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Strategic choices and strategic management accounting in large manufacturing firms

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Abstract

This study examines the relationship between strategic choices and the use of strategic management accounting (SMA) techniques in large manufacturing companies and investigates whether external factors such as environmental uncertainty and competitive forces affect the SMA system. The survey results show that SMA usage does not depend on strategy type and only marginally depends on geographic orientation. These findings have been integrated using qualitative data collected in seven large companies through interviews. Although significant progress has been made over the last two decades in describing SMA practices in Europe, the contribution of this study to the accounting (SMA) literature involves both the research content and design. Having identified gaps in previous SMA research, we design a study focused on large manufacturing firms that considers different hypotheses and adopts a mixed method approach.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to Alnoor Bhimani and Antonio Davila, who commented on a preliminary version of the paper. We also would like to acknowledge the helpful suggestions provided by the two anonymous reviewers.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Economics and Statistics, University of Udine, Via Tomadini 30/a, 33100, Udine, Italy

    Franco Cescon & Luca Grassetti

  2. Department of Management, University Ca’ Foscari of Venice, Cannaregio 873, 30121, Venice, Italy

    Antonio Costantini

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  1. Franco Cescon
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  2. Antonio Costantini
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Correspondence to Franco Cescon.

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Cescon, F., Costantini, A. & Grassetti, L. Strategic choices and strategic management accounting in large manufacturing firms. J Manag Gov 23, 605–636 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10997-018-9431-y

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