Purpose – This paper sets out to introduce the special issue on management controls and new organisational forms. It summarises and reflects on themes and findings raised in the papers in the issue. Design/methodology/approach – The findings reported in the paper are based on desk research...

Purpose – Inter‐firm relationships are increasingly being adopted as competitive tools. However, the challenges created by these relationships for the design and use of management control systems (MCS) have been well documented. The purpose of this paper is to provide a review of the...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explain the background to the special issue and to provide an introduction to the articles on case studies included in the issue. Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses a review of developments in both the qualitative tradition and case studies...

Reports on the uncovering of a small‐firm reality where the self‐gratifying behaviour of the owner/manager threatens the survival of the organization. Takes a “middle‐range thinking” approach to mould ethnographic data, and demonstrates and develops, via a case study, models of change...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore a number of issues pertaining to the conceptualisation, operationalisation, feasibility and effectiveness of workplace partnership arrangements in a non‐unionised setting. Design/methodology/approach – The paper discusses the most common...

Purpose: The Balanced Scorecard (BSC) possesses an inherent duality, as it has been described as a carrier of institutions (i.e. the BSC is a “management ideology” or “mode of thinking”) and a flexibly interpretive boundary object at the same time. This study examines how this inherent...

Adapting the research methodology and framework utilised by Communal and Senior, this paper analyses messages conveyed by advertisements for senior management positions in the Irish national press with a view to discerning if there are sectoral differences in management cultures in Ireland....

Purpose – The paper seeks to examine the evolution of regulatory accounting within the context of the Brazilian electricity sector reforms. The paper traces the process of the reforms and the development of the regulatory accounting system. Design/methodology/approach – The paper is based on...

Purpose – The purposes of this paper are to provide first a detailed description of the use of interfirm cooperation by a large sample of Dutch firms of different sizes and from different industries, and second, to examine the governance role of financial managers in the management of...