Management control systems as a package in a Portuguese agri-food company

Abstract

This article aimed to analyze how management control systems (MCSs) as a package have been used in a Portuguese agri-food company. There is a need for a more holistic view of the diversity of management controls in organizations, analyzing how the different management controls interact in specific organizations from different cultural contexts. This is a field study, which allowed the researchers to immerse themselves in the organizational context of an important Portuguese agri-food company, allowing a better understanding of the relationships between different types of management control. It helps raise awareness of the diversity of management controls and the importance of using them as a package in organizations. The study adopts the case study methodology, supported by information collected through documents and semi-structured interviews as methods of collecting and generating evidence. This study reinforces the importance of studying management control systems as a package in different organizational contexts, highlights the importance of the links between different types of management control, shows the dynamics that occur in all components of the theoretical model adopted, and gives visibility to the diversity of management controls that can be used in organizations.