Firms typically use a ‘one-size-fits-all' (OSFA) compensation contract that specifies a common formulaic relation between performance and compensation (i.e., a performance bonus) for nonexecutive managers in similar jobs. However, a contract that is appropriate on average, may be suboptimal...

Coase (1937) first explained the existence of firms and the boundaries between them as an emergent solution to minimizing the costs of accessing markets -- what Williamson (1975) later termed ‘transaction costs.' Over time, innovations in management control and changes to legal structures have...

Performance measurement systems (PMSs) are used to diagnose and remediate problems, termed the ‘decision-facilitating' or feedback role of management control. We examine whether use of PMSs by individual decision makers is associated with better performance. Experimental studies have isolated...

We study the relation between a manager’s growth mindset and their use of resource management practices. Growth mindset is based on implicit person theory and is an established and measurable psychological construct. It refers to a person’s deeply held beliefs about whether, in general,...

We examine the portfolio of management controls to mitigate alliance risks of three firms' in order to analyze the suitability of three management control frameworks as descriptors of controls used in interfirm alliances: Simons (1995), Merchant and Van der Stede (2007), and Jensen and Meckling...

In this chapter, we review the use of TCE in the study of interfirm relationships. An extensive literature in economics and business strategy delves into interfirm governance choices. In our review, we focus on accounting and non-accounting studies to assess how TCE has contributed and can...

Accountants have developed tools to evaluate firms' quality performance; however, a focus on evaluating one aspect of quality ?? conformance to pre-established specifications ?? has limited unnecessarily accountants' contribution to quality improvement. Product and process design are the most...