Properties of Performance Measurement and Management Systems Used Dialogically between Parent Companies and Foreign Subsidiaries
Advances in Management Accounting
ISBN: 978-1-78756-440-4, eISBN: 978-1-78756-439-8
Publication date: 13 August 2018
Abstract
Purpose – To show the properties of performance measurement and management systems (PMMS) used dialogically and the association between the dialogic use of PMMS and the characteristics of the organizational relationships between parent companies and foreign subsidiaries.
Design/Methodology/Approach – Data were collected through a questionnaire e-mailed to large foreign subsidiaries of multinational firms operating in various industries. Hypotheses regarding factors associated with the extent to which PMMS are used dialogically between parent companies and foreign subsidiaries were tested based on responses to 136 usable questionnaires (45% response rate).
Findings – PMMS are used more dialogically within relationships between parent companies and subsidiaries characterized by subsidiary strategic role and organizational interdependence. Measurement diversity and perceived comprehensiveness of PMMS are higher if PMMS are used more dialogically. Finally, the dialogic use of PMMS is positively associated with subsidiary size and the emphasis on collaboration in the parent company’s national culture.
Originality/Value – In contrast to prior management accounting research that is focused on the outcomes of different styles of use of PMMS, this study shows organizational characteristics and PMMS properties associated with the dialogic use of PMMS. Moreover, this study advances the traditional view of the international business literature that conceives PMMS as bureaucratic systems employed by parent companies to coercively control foreign subsidiaries.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Acknowledgments
I thank Karen Sedatole, Kelsey Dworkis, Lourdes Ferreira White, two anonymous reviewers, and the reviewers and participants at the Ninth Conference on New Directions in Management Accounting in Brussels, Belgium, and the 2014 Annual Meeting of the American Accounting Association, in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, for helpful comments on earlier drafts.
Citation
Patelli, L. (2018), "Properties of Performance Measurement and Management Systems Used Dialogically between Parent Companies and Foreign Subsidiaries", Malina, M.A. (Ed.) Advances in Management Accounting (Advances in Management Accounting, Vol. 30), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 27-59. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1474-787120180000030003
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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