Management Accounting Control (MAC) andCulture (group assignment)

Hofstedes culture theory is trying to describe how culture context influences companies design and use of management accounting control tools . Studies influenced of Hofstedes Cultural theory describes how companies that consist of different cultural values have to handle these differences.

Written Assignment;Read the articles below and familiarize yourself with the following two scenarios (scenario A and B). Try to answer the questions with a discussion regarding culture and management control. You must refer to the articles and link them to the two scenarios.

Scenario A

A multinational company implements a new budget process. It is a very decentralized system. In one country it turns out be a success. In another country it is a failure. How can we understand this difference from a cultural perspective?

Scenario B

A company from a European country merger with a company from another continent. A consequence of the merger is that the Management Control System must change because of the new organizational structure? Which challenges must the company manage due to culture difference.

Literature

Abrahamsson, S. and Isaksson, R. (2012) 'Implementing Lean: Discussing Standardization Versus Customization with Focus on National Cultural Dimensions', Management and Production Engineering Review, 3(4), pp. 4-13. doi:10.2478/v10270-012-0029-6.

Brewer, P.C. (1997) 'International Cultural Diversity and the Design of Management Accounting Systems', American Journal of Business, 12(1), pp. 69-77. doi:10.1108/19355181199700008.

Brewer, P.C. (1998) 'National culture and activity-based costing systems: a note', Management Accounting Research, 9(2), pp. 241-260. doi:10.1006/mare.1998.0077.

Chanegrih, T. (2015) 'The Effects of National Culture on Changes in Management Accounting Systems', Asia Pacific Journal of Management Research and Innovation, 11(1), pp. 16-28. doi:10.1177/2319510X14565012.

Gerlach, P. and Eriksson, K. (2021) 'Measuring Cultural Dimensions: External Validity and Internal Consistency of Hofstede's VSM 2013 Scales', Frontiers in Psychology, 12. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.662604.

Harrison, G., & McKinnon, J. (2007). National culture and management control. In Hopper, T., Northcott, D., & Scapens, R. (Eds.). Issues in management accounting. Harlow, England: Pearson education.

Hofstede, G. (1983) 'National Cultures in Four Dimensions: A Research-Based Theory of Cultural Differences among Nations', International Studies of Management & Organization, 13(1/2), pp. 46-74.

Hofstede, G. (1993) 'Cultural Constraints in Management Theories', The Executive, 7(1), pp. 81-94.

Jansen, E. P., Merchant, K. A., & Van der Stede, W. A. (2009). National differences in incentive compensation practices: The differing roles of financial performance measurement in the United States and the Netherlands. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 34(1), 58-84.

Jwijati, I. et al. (2022) 'Impact of national culture on performance measurement systems in manufacturing firms', Production Planning & Control, pp. 1-16. doi:10.1080/09537287.2022.2026674.

Lebas, M.; Weigenstein, J. Management Control: The Roles of Rules, Markets and Culture. Journal of Management Studies (Wiley-Blackwell), [s. l.], v. 23, n. 3, p. 259-272, 1986. DOI 10.1111/j.1467-6486.1986.tb00953.x.

McNab, R.M. and Wilson, S.D. (2018) 'Culture matters: what cultural values influence budget transparency?', Applied Economics, 50(43), pp. 4593-4605. doi:10.1080/00036846.2018.1458197.

Minkov, M. and Kaasa, A. (2022) 'Do dimensions of culture exist objectively? A validation of the revised Minkov-Hofstede model of culture with World Values Survey items and scores for 102 countries', Journal of International Management, 28(4), p. N.PAG. doi:10.1016/j.intman.2022.100971.

O'Connor, N.G. (1995) 'The influence of organizational culture on the usefulness of budget participation by Singaporean-Chinese managers', Accounting, Organizations and Society, 20(5), pp. 383-403. doi:10.1016/0361-3682(94)00034-S.

Otley, D., Broadbent, J. and Berry, A. (1995) 'Research in Management Control: An Overview of its Development', British Journal of Management, 6, p. 31. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8551.1995.tb00136.

Taras, V., Kirkman, B.L. and Steel, P. (2010) 'Examining the impact of Culture's consequences: A three-decade, multilevel, meta-analytic review of Hofstede's cultural value dimensions', Journal of Applied Psychology, 95(3), pp. 405-439. doi:10.1037/a0018938.