Research objectives
The study endeavours both to examine management control systems packages operating within two
business units of the case company and to compare and contrast how these control packages and their
functionality stand vis-à-vis each other. Moreover, this thesis aims at assessing the performance
implications of the management control system packages by examining whether control packages of
certain kind, if any, enable a firm to achieve ambidextrous strategy, i.e. simultaneous effective
execution of explorative and exploitative capabilities.
Sources and research method
The study draws on a wide array of theoretical references encompassing journal articles and books
addressing management control systems, their operation as a package as well as organisational
ambidexterity. The empirical evidence, in turn, was collected from a range of sources. These
included eight interviews, a number of internal company documents, several business press reports
and annual company reports. The various sources of evidence were used to provide multiple
measures of the same issue (triangulation), rather than simply being used as mixed methods of data
collection.
A case-based approach was employed in this study. The comparative case study was conducted by
interviewing eight (8) representatives at both senior and middle management level. All interviews
were recorded and transcribed. Once the analysis was completed, findings were fed back to the
interviewees for review in order to ascertain the veracity of the researcher’s understanding of various
issues.
Results
Several findings emerge from the study. First, the control packages of the business units were found
to be virtually akin to each other but, however, equally functional in the face of different
contingencies. Second, the packages seemed to rely more on informal and “organic” controls as
opposed to formal and “mechanistic” controls. Third, whilst cultural controls were argued to provide
a contextual frame for other controls, reward and compensation controls were asserted to remain
relatively separate from other package elements. Planning, cybernetic, and administrative controls,
on the other hand, appeared to be tightly linked in practice. Finally, the business units’ management
control systems packages were argued to be of assistance in fostering organisational ambidexterity.