THE RELATION BETWEEN MANAGEMENT CONTROL SYSTEMS AND SUSTAINABILITY
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2021-08-21
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en
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Abstract
This study provides both scientifically and societally relevant insights into the relation between
Management Control Systems and sustainability. Little is currently known about the exact role of
MCSs in managing an organisation’s sustainable strategy (Crutzen & Herzig, 2013; Maas et al., 2016;
Joshi & Li, 2016). In this study, the concept of Management Control Systems focuses predominantly
on the framework of Malmi and Brown (2008), which assumes Management Control Systems as
interrelated packages of control. The concept of sustainability is based on Elkington’s (1994) Triple
Bottom Line, in which three crucial P’s – People, Profit, and Planet – are formulated. By conducting a
qualitative, single case study at Deloitte Netherlands, an in-depth understanding is obtained in the role
Management Control Systems, both formal and informal, play in managing the sustainable strategy of
Deloitte Netherlands (Yin, 2014). Thereby, an interpretivist research paradigm is adopted. The results
of this study indicate that Deloitte Netherlands uses all five typologies of control systems in the
framework of Malmi and Brown (2008) for the management of her sustainable strategy. Within
Deloitte Netherlands, both cultural controls and cybernetic controls are the most crucial typologies of
controls (Malmi & Brown, 2008). Deloitte Netherlands uses these five typologies of control as an
interrelated package of controls, where these typologies are highly interdependent and mutually
reinforcing (Malmi & Brown, 2008). Furthermore, formal management controls and informal
management controls are used in a complementary way.
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen