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a b s t r a c tControl offers a critical differentiator between successful and failed interfirm service exchanges. The application of informal control to improve supplier performance has been well established, but the effect of formal control appears profoundly equivocal. This study proposes that the actual effect of formal control depends on its mode (output vs. behavior) and its relationship with the service type (mass vs. professional) and informal control. With survey data from 252 service buying organizations, the results indicate that output control interacts with service type to determine perceived supplier performance (PSP). Buyers' reliance on high output control has a positive effect on PSP in mass service exchanges; this effect becomes negative in professional service exchanges. The effect of the interaction of behavior control and service type also depends on the presence of informal control. Buyers' reliance on high behavior control exerts a more positive effect on PSP in professional service exchanges than in mass service exchanges, but only in the presence of informal control. These findings have key implications for both theory and practice.

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In this paper, we examine the role of budgets as a central instrument within the management control system (MCS) in a creative context. In particular we investigate whether creative firms characterized by different kinds of creativity use their budgets in a similar way. We hereby distinguish between expected creativity (for open, self-discovered problems) and responsive creativity (for closed, presented problems) (Unsworth 2001) and investigate the interactive versus diagnostic use of budgets (Simons 1990, 1991, 1995). Based on a comparative study involving four creative firms, we find that creative firms, being mainly characterized by expected creativity, use their budgets in a more interactive way. In creative firms in which responsive creativity is most important, the budgets are used in a rather diagnostic way. This study contributes to the management control literature by acknowledging that a diagnostic use of budgets does not per se stifle creativity. Instead, it is important to understand that the specific creative context might have implications for the way in which MCS instruments are used to sustain the creative process.

Library managers are continuously urged to provide better library services at a lower cost. To cope with these cost pressures, library management needs to improve its understanding of the relevant cost drivers. Through a case study, we show how to perform time-driven activity-based costing for a library acquisition process in a Belgian university and provide evidence of the benefits of such an analysis.

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