Management Control and Performance Measurement Systems: How Servitization Teaches an Old Dog New Tricks

Abstract

Purpose

 The purpose of the paper is to study how servitization affects the management control and performance measurement systems of small and medium sized manufacturing enterprises.

 Design

 This study utilizes a multiple case study approach. Semi structured interviews were carried out with 43 professionals such as owners, managers, and controllers from 31 different manufacturing firms located in Italy.

 Findings

 The study’s findings reveal changes associated with the companies’ beliefs systems, boundary systems, diagnostic systems and interactive systems of MC and PM. Additionally, we identified the following challenges faced by MC and PM systems during the servitization process: establishing a balance between efficiency and flexibility, balancing control and autonomy, balancing existing and new knowledge, tensions between short and long term strategic goals and, finally, information sharing from stakeholders.

 Originality

 Little attention has been put towards the investigation of how the servitization strategy does change management control (MC) and performance measurement (PM) of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). Moreover, additional empirical evidence of the paradoxes created by the servitization strategy from a MC and PM systems perspective is necessary to better understand the servitization phenomenon.

 Research implications

 The study augments prior literature by providing additional empirical evidence of the effects that servitization has on MC and PM systems. Moreover, this research utilizes the levers of control (LOC) framework thus empowering future studies to adopt a similar framework to investigate larger corporations with more structured MC and PM systems.