سیستم های کنترل مدیریت و عملکرد در شرکت های کوچک و متوسط خانوادگی Management control systems and performance in small and medium family firms

Introduction The complexity and dynamism of today’s business environment requires a thorough knowledge of the organizations and the variables or factors that may be considered key to competitive success. MCS become essential for decision making of the company and can be considered a sustainable competitive advantage, if they are correctly developed and structured (Barney, 1991). Financial planning, cost accounting systems or economic and financial diagnosis, among others, should be common tools in organizational systems of all companies regardless of their size. Business managers should base their decisions on objective data, and these can only be obtained if the company uses different economic techniques that are available. However, numerous studies have shown that the use of management control systems is not widespread enough in family businesses. A variety of empirical studies have found that there are differences in the implementation of the MCS between family and nonfamily businesses that need further research (Kotey, 2005; Laitinen, 2008). In fact, family influence is an important and distinct factor that has not been sufficiently considered by most MCS studies (Senftlechner, Martin, & Hiebl, 2015) and relatively few studies on MCS make the distinction between family and nonfamily firms (Helsen, Lybaert, Steijvers, Orens, & Dekker, 2016). Likewise, there is growing interest in analysing the relationship between the use of management control systems (MCS) and performance of companies (Bisbe & Otley, 2004). Implementation of MCS also plays an important role in the firm performance, as MCS become key tools that managers should take to planning, budgeting, analysing, measuring and evaluating useful information for proper decision making (Cosenz & Noto, 2015; Dávila & Foster, 2005; Duhan, 2007). Information and planning systems are useful management tools for achieving the strategic objectives of the company (Duhan, 2007), generate creative innovation and achieve the balance between control and flexibility (Simons, 1995).