Coexistence of Management Control Practices and Successful Product Innovation

49 Pages Posted: 11 Jan 2017 Last revised: 16 Jun 2017

See all articles by Jean-François Henri

Jean-François Henri

Université Laval

Marc J. F. Wouters

Karlsruhe Institute of Technology

Date Written: January 9, 2017

Abstract

Evidence for the relationship between management control (MC) practices and innovation is somewhat mixed, notably because of the typical conceptualization of innovation in the management accounting literature and the insufficient attention devoted to the type of information provided by MC practices. This exploratory study investigates to what extent the coexistence of MC practices providing a mix of information for decision-making supports or impedes successful innovation. More specifically, we investigate whether the diversity of nonfinancial performance indicators and the sophistication of costing information specifically and jointly contribute to successful product innovation, and whether strategy influences those effects. Survey data collected from a large sample of manufacturing firms show that although MC practices can explicitly support successful product innovation, their coexistence in providing a mix of information for decision-making can hamper that success, particularly for organizations for which product innovation acts as the key strategic driver.

Keywords: management control, product innovation, coexistence

JEL Classification: M41

Suggested Citation

Henri, Jean-François and Wouters, Marc J. F., Coexistence of Management Control Practices and Successful Product Innovation (January 9, 2017). 2017 Canadian Academic Accounting Association (CAAA) Annual Conference, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2896110 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2896110

Jean-François Henri (Contact Author)

Université Laval ( email )

Pavillon Palasis-Prince
Quebec, Québec G1K 7P4
Canada

Marc J. F. Wouters

Karlsruhe Institute of Technology ( email )

Kaiserstraße 12
Karlsruhe, Baden Württemberg 76131
Germany

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