Abstract
Formal management control systems (MCSs) in family business is an under-studied topic. According to the family context, studies usually refer to informal MCSs and the introduction of formal systems coincide to peculiar situations, such as professionalization or succession. The purpose of this paper is to capture the multitude of determinants enabling the presence of these systems. A survey addressed to Italian construction SMEs highlights some determinants. The process of growth, the macro-economic context of crisis, the lack of a key actor for management and control and the lack of shared values into the management group favour the introduction of formal MCSs. The effects of other variables are not confirmed.
References
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Astrachan J. H., Klein S. B. e Smyrnios K. X. (2002), “The F-PEC Scale of family influence: a proposal for solving the family business definition problem”, Family Business Review, 15, 1: pp. 45-58.
Astrachan J. H. (2010), “Strategy in family business: toward a multidimensional research agenda”, Journal of Family Business Strategy, 1: pp. 6-14.
Bettinelli C. (2011), “Boards of Directors in family firms: an exploratory study of structure and group process”, Family Business Review, 24, 2: pp. 151-169.
Chenhall R. H. (2003), “Management control systems design within its organizational context: findings from contingency-based research and directions for the future”, Accounting, Organizations and Society, 28: pp. 127-168.
Chrisman J. J., Chua J. H. e Litz R. (2003), “A unified systems perspective of family firm performance: An extension and integration”, Journal of Business Venturing, 18, 4: pp. 467–472.
Chua J. H., Chrisman J. J. e Sharma P. (1999), “Defining the family business by behavior”, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 23, 4: pp. 19-39.
Chua J. H., Chrisman J. J. e Bergiel E. B. (2009), “An agency theoretic analysis of the professionalized family firm”, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 33: pp. 355-372.
Collier P. (2001), “The power of accounting: a field study of local financial management in a police force”, Management Accounting Research, 12: pp. 465-486.
Corbetta G. e Tomaselli S. (1996), “Boards of Directors in Italian family businesses”, Family Business Review, 4, 9: pp. 403-421.
Craig J. e Moores K. (2005), “Balanced Scorecard to drive the strategic planning of family firms”, Family Business Review, 18, 2: pp. 105-122.
Craig J. e Moores K. (2010), “Strategically aligning family and business systems using the Balanced Scorecard”, Journal of Family Business Strategy, 1: pp. 78-87.
Daily C. M. e Dollinger M. J. (1992), “An Empirical Examination of Ownership Structure in Family and Professionally Managed Firms”, Family Business Review, 5: pp. 117-136.
Daily C. M. e Dollinger M. J. (1993), “Alternative methodologies for identifying family- versus nonfamily-managed businesses”, Journal of Small Business Management, April: pp. 79-90.
Davis J. A. e Tagiuri R. (1989), “The influence of life-stage on father–son work relationships in family companies”, Family Business Review, 2: pp. 47–74.
Davis J. H., Schoorman F. D. e Donaldson L. (1997), “Toward a stewardship theory of management”, The Academy of Management Review, 22, 1: pp. 20–47.
de Kok J. M. P., Uhlaner L. M. e Thurik A. R. (2006), “Professional HRM practices in family owned-managed enterprises”, Journal of Small Business Management, 44, 3: pp. 441-460.
Dekker J, Lybaert N., Steijvers T. e Depaire B. (2012), “The effect of family business professionalization as a multidimensional construct on firm performance”, paper presentato al 12th Euram conferenza, organizzata dalla
Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University dal 6th al 8th Giugno 2012, Rotterdam.
Dent J. F. (1991), “Accounting and organizational cultures: a filed study of the emergence of a new organizational reality”, Accounting, Organizations and Society, 16, 8: pp. 705-732.
Donaldson L. e Davis J. H. (1991), “Stewardship theory or agency theory: CEO governance and shareholder returns”, Australian Journal of Management, 16, 1: pp. 49–64.
Dyer W. G. Jr. (1989), “Integrating professional management into a family-owned business”, Family Business Review, 2: pp. 221-235.
Dyer W. G. Jr (2006), “Examining the “Family Effect” on firm performance”, Family Business Review, 19, 4: pp. 253-273.
Eisenhardt K. M. (1989), “Agency theory: An assessment and review”, The Academy of Management Review, 14, 1: pp. 57–74.
Ensley M. D., Pearson A. W. e Sardeshmukh S. (2007), “The negative consequences of pay dispersion in family and nonfamily top management teams: An exploratory analysis of new venture, high-growth firms”, Journal of Business Research, 60, 10: pp. 1039–1047.
Fama E. e Jensen M. (1983), “Separation of ownership and control”, Journal of Law and Economics, 26: pp. 301–325.
Flamholtz E. G., Das T. K. e Tsui A. S. (1985), “Toward an integrative framework of organizational control”, Accounting, Organizations and Society, 10, 1: pp. 35–50.
Gallo M. (1995), “The role of family business and its distinctive characteristic behavior in industrial activity”, Family Business Review, 8, 2: pp. 83–97.
Habbershon T. G., Williams M. e MacMillan I. C. (2003), “A unified systems perspective of family firm performance”, Journal of Business Venturing, 18: pp. 451-465.
Hall R. H. (1968), “Professionalization and bureaucratization”, American Sociological Review, 33, 1, pp. 92-104.
Hall A. e Nordqvist M. (2008), “Professional management in family businesses: Toward an extended understanding”, Family Business Review, 21: pp. 51-69.
Hopwood A. G. (1974), Accounting and Human Behaviour, Haymarket Publishing, London.
Hung S.-C. e Whittington R. (2011), “Agency in national innovation systems: Institutional entrepreneurship and the professionalization of Taiwanese IT”, Research Policy, 40: pp. 526-538.
Huse M. e Zattoni A. (2008), “Trust, firm life cycle, and actual board behavior”, International Studies of Management & Organization, 38, 3: pp. 71–97.
Johannisson B. e Huse M. (2000), “Recruiting outside board members in the small family business: An ideological challenge”, Entrepreneurship and Regional Development: An International Journal, 12, 4: pp. 353–378.
Karra N., Tracey P. e Phillips N. (2006), “Altruism and agency in the family firm: Exploring the role of family, kinship, and ethnicity”, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 30: pp. 861–877.
Langfield-Smith K. (1997), “Management control systems and strategy: a critical review”, Accounting, Organizations and Society, 22, 2: pp. 207-232.
Langfield-Smith K. (2005), What do we know about management control systems and strategy?, in Chapman C.S., Controlling strategy: Management, accounting and performance measurement, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Langfield-Smith K. (2007). “A review of quantitative research in management control systems and strategy”, in Chapman C., Hopwood A. e Shields M., Handbook in Management Accounting (Vol. 2), Elsevier, Oxford, UK.
Lee K. S., Lim G. H. e Lim W. S. (2003), “Family business succession: Appropriation risk and choice of successor”, The Academy of Management Review, 28, 4: pp. 657-666.
Litz R. A. (1995), “The family business: toward definitional clarity”, Family Business Review, 8, 2: pp. 71–81.
Lubatkin M. H., Schulze W. S., Ling Y. e Dino R. N. (2005), “The effects of parental altruism on the governance of family-managed firms”, Journal of Organizational Behavior, 26, 3: pp.
313-330.
Malmi T. e Brown D. A. (2008), “Management control systems as a package - opportunities, challenges and research directions”, Management Accounting Research, 19: pp. 287-300.
Mazzola P., Marchisio G. e Astrachan J. (2008), “Strategic planning in family business: a powerful developmental tool for the next generation”, Family Business Review, 21, 3: pp. 239-258.
McConaughy D. e Phillips G. (1999), “Founders versus descendants: The profitability, efficiency, growth characteristics, and financing in large, public, founding-family-controlled firms”, Family Business Review, 12: pp. 123–132.Merchant K. A. e Van
der Stede W. A. (2007), Management control systems: performance measurement, evaluation, and incentives, Financial Times/Prentice-Hall, Harlow, UK.
Merchant K. A. e Van der Stede W. A. (2007), Management control systems: performance measurement, evaluation, and incentives, Financial Times/Prentice-Hall, Harlow, UK.
Modell S. (2002), “Institutional perspectives on cost allocations: integration and extension”, The European Accounting Review, 11, 4: pp. 653–679.
Moores K. e Mula J. (2000), “The salience of market, bureaucratic, and clan controls in the management of family firm transitions: some tentative Australian evidence”, Family Business Review, 13, 2: pp. 91-106.
Morris M. H., Allen J. A., Kuratko D. F. e Brannon D. (2010), “Experiencing family business creation: Differences between founders, non-family managers and founders of non-family firms”, Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice, 34, 6: pp. 1057–1084.
Mustakallio M., Autio E. e Zahra S. A. (2002), “Relational and contractual governance in family firms: Effects on strategic decision making”, Family Business Review, 15, 3: pp. 205-222.
Otley D. T. (1980), “The contingency theory of management accounting: achievement and prognosis”, Accounting, Organizations and Society, 5, 4: pp. 413-428
Otley D. e Berry A. (1980), “Control, organization and accounting”, Accounting, Organizations and Society, 5, 2: pp. 231–244.
Ouchi W. (1979), “A conceptual framework for the design of organizational control mechanisms”, Management Science, 25, 9: pp. 833–848.
Parada M. J., Nordqvist M. e Gimeno A. (2010), “Institutionalizing the family business: The role of professional associations in fostering a change of values”, Family Business Review, 23, 4: pp. 355-372.
Ross S. (1973), “The economic theory of agency: The principal’s problem”, American Economic Review, 63, 2: pp. 134–139.
Shanker M. C. e Astrachan J. H. (1996), “Myths and realities: family businesses' contribution to the US economy - a framework for assessing family business statistics, Family Business Review, 9, 2: pp. 107-123.
Songini L. (2006), “The professionalization of family firms: theory and practice”, in Poutziouris, P. Z., Smyrnios, K. X. e Klein, S. B., Handbook of family business research, Edward Elgar Publishing, UK.
Songini L., Gnan L., Malmi T. (2013), The role and impact of accounting in family business, Journal of Family Business Strategy, 4, 71-83.
Songini L. e Vola P. (2012), “Management control systems and strategic planning in family business succession process: evidences from Italian enterprises”, paper presentato allo Workshop Management Control, Pisa 1-2 Febbraio 2012.
Stanley L. (2010), “Emotions and family business creation: An extension and implications”, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 34, 6: pp. 1085–1092.
Stewart A. e Hitt M. A. (2012), “Why can’t a family business be more like a nonfamily business? Modes of professionalization in family firms”, Family Business Review, 25, 1: pp. 58-86.
Tosi H. L., Brownlee A. L., Silva P. e Katz J. P. (2003), “An empirical exploration of decision-making under agency controls and stewardship structure”, Journal of Management Studies, 40, 8: pp. 2053-2071.
Tsui-Auch L. S. (2004), “The professionally managed family-ruled enterprise: Ethnic Chinese business in Singapore”, Journal of Management Studies, 41: pp. 693-723.
Ward J. L. (2004), Perpetuating the family business: 50 Lessons learned from long-lasting, successful families in business, Palgrave Macmillan, Houndmills, England.
Zimmerman J. L. (2001), “Conjectures regarding empirical managerial accounting research”, Journal of Accounting and Economics, 32, 1/3: pp. 411–427.
Anthony, R., 1965. Planning and Control Systems: A Framework for Analysis. Harvard University, Boston.
Astrachan J. H., Klein S. B. e Smyrnios K. X. (2002), “The F-PEC Scale of family influence: a proposal for solving the family business definition problem”, Family Business Review, 15, 1: pp. 45-58.
Astrachan J. H. (2010), “Strategy in family business: toward a multidimensional research agenda”, Journal of Family Business Strategy, 1: pp. 6-14.
Bettinelli C. (2011), “Boards of Directors in family firms: an exploratory study of structure and group process”, Family Business Review, 24, 2: pp. 151-169.
Chenhall R. H. (2003), “Management control systems design within its organizational context: findings from contingency-based research and directions for the future”, Accounting, Organizations and Society, 28: pp. 127-168.
Chrisman J. J., Chua J. H. e Litz R. (2003), “A unified systems perspective of family firm performance: An extension and integration”, Journal of Business Venturing, 18, 4: pp. 467–472.
Chua J. H., Chrisman J. J. e Sharma P. (1999), “Defining the family business by behavior”, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 23, 4: pp. 19-39.
Chua J. H., Chrisman J. J. e Bergiel E. B. (2009), “An agency theoretic analysis of the professionalized family firm”, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 33: pp. 355-372.
Collier P. (2001), “The power of accounting: a field study of local financial management in a police force”, Management Accounting Research, 12: pp. 465-486.
Corbetta G. e Tomaselli S. (1996), “Boards of Directors in Italian family businesses”, Family Business Review, 4, 9: pp. 403-421.
Craig J. e Moores K. (2005), “Balanced Scorecard to drive the strategic planning of family firms”, Family Business Review, 18, 2: pp. 105-122.
Craig J. e Moores K. (2010), “Strategically aligning family and business systems using the Balanced Scorecard”, Journal of Family Business Strategy, 1: pp. 78-87.
Daily C. M. e Dollinger M. J. (1992), “An Empirical Examination of Ownership Structure in Family and Professionally Managed Firms”, Family Business Review, 5: pp. 117-136.
Daily C. M. e Dollinger M. J. (1993), “Alternative methodologies for identifying family- versus nonfamily-managed businesses”, Journal of Small Business Management, April: pp. 79-90.
Davis J. A. e Tagiuri R. (1989), “The influence of life-stage on father–son work relationships in family companies”, Family Business Review, 2: pp. 47–74.
Davis J. H., Schoorman F. D. e Donaldson L. (1997), “Toward a stewardship theory of management”, The Academy of Management Review, 22, 1: pp. 20–47.
de Kok J. M. P., Uhlaner L. M. e Thurik A. R. (2006), “Professional HRM practices in family owned-managed enterprises”, Journal of Small Business Management, 44, 3: pp. 441-460.
Dekker J, Lybaert N., Steijvers T. e Depaire B. (2012), “The effect of family business professionalization as a multidimensional construct on firm performance”, paper presentato al 12th Euram conferenza, organizzata dalla
Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University dal 6th al 8th Giugno 2012, Rotterdam.
Dent J. F. (1991), “Accounting and organizational cultures: a filed study of the emergence of a new organizational reality”, Accounting, Organizations and Society, 16, 8: pp. 705-732.
Donaldson L. e Davis J. H. (1991), “Stewardship theory or agency theory: CEO governance and shareholder returns”, Australian Journal of Management, 16, 1: pp. 49–64.
Dyer W. G. Jr. (1989), “Integrating professional management into a family-owned business”, Family Business Review, 2: pp. 221-235.
Dyer W. G. Jr (2006), “Examining the “Family Effect” on firm performance”, Family Business Review, 19, 4: pp. 253-273.
Eisenhardt K. M. (1989), “Agency theory: An assessment and review”, The Academy of Management Review, 14, 1: pp. 57–74.
Ensley M. D., Pearson A. W. e Sardeshmukh S. (2007), “The negative consequences of pay dispersion in family and nonfamily top management teams: An exploratory analysis of new venture, high-growth firms”, Journal of Business Research, 60, 10: pp. 1039–1047.
Fama E. e Jensen M. (1983), “Separation of ownership and control”, Journal of Law and Economics, 26: pp. 301–325.
Flamholtz E. G., Das T. K. e Tsui A. S. (1985), “Toward an integrative framework of organizational control”, Accounting, Organizations and Society, 10, 1: pp. 35–50.
Gallo M. (1995), “The role of family business and its distinctive characteristic behavior in industrial activity”, Family Business Review, 8, 2: pp. 83–97.
Habbershon T. G., Williams M. e MacMillan I. C. (2003), “A unified systems perspective of family firm performance”, Journal of Business Venturing, 18: pp. 451-465.
Hall R. H. (1968), “Professionalization and bureaucratization”, American Sociological Review, 33, 1, pp. 92-104.
Hall A. e Nordqvist M. (2008), “Professional management in family businesses: Toward an extended understanding”, Family Business Review, 21: pp. 51-69.
Hopwood A. G. (1974), Accounting and Human Behaviour, Haymarket Publishing, London.
Hung S.-C. e Whittington R. (2011), “Agency in national innovation systems: Institutional entrepreneurship and the professionalization of Taiwanese IT”, Research Policy, 40: pp. 526-538.
Huse M. e Zattoni A. (2008), “Trust, firm life cycle, and actual board behavior”, International Studies of Management & Organization, 38, 3: pp. 71–97.
Johannisson B. e Huse M. (2000), “Recruiting outside board members in the small family business: An ideological challenge”, Entrepreneurship and Regional Development: An International Journal, 12, 4: pp. 353–378.
Karra N., Tracey P. e Phillips N. (2006), “Altruism and agency in the family firm: Exploring the role of family, kinship, and ethnicity”, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 30: pp. 861–877.
Langfield-Smith K. (1997), “Management control systems and strategy: a critical review”, Accounting, Organizations and Society, 22, 2: pp. 207-232.
Langfield-Smith K. (2005), What do we know about management control systems and strategy?, in Chapman C.S., Controlling strategy: Management, accounting and performance measurement, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Langfield-Smith K. (2007). “A review of quantitative research in management control systems and strategy”, in Chapman C., Hopwood A. e Shields M., Handbook in Management Accounting (Vol. 2), Elsevier, Oxford, UK.
Lee K. S., Lim G. H. e Lim W. S. (2003), “Family business succession: Appropriation risk and choice of successor”, The Academy of Management Review, 28, 4: pp. 657-666.
Litz R. A. (1995), “The family business: toward definitional clarity”, Family Business Review, 8, 2: pp. 71–81.
Lubatkin M. H., Schulze W. S., Ling Y. e Dino R. N. (2005), “The effects of parental altruism on the governance of family-managed firms”, Journal of Organizational Behavior, 26, 3: pp.
313-330.
Malmi T. e Brown D. A. (2008), “Management control systems as a package - opportunities, challenges and research directions”, Management Accounting Research, 19: pp. 287-300.
Mazzola P., Marchisio G. e Astrachan J. (2008), “Strategic planning in family business: a powerful developmental tool for the next generation”, Family Business Review, 21, 3: pp. 239-258.
McConaughy D. e Phillips G. (1999), “Founders versus descendants: The profitability, efficiency, growth characteristics, and financing in large, public, founding-family-controlled firms”, Family Business Review, 12: pp. 123–132.Merchant K. A. e Van
der Stede W. A. (2007), Management control systems: performance measurement, evaluation, and incentives, Financial Times/Prentice-Hall, Harlow, UK.
Merchant K. A. e Van der Stede W. A. (2007), Management control systems: performance measurement, evaluation, and incentives, Financial Times/Prentice-Hall, Harlow, UK.
Modell S. (2002), “Institutional perspectives on cost allocations: integration and extension”, The European Accounting Review, 11, 4: pp. 653–679.
Moores K. e Mula J. (2000), “The salience of market, bureaucratic, and clan controls in the management of family firm transitions: some tentative Australian evidence”, Family Business Review, 13, 2: pp. 91-106.
Morris M. H., Allen J. A., Kuratko D. F. e Brannon D. (2010), “Experiencing family business creation: Differences between founders, non-family managers and founders of non-family firms”, Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice, 34, 6: pp. 1057–1084.
Mustakallio M., Autio E. e Zahra S. A. (2002), “Relational and contractual governance in family firms: Effects on strategic decision making”, Family Business Review, 15, 3: pp. 205-222.
Otley D. T. (1980), “The contingency theory of management accounting: achievement and prognosis”, Accounting, Organizations and Society, 5, 4: pp. 413-428
Otley D. e Berry A. (1980), “Control, organization and accounting”, Accounting, Organizations and Society, 5, 2: pp. 231–244.
Ouchi W. (1979), “A conceptual framework for the design of organizational control mechanisms”, Management Science, 25, 9: pp. 833–848.
Parada M. J., Nordqvist M. e Gimeno A. (2010), “Institutionalizing the family business: The role of professional associations in fostering a change of values”, Family Business Review, 23, 4: pp. 355-372.
Ross S. (1973), “The economic theory of agency: The principal’s problem”, American Economic Review, 63, 2: pp. 134–139.
Shanker M. C. e Astrachan J. H. (1996), “Myths and realities: family businesses' contribution to the US economy - a framework for assessing family business statistics, Family Business Review, 9, 2: pp. 107-123.
Songini L. (2006), “The professionalization of family firms: theory and practice”, in Poutziouris, P. Z., Smyrnios, K. X. e Klein, S. B., Handbook of family business research, Edward Elgar Publishing, UK.
Songini L., Gnan L., Malmi T. (2013), The role and impact of accounting in family business, Journal of Family Business Strategy, 4, 71-83.
Songini L. e Vola P. (2012), “Management control systems and strategic planning in family business succession process: evidences from Italian enterprises”, paper presentato allo Workshop Management Control, Pisa 1-2 Febbraio 2012.
Stanley L. (2010), “Emotions and family business creation: An extension and implications”, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 34, 6: pp. 1085–1092.
Stewart A. e Hitt M. A. (2012), “Why can’t a family business be more like a nonfamily business? Modes of professionalization in family firms”, Family Business Review, 25, 1: pp. 58-86.
Tosi H. L., Brownlee A. L., Silva P. e Katz J. P. (2003), “An empirical exploration of decision-making under agency controls and stewardship structure”, Journal of Management Studies, 40, 8: pp. 2053-2071.
Tsui-Auch L. S. (2004), “The professionally managed family-ruled enterprise: Ethnic Chinese business in Singapore”, Journal of Management Studies, 41: pp. 693-723.
Ward J. L. (2004), Perpetuating the family business: 50 Lessons learned from long-lasting, successful families in business, Palgrave Macmillan, Houndmills, England.
Zimmerman J. L. (2001), “Conjectures regarding empirical managerial accounting research”, Journal of Accounting and Economics, 32, 1/3: pp. 411–427.
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