MANAGEMENT CONTROL IN INTERNATIONAL FIRMS

The course explains the management control systems and their contribution to the success of companies, in an international market.
The aim of the course is to give students capabilities in the design and use of control systems and performance measurement that generate motivation and increase the effectiveness of management.
The course will supply the conceptual and methodological basis of management control, describe the different types of control, and provide perspectives on financial results control systems, responsibility centers and incentive systems. All issues are explained and discussed both for big companies and for SMEs, because all of them are proactive in international competition.

1) KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING
At the end of this course, students are expected to have developed a solid knowledge of the following basic notions:
- the nature, uses and purposes of management control;
- the main control types and their uses;
- the core elements of the financial results control systems;
- performance measurement issues.

2) APPLYING KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING
At the end of this course, students are expected to be able to select and apply the main management control devices and to solve simple management control problems.

3) MAKING JUDGEMENTS
At the end of this course, students are expected to be able to:
- critically discuss the nature and uses of management control;
- reason on the behavioural benefits or decision-making support that management control tools can give to organizations in different contexts.

Financial and Management accounting

Table of contents. Part I. The control function of management. Management and control. Part II. Management Control alternatives and their effects. Results Controls. Action, personnel, and cultural controls. Designing and Evaluating Management Control Systems. Part III. Financial results Control Systems. Financial Responsibility Centers. Planning and Budgeting. Incentive Systems. Part IV. Performance Measurement Issues and their Effects. Financial Performance Measures and their Effects. Combinations of Measures and Other Remedies to the Myopia Problem. Part V. Significant Situational Influences on Management Control Systems. The Effects of Environmental Uncertainty, Organizational Strategy, and Multinationality on Management Control Systems.

K. Merchant, A.W. Van der Stede
Management Control Systems - Performance Measurement, Evaluation and Incentives
Pearson (2nd or 3rd edition)
Chapters
1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 16

An oral discussion aimed at assessing and evaluating the comprehension of the concepts is the standard way. During the lectures there is the possibility to work on case studies and presenting the output of these works.

Both traditional presentations and case studies

Inglese

Office hours: Wednesday 11.00-13.00. Students are invited to send an email to the address antonio.costantini@unive.it by Tuesday afternoon.

orale