The importance of national culture in the design of and preference for management controls for multi-national operations

Article Abstract:

A study conducted on similarly-sized US-, Japanese-, and Taiwanese-owned computers/electronics firms in Taiwan confirms the effect of national culture on a company's management control system (MCS). Examination of the data collected from 159 Taiwanese managers reveals a consistency with the notion of Taiwanese culture being a vital factor in the design of MCSs by US and Japanese companies. The modifications involved in the design of the MCSs were found to be more extensive on the part of US firms compared to their Japanese counterparts, a development that is attributed to the greater difference between US and Taiwanese culture. However, the similarity between Japanese and Taiwanese culture failed to provide an explanation for the observed level of participative budgeting design between the two countries.

Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities, Management Theory & Techniques, Management Science, Taiwan, Economic aspects, Corporate culture, Managerial accounting

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The use of organizational controls and their effects on data manipulation and management myopia: a Japan vs U.S. comparison

Article Abstract:

Merchant's two studies (1985, 1990) on the application and impact of five organizational controls at a major American company's profit center are extended by including cross-cultural data. Data from a large Japanese company from the same industry and that is about the same size as the US firm are combined with Merchant's data to test four hypotheses based on Hofstede's (1980) four cultural dimensions. These dimensions are individualism vs. collectivism, large vs. small power distance, high vs. low uncertainty avoidance, and masculinity vs. femininity. The results provide support for the hypotheses that Japanese profit center managers are subject to stricter procedural controls than their American counterparts, and that they are less likely to exhibit dysfunctional behaviors.

Japan, Corporations, Organizational effectiveness, Corporations, Japanese

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The effects of management controls and national culture on manufacturing performance: an experimental investigation

Article Abstract:

The impact of national culture and management control systems on performance in Asian manufacturing industries was investigated. Individualism was used as a measure of national culture because this attribute has been one of the primary differences between Asian and Western cultures. The subjects were 96 undergraduate accounting majors in a US university and 96 students enrolled at a university in Singapore. The students were asked to use a translation key to translate three-digit numbers into alphabetic letters. This task was chosen because it was unlikely that the students had assigned different cultural meanings to the activity. The results indicated that cultural individualism and management controls had independent, non-interactive effects on performance.

Manufacturing industries, not elsewhere classified, Manufacturing industry, Manufacturing industries, Asia, Command and control systems

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