Template-type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Luciano Marchi Author-Name: Giulio Greco Title: Editorial. Research on controlling and reporting for strategy Abstract: Classification-JEL: Keywords: Note: Pages:5-6 Volume: 2013/1 Year: 2013 Issue:1 File-URL:http://www.francoangeli.it/riviste/Scheda_Rivista.aspx?IDArticolo=48322&Tipo=Articolo PDF File-Format: text/HTML Handle: RePEc:fan:MACOMA:v:html10.3280/MACO2013-001001 Number: 1 Template-type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: David W. Young Title: The Managerial Implications of Caritas in Veritate Abstract: The Papal Encyclical, Caritas in Veritate (Charity in Truth) calls for putting people first in an economy, such that an individual?s dignity is considered a valuable resource rather than a burden. Organizational leaders are called on to consider the effects of their actions and decisions on their societies, rather than on economic returns. However, redirecting managerial behaviour in this way is difficult in a world of capitalism, where shareholders demand reasonable economic returns, and where many are unconcerned about the ensuing societal effects. This paper is based on the premise that senior managers wish to undertake efforts to redesign their organization in a way that considers both economic returns and the impact on society (including employees). The paper presents a framework of seven activities - strategy formulation, authority and influence, motivation, cultural maintenance, conflict management, customer management, and management control - that senior managers can use to accomplish this goal. Classification-JEL: Keywords: Note: Pages:7-25 Volume: 2013/1 Year: 2013 Issue:1 File-URL:http://www.francoangeli.it/riviste/Scheda_Rivista.aspx?IDArticolo=48323&Tipo=Articolo PDF File-Format: text/HTML Handle: RePEc:fan:MACOMA:v:html10.3280/MACO2013-001002 Number: 2 Template-type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Paolo Collini Author-Name: Maria Laura Frigotto Title: Management Control Systems for exploration? A paradox and a challenge for research Abstract: In this article the Authors review the relationship between strategy and management control (MCS) by confronting the two most largely accepted lines of thinking in the literature - the so-called "contingency" and "alternative". Authors identify conceptual and methodological limitations of both approaches, analysing critiques coming from both sides and identifying complementarities within epistemological differences. In the light of the radical changes in the business environment that firms have faced in the last two decades, the ability to change both in the exploitation and exploration directions is considered to be crucial. For the purpose of adaptation, we argue that strategy and MCS interact in a two-way relation rather than being linked by a hierarchy, and their evolution over time can therefore be seen as a co-evolution. This approach shifts attention to dynamism and poses at least two main challenges to scholars addressing the MCSstrategy relationship. Firstly, at the methodological level, non-positivistic approaches may offer a prominent contribution to understanding change, nevertheless they are taken with an amount of suspicion by the mainstream academic community; this problem must be faced by promoting reciprocal comprehension and by supporting dialogue in dedicated editorial indicatives. Secondly, at the conceptual level, MCS is designed to support the implementation of strategic exogenous targets. However, if we consider strategy formulation and strategy implementation as part of a single process of mutual creation, scholars are asked to deploy the paradox of systems designed to control goals that are dynamic, unstable and imprecise in nature. This requires to rethink the form and components of MCS, and their desired degree of specification. Classification-JEL: Keywords: Note: Pages:27-44 Volume: 2013/1 Year: 2013 Issue:1 File-URL:http://www.francoangeli.it/riviste/Scheda_Rivista.aspx?IDArticolo=48325&Tipo=Articolo PDF File-Format: text/HTML Handle: RePEc:fan:MACOMA:v:html10.3280/MACO2013-001003 Number: 3 Template-type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Stefano Garzella Author-Name: Raffaele Fiorentino Title: How to control environmental strategy? Abstract: The present paper aims at understanding which "environmental measures" are used in corporate reports and how firms might control the environmental strategy. We propose a framework for the control of the strategic management of environmental issues. This framework is used for an empirical investigation of both social and annual reports of a sample of large public firms. By using content analysis, our findings show: i) a focus on strategy formulation and strategy implementation more than on environmental results; ii) the most relevant key value drivers and performance indicators in firms? reporting; iii) a positive association between information on environmental value drivers and performance indicators and firm sector. Indeed, we offer some relevant insights on the relative absence of indicators of competitive advantage and on the predominant use of environmental qualitative and/or non-financial measures. This evidence suggests a lack of consideration as for the relationship between environmental strategies and environmental results and, at the same time, a high variability and limited standardization in environmental practices with implications for both internal and external stakeholders? view. For the internal stakeholders, it seems that the actual environmental strategy control systems need to develop models and tools with reference to the relationship between environmental performance and financial effects. For external ones, the actual limits in the reporting of environmental measures pose the need for an increase in the comparability of environmental performance. Furthermore, by integrating theoretical and empirical findings, we suggest some potential improvements for environmental strategy performance measurement systems. Classification-JEL: Keywords: Note: Pages:45-76 Volume: 2013/1 Year: 2013 Issue:1 File-URL:http://www.francoangeli.it/riviste/Scheda_Rivista.aspx?IDArticolo=48326&Tipo=Articolo PDF File-Format: text/HTML Handle: RePEc:fan:MACOMA:v:html10.3280/MACO2013-001004 Number: 4 Template-type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Fabio Santini Title: Strategic Management Accounting and financial performance in the small and medium sized Italian manufacturing enterprises Abstract: Firstly, the present paper proposes a theoretical framework of Strategic Management Accounting (SMA) in the context of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). Additionally, it examines the actual diffusion of SMA with reference to a sample of 40 SMEs from central Italy. Finally, it presents a contingent model based on a regression analysis in order to identify the determinants of traditional and SMA tool introduction and their influence on the financial performance distinguishing between high- and low-complexity companies. For this purpose, a mixed quantitative and qualitative information was employed. The quantitative data was acquired through a survey and the study of AIDA database while the qualitative one through interviews. In contrast with some earlier assumptions, the findings show a higher than expected SMA diffusion in SMEs, combined with a proactive approach in the organizations which introduced it, largely in an informal way. The study also reveals that SMEs which operate in a high-complexity environment use SMA tools more extensively to achieve higher financial performance. Classification-JEL: Keywords: Note: Pages:77-107 Volume: 2013/1 Year: 2013 Issue:1 File-URL:http://www.francoangeli.it/riviste/Scheda_Rivista.aspx?IDArticolo=48324&Tipo=Articolo PDF File-Format: text/HTML Handle: RePEc:fan:MACOMA:v:html10.3280/MACO2013-001005 Number: 5 Template-type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Gustavo Barresi Author-Name: Anna Cea Author-Name: Camelo Marisca Title: Management Control in Chambers of Commerce: a CAF based empirical analysis in Calabria and Sicily Abstract: This paper aims to analyse the level of implementation of performance management and performance evaluation in a category of public administration with particular features, which, up to now, has been little studied in Italy, i.e. the Chamber of Commerce. In particular, this paper aims to review the current state of Sicilian and Calabrian Chambers of Commerce, with regard to their capacity to follow up on institutional objectives - essentially supporting the local entrepreneurial system - by introducing management behavioural models and performance management tools. The Common Assessment Framework (CAF) is the model chosen for analysing the Chambers. Although being widely used in the EU, this tool has received limited attention in studies (literature). Compared to other tools, CAF is based on a Total Quality Management approach, which makes it a better choice for this study. It is a self-assessment/diagnosis tool available to public organizations which are intent on improving performance. Through the identification of a series of inter-related indicators and variables, a complete and easily-analysable picture of any organization under observation can be obtained. Analysed data have been acquired through structured interviews, questionnaires, scrutiny of (websites), examination of documentation issued by each Chamber (financial statements, provisional reports, or other). Through a desk analysis of collected data and a comparative reading of the outcomes, specific dynamics have been identified, and some correlation between economic and institutional preconditions and variables have been found. Classification-JEL: Keywords: Note: Pages:109-139 Volume: 2013/1 Year: 2013 Issue:1 File-URL:http://www.francoangeli.it/riviste/Scheda_Rivista.aspx?IDArticolo=48328&Tipo=Articolo PDF File-Format: text/HTML Handle: RePEc:fan:MACOMA:v:html10.3280/MACO2013-001006 Number: 6