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2013). Management control systems from an organisational life cycle perspective: The role of input, behaviour and output controls . AbstractThis study examines the association between the use of three types of controls (input, behaviour and output) and Miller and Friesen's organisational life cycle (OLC) stages (birth, growth, maturity, revival and decline). Data were collected by a survey questionnaire from a random sample of 1,000 General Managers in Australian manufacturing business units. The results indicate that the extent of use of different controls is associated with OLC stages. Specifically, both behaviour and input controls were found to be used to a significantly greater extent than output controls in both the birth stage and the growth stage, while all three types of controls were used to a similar level in the maturity and revival stages. An examination of the extent of use of controls across OLC stages revealed that each type of control was used to a significantly greater extent in the growth and revival stages than the birth and maturity stages. The study contributes to the literature by linking management control system studies to OLC studies. Most importantly, the study assists Australian manufacturing business units in identifying the appropriate use of controls both in and across OLC stages.

Purpose This paper aims to examine the association between the interactive and diagnostic approaches to using controls and Miller and Friesen’s (1984) organizational life cycle (OLC) stages (birth, growth, maturity, revival). Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from a random sample of 343 general managers in Australian manufacturing organizations. Findings The results indicate that both approaches are used to a greater extent in the growth and revival stages than the birth and maturity stages, whereas the interactive and diagnostic approaches are used to a similar extent in each of the four OLC stages. Research limitations/implications This study contributes to the management control system literature by examining the use of the interactive and diagnostic approaches from an OLC perspective. The findings highlight that the complementary nature of the interactive and diagnostic approaches applies in each OLC stages, and suggest that similar attention should be placed on the use of both the interactive and diagnostic approaches in each OLC stage. Practical implications The study provides managers with an insight into the prevalence of the use of interactive and diagnostic approaches across the birth, growth, maturity and revival stages. Originality/value This study contributes to the management control system literature by adopting the configuration approach to examine how multiple contingent variables simultaneously affect the approach to using controls. Specifically, this study examines how organizations adjust their emphasis on Simons’ (1995) interactive and diagnostic approaches to using controls as they move across different development stages. These development stages were labelled as OLC stages and are determined based on the simultaneous consideration of multiple contingent factors.

The research question addressed in this paper is this: what is the role of strategic flexibility as a product of MCS characteristics, an enabler of strategic change, and a mediating variable in the relationships between MCS characteristics and strategic change? This focus fills a gap in the literature which in the past has reported research primarily on the nexus between MCS characteristics and strategic change. Data are collected through a mail-based survey of strategic business units in Australian manufacturing organizations. The findings indicate that two MCS characteristics (the timeliness and interactive use of information) lead to strategic flexibility, that strategic flexibility leads to strategic change (operational change), and that strategic flexibility mediates the relationships between these particular MCS characteristics and strategic change. The study's findings offer a more comprehensive theory of strategic management in dynamic environments, which contributes to the MCS-strategy literature and informs the practice of organizational management with reference to the resource-based view of the firm. In particular, the findings indicate to researchers in the MCS-strategy field that, although some MCS characteristics might lead directly to strategic change, greater attention should be paid to the role of strategic flexibility as a Contemporary Management Research 372 product of MCS characteristics, an enabler of strategic change, and a mediator in the relationships between certain MCS characteristics and strategic change.Keywords: Management Control Systems, Strategic Flexibility, Strategic Change INTRODUCTIONOrganizations are facing omnipresent external pressure to continually reconsider their strategic positions and, whenever appropriate, engage in strategic change (Danneels, 2002). While researchers have considered how various organizational factors support organizational effectiveness in dynamic environments through the facilitation of strategic change (Chenhall and Langfield-Smith, 2003;Abernethy and Brownell, 1999;Simons 1995Simons , 1994Simons , 1991Simons , 1990, scant attention has been given to the role of strategic flexibility in that facilitative process as a product of organizational factors and an enabler of strategic change. This study reconceptualizes the facilitative process by examining whether there is an interposition of strategic flexibility in the relationship between specific management control system (MCS) characteristics and strategic change. Specifically, the study examines the associations between MCS characteristics (information characteristics including the scope, timeliness, aggregation and integration of information, and the interactive use of information) and strategic flexibility and between strategic flexibility and strategic change and also explores whether strategic flexibility mediates the associations between specific MCS characteristics and strategic change. The study's findings indicate that two MCS characteristics (the timeliness and interactive use of ...