Management Control Tools and Firm Ambidexterity

Sammanfattning: Abstract Title: ​Management control tools and firm ambidexterity Seminar date: ​2020-06-03 Course: ​BUSN79 - Business Administration: Degree project in Accounting and Finance. Authors: ​Gabriel Aniol & Semi Serifi Advisors: ​Anders Anell Key words: ​PSFs, MCS, Management control tools, audit firm, IT firm, reuse economics, expert economics, explore, exploit. Purpose: ​The purpose of this thesis ​is to provide insights from three case firms’, regarding their relationships between ambidexterity and management control tools. The discussion and analysis ought to provide insights regarding how control tools are used. Theoretical framework: ​Management control tools mainly provided by Malmi and Brown’s (2008) framework are used to assess control tools in PSFs. Theory regarding the classifications of reuse and expert economics, respectively exploiting and exploring have been used. Ambidexterity entails being a mix of the aforementioned classifications. Empirical foundation: ​We have mainly conducted a semi-structured interview to access data about control tools and insights necessary to draw conclusions about organizational ambidexterity. A multiple case study is conducted to extract information about the case firms’, their control tools, and ambidexterity. We have conducted qualitative research involving interviews. Conclusions: ​Control tools support both exploration and exploitation and are used under different conditions and contexts, thus affecting the balance between them and thereby organizational ambidexterity. On the contrary, organizational ambidexterity supports control tools. Thus, relationships between them exist. The implementation of control tools differs substantially depending on the classification of the firm, where they aim to have an impact on the organizational context in different ways.