Management Control Systems and the Crafting of Strategy: A Practice-Based View

Abstract

Abstract Managing their relationships with customers is a vital capability of organizations. Even though the role of accounting and management control systems (MCS) in this process has long been conceptualized under the label of strategic management accounting (Simmonds 1981, 1982), recent studies found it difficult to trace the influence of this concept on strategic organizational practices (Tomkins and Carr 1996, Guilding et al. 2000; Roslender and Hart 2003). This chapter draws on practice theory as a way of understanding the strategic potential of MCS. It focuses specifically on the day-to-day uses of MCS for the management of customer relationships in head office (HO) and local units.