nessa pesquisa. Na verificação dos efeitos do desconhecimento ou até a utilização inadequada da gestão agroindustrial, foi realizado levantamento bibliográfico e aplicação de questionários com roteiro de entrevista junto aos representantes das agroindústrias. Nas estruturas das agroindústrias, foram identificadas lacunas com relação ao controle gerencial por meio da pesquisa exploratória qualitativa, onde se propõe a implantar um Modelo Controle Gerencial, definindo como umaferramenta de TGS simplificada e suas etapas, com o aparato técnico de uma realidade atual, com possibilidades concretas de médio prazo. Essa implantação é destinada a empreendimentos geridos por empreendedores da zona rural na agroindústria, observando-se as práticas gerenciais, investindo-se em capacitações especializadas e políticas educativas, como ferramenta didática na preparação de jovens e atuais membros da Associação, que de forma pragmática e original, tenha um impacto na sua aplicabilidade, inclusive em outros projetos setoriais, para manter o emprego e aquecimento da economia local. Das mais diversas correntes de pensamento, admitem que uma das maneiras de fortalecer as agroindústrias rurais familiares é a gestão. Conclui-se, que esta agregação de conhecimento e tecnologia pode ocorrer de várias formas, principalmente as que estão relacionadas ao controle gerencial e comercialização. Observa-se, em boa parte das agroindústrias visitadas o desconhecimento ou até a não utilização da lógica de estratégias de controles gerencias, entre outros, havendo necessidade efetiva de orientação de maneira multidisciplinar, de forma a contribuir com a sustentabilidade econômica dos empreendimentos e consequência o desenvolvimento territorial, onde praticamente utilizam de tradicionais sistemas ou mecanismos de controle gerencial básico. It has become evident to the academic community, business, public policy actions in the competitive market, even the rural family farms, can only be built on a sustainable basis, through the adoption of practices that encourage unity, managerial control and cooperation among economic agents and actors of a supply chain and, complementarily between government powers. A proposal with the association of the Maroons Alto Bonito proper management through collective construction, offering conditions for innovation that is advocated in this research. In verifying the effects of ignorance or even improper use of agromanagement, literature survey was conducted and questionnaires to interview script with the representatives of agribusinesses. In the structures of the agricultural industry and gaps with respect to managerial control through exploratory qualitative research, which aims to deploy a Management Control Model, defining it as a tool of TGS and its simplified steps, with the technical apparatus of a current reality were identified, with concrete possibilities to medium term. This deployment is aimed at enterprises run by rural entrepreneurs in agribusiness, observing management practices, investing in specialized skills and education policies, as a teaching tool in preparing youth and current members of the Association, which pragmatically and original, has an impact on their applicability, including in other sector projects, to maintain employment and heating of the local economy. The most diverse currents of thought, admit that one of the ways to strengthen family rural agribusinesses is management. It is concluded that this body of knowledge and technology can take many forms, especially those related to management control and marketing. It is observed largely of visits agribusinesses ignorance or even not using the logic of managerial control strategies, among others, there is need for effective guidance of multidisciplinary way, to contribute to the economic sustainability of projects and consequently the territorial development, where virtually use of traditional systems or mechanisms for basic management control.

The current research is motivated by the controversy between the proponents and opponents of privatizing SOEs in LDCs concerning its impact on the MCSs designed and implemented in these companies. On the one hand, proponents expect privatization to foster the design and implementation of market-based, consensual and transparent MCSs. On the other hand, opponents are more critical about the ‘actual’ changes that privatization might entail to SOEs’ MCSs as they expect it to entail the design and implementation of non-transparent, coercive MCSs. When examined closely, this conflict was found to be rooted in the different theoretical perspectives adopted by each side. While proponents base their arguments, mostly, on ‘traditional’ agency and property-rights theories that underplay the role of structure in shaping the MCSs designed and implemented in privatized companies, many of the opponents base their arguments on neo-Marxist theories that underplay the role of agency in that process (namely labour process theory- LPT). The current research contributes to this debate through developing a power-informed theoretical model that acknowledges the role of both agency and structure in shaping the nature of the pre- and post-privatization MCSs designed and implemented in companies operating in LDCs. The model provides an attempt to develop the Hopper et al (2009) model through integrating into it a theory of power informed by the works of Lukes (1974 and 2005) and Gaventa (1980 and 2007) while adopting the integrative agency-structure approach suggested by Mahoney and Snyder (1999).Once developed, the model is used to guide the analysis of the relevant literature pertaining to Egypt’s supra-national and national power relations and structural factors throughout its state and market capitalism eras as a first step towards comparatively analysing the pre- and post-privatization power relations and MCSs manifesting in two Egyptian companies. The empirical data was mainly collected through conducting semi-structured interviews in the two companies and with some of the government officials involved in their privatization. Other sources of data include the companies’ internal records and financial reports, government publications, and newspapers. The comparative analysis shows how the power-informed model can help shed more light onto the nature of, and the dynamics of change in, MCSs transformations in LDCs; without having to abandon LPT as one of the main theoretical perspectives informing the analysis. While doing so, the nature of a company’s MCSs (be it coercive, consensual, or irrelevant) is found to reflect the power relations manifesting in that company (namely, powerful management, comparatively powerful management and labour, or powerful labour, respectively). Furthermore, as the comparative analysis shows, it is found that privatization is more likely to result in changing the nature of a SOE’s MCSs when it entails altering the power relations shaping these MCSs.

O presente estudo procurou analisar o impacto do sistema de controle gerencial de empresas internacionalizadas e compará-lo com as características que um sistema de controle de uma empresa internacionalizada deve ter, segundo a literatura sobre o tema. Portanto, foi investigada a existência de modificações dos mecanismos de sistema de controle gerencial praticados por esta empresa e comparados com aqueles sugeridos pelos autores estudados nesta pesquisa. Para o alcance do objetivo aspirado nesta pesquisa, inicialmente realizou-se uma revisão de literatura sobre controle gerencial, processo de internacionalização, teorias de internacionalização e definido um plano de referência para nortear o estudo. Devido às características e propósitos desta pesquisa adotou-se o método de estudos de casos, por ser aquele que possibilita alcançar um maior nível de profundidade sobre o assunto e permite maior poder de análise de uma ou mais organizações, através da comparação destas com tipos ideais encontrados na literatura. O resultado obtido nesta pesquisa constatou que o sistema de controle de gestão em uso na empresa estudada atende, em diversos aspectos, aos fundamentos teóricos que nortearam este estudo. Desta forma apresenta pontos relacionados com aqueles vistos como relevantes na literatura estudada, evidenciando conhecimento acerca da importância de integração dos mecanismos de controle no alcance dos objetivos da organização no ambiente externo. / The present study looked for to analyze the impact of the management control system in internationalized companies and to compare it with the characteristics that a control system of an internationalized company must have, according to literature highlighted in this study. Therefore, it was investigated the existence of modifications on mechanisms of management control system practiced by this company and compared with those suggested by the authors studied in this research. Looking forward to reach the proposed objective of this research, initially it was realized a revision of literature on management control, process of internationalization, theories of internationalization and, after that, defined a plane of reference to guide the study. Because of the characteristics and intentions of this research the study of case method was adopted, for being the framework that makes possible to reach a bigger level of depth on the subject and allows greater accuracy when it was analyzed one or more organizations through the comparison of these procedures with the founded ideal types in literature. According to the result of this research, it was observed that the management control system in use in the verified company fits, in diverse aspects, to the theoretical beddings that guide this study. On this form the company presents points related with those who were seen as excellent in studied literature, evidencing knowledge concerning the importance of mechanisms of control integration to the reach the organization objectives in the external environment.

Este estudo investiga, sob a ótica da teoria da contingência, os efeitos dos fatores contingenciais sobre o perfil do sistema de controle gerencial (SCG) das empresas brasileiras tendo como objetivo compreender as características do SCG, em função dos fatores contingenciais. São examinados os efeitos diretos e interativos dos fatores contingenciais internos estratégia, estrutura, tecnologia da informação e estágio do ciclo de vida organizacional e do ambiente no perfil do SCG. Avalia-se também o efeito do SCG no desempenho organizacional. Esta pesquisa defende a tese de que os fatores contingenciais internos e externos influenciam o perfil do SCG que possui associação com o desempenho, sendo possível estabelecer arranjos (fit) entre fatores contingenciais, características do SCG e desempenho organizacional. As hipóteses relativas aos efeitos dos fatores contingenciais no SCG preveem que o ambiente, fator contingencial externo, possui associação com os fatores contingenciais internos i) estratégia, ii) estrutura, iii) estágio do CVO e iv) tecnologia da informação; que o ambiente e os fatores contingenciais internos possuem associação com o perfil do SCG e que o SCG possui associação com o desempenho. A amostra envolveu 120 empresas brasileiras de grande porte e os dados para obtenção de informações sobre as mesmas foram coletados através de uma survey (levantamento). Para o tratamento dos dados, foram utilizadas as técnicas estatísticas de análise fatorial, análise de clusters e modelagem de equações estruturais. Os resultados indicaram que quando analisadas em um único grupo de empresas, não foi possível identificar associação entre os fatores contingenciais e o SCG e deste com o desempenho organizacional, rejeitando-se as hipóteses estabelecidas. Entretanto, ao separar as empresas em dois grupos distintos, i) indústria e ii) comércio e serviços, a hipótese de associação entre o fator contingencial ambiente e o SCG foi aceita. Também foram aceitas as hipóteses de: i) associação do ambiente com os fatores contingenciais internos da organização, ii) de associação dos fatores contingenciais internos com o SCG e, finalmente, iii) do SCG com o desempenho organizacional. A validação das hipóteses da pesquisa indica que a escolha e a utilização dos artefatos do SCG sofrem influência dos fatores contingenciais vivenciados pela empresa. Os resultados da pesquisa estão sujeitos a algumas limitações: i) as respostas refletem a percepção dos profissionais de controladoria das empresas, ii) a amostra não é probabilística e, portanto, todas as inferências não podem ser generalizadas para a população. Entretanto, considerando o atual estágio da pesquisa em contabilidade gerencial no Brasil, a pesquisa fornece uma visão importante de um grupo de empresas classificadas entre as maiores do País. Esta análise pode ser o ponto de partida para futuras pesquisas que utilizem a teoria da contingência. / This study investigates, from the perspective of contingency theory, the effects of contingency factors on the profile of the management control system (SCG) of Brazilian companies. The study examines the direct and interactive effects of internal contingency factors - strategy, structure, information technology and stage of organizational life cycle - and the environment in the profile of the SCG. It also evaluates the effect of SCG on organizational performance. This research supports the view that the contingent factors internal and external influence the profile of the SCG that has membership to the performance, it is possible to make arrangements (fit) between contingency factors, characteristics of the SCG and organizational performance. The assumptions of the effects of contingency factors in the SCG predict that the environment, external contingency factor, has association with membership to the internal contingency factors i) strategy, ii) structure, iii) stage of the CVO and iv) information technology, the environment and the internal contingency factors are associated with the profile of the SCG and the SCG has association with the performance. The sample involved 120 Brazilian companies large and the data to obtain information about them was collected through a survey (survey). For the treatment of data, we used the statistical techniques of factor analysis, cluster analysis and structural equation modeling. The results showed that when analyzed in a single group of companies, we could not identify an association between contingency factors and the SCG and this organizational performance, rejecting the hypotheses. However, the separate companies in two distinct groups: i) industry and ii) trade and services, the hypothesis of association between the environment and contingency factor SCG was accepted. We also accept the following hypotheses: i) linking the environment with the contingency factors internal to the organization, ii) the association of contingency factors internal to the SCG and, finally, iii) the SCG with organizational performance. The validation of the hypotheses of research indicates that the choice and use of artifacts from the SCG are influenced by the contingent factors experienced by the company. The survey results are subject to some limitations: i) the responses reflect the perceptions of professionals controlling companies, ii) the sample is not probabilistic and, therefore, all inferences can not be generalized to the population. However, considering the current state of research in management accounting in Brazil, the study provides important insight into a group of companies ranked among the highest in Brazil. This analysis can be the starting point for future studies using the contingency theory.

Abstract This thesis investigates how Finnish firms, as examples of Western firms, control and steer the operations of their subsidiaries in Russia and the Baltic countries and the role of accounting in the management control systems. The thesis consists of three essays, which focus on different aspects of the role of accounting in the management control systems. Even though the issues discussed in this thesis are probably not unique to the area of the former Soviet Union, the characteristics of business in this context highlight specific management control questions relating to organising and using power within management control systems. The first essay investigates the changing role of accounting in a knowledge transfer process between a head office and subsidiaries to show the importance of informal communication and cooperation in the development of accounting. Only after some time of intense informal cooperation and the development of social capital in the accounting-mediated knowledge transfer can more formal accounting controls can be relied on. The second essay illustrates how the central social position of an individual can be reproduced and how it affects accounting and formal reporting in the control system. The third essay investigates the role and power of an intermediate subsidiary in using accounting for controlling and steering the operations of its subsidiaries, when the intermediate acts between the subsidiaries and its own Western parent company. The intermediate can invoke the tensions between divergent social systems and thus use accounting signifiers according to its own needs, legitimating its existence despite the inflexibility the multilevel organizational structure may cause. Therefore, the whole thesis suggests that accounting plays an important role in integrating firms in very different contexts, but this can only happen with the help of more informal supportive structures and knowledgeable agents who utilise accounting. This is how accounting develops business thinking so that the practices adapted to the local demanding circumstances could also give something back to the parent companies.

För startupbolag är venturekapital (VC) ett populärt alternativ som extern finansiering, där VC- bolagen inte sällan tar en aktiv roll deras portföljbolag. Vidare indikerar tidigare forskning att startupbolag har ett mindre behov av Management Control Systems (MCS) samtidigt som MCS och affärsstrategi har en växelverkande relation. Studiens syfte är att ge ett kunskapstillskott kring huruvida förekomsten av VC påverkar startupsbolagens affärsstrategi samt MCS. En kvalitativ metod har genomförts med fyra intervjuer som bas för den empiriska sammanfattningen. Studiens resultat indikerar att VC ökar användningen av MCS för startupbolag. De faktorer som påverkar förändringens omfattning är företagsstorlek, investeringens storlek samt VC-bolagets involveringsgrad. De områden inom MCS som förändras främst är omfattningen av långsiktig planering samt användningen av finansiella mått. Det är stor variation avseende hur VC påverkar affärsstrategin. Vidare indikerar resultatet att förändringar inom startupbolag inte nödvändigtvis är initierade av VC-bolagen, utan ofta är ett naturligt steg när företaget växer.