Controlling Strategy

Ideas about the role of management accounting systems in a firm's strategy have changed in recent years, and this book explores the ways in which this has happened. Management control systems have frequently been seen as irrelevant to strategy, or even damaging. Controlling Strategy draws out the various ways in which management control systems can build and sustain valuable strategic roles. The book explores topics such as: *Strategic measurement; *Strategic data analysis; *The Balanced Scorecard; *Capital budgeting; *Strategy coordination; Written as an introduction to the strategic role of management control systems Controlling Strategy provides a synthesis of important work in the fields of strategy and management accounting. Academics and Advanced Students of Accounting, Strategy, or Management Studies will find the book an indispensable guide to this area.

How should firms’ control systems be designed and used to formulate and implement strategies that will contribute to competitive advantage and sustained high performance? This book offers some thought-provoking suggestions. It contains empirical studies of such diverse manufacturing enterprises as Atlas Copco, Electrolux, Saab, Scania, SCA Packing and Volvo, as well as an insurance company and two chamber orchestras. All firms and organizations presented offer interesting and exciting insights, each in a specific way and each with a fascinating history. The book presents research on the relationship between strategy, control and competitive advantage over extended periods and at several strategic levels, while also taking into account the existence of multiple control systems in a single firm or other organization. Readers are offered an in-depth look into how changes in the environment lead to adjustments in strategies and control systems. It is shown, in addition, how difficult and challenging it can be to implement these changes, and why such efforts are not always successful. But perhaps most importantly, the book conveys an in-depth understanding of how strategies and control systems affect competitive advantage and performance. In both its coverage and focus, the book is unique. Not only does it provide valuable contributions to the research field of strategy and management control; it also represents a substantial commitment in terms of resources and involvement over an extended period. The book is highly recommended to researchers, practitioners, graduate students and all others interested in this area.

This book intends to present and discuss the main challenges that companies interested in servitization strategies have to overcome, with a particular focus on the design of managerial control systems. The book can represent a useful tool for companies interested developing successful servitization strategies.

The 2006 edition of CIMA's Official Study Systems have been updated to reflect changes in the syllabus. Risk and Control Strategy has been written by the examiners to fully reflect what could be tested in the exam. Updated to incorporate legislative and syllabus changes, the 2006 Study Systems provide complete study material for the May and November 2006 exams. The new edition maintains the popular loose-leaf format and contains: practice questions throughout; complete revision section; topic summaries; recommended reading articles from a range of journals; pilot paper

Balanced and comprehensive in approach, this text assembles classic statements on nuclear strategy and arms control made by Soviet and U.S. policymakers, military thinkers, and opinion leaders during the last forty years. Major Soviet statements, rarely appearing in translation, reflect the disagreement over whether "victory" or "parity" is the goa

Organizational strategies are important in today's highly competitive environments. Businesses, as well as public sector organizations, need a unifying logic, which emerges out of dialogue among its members and also guides their actions. An organization's 'control system' has potential to become a key to this. Controlling for Competitiveness describes how management control is crucial in mobilizing, using, and communicating the knowledge and skills of managers and employees. Controllers should design situation-specific control systems, assuring that actions will be based on appropriate information and incentives. Enterprise systems facilitate coordination and information exchange, thus enabling the development of a consistent and congruent strategy throughout the organization. The involvement of all levels of management - as well as most employees - in this process creates motivation and commitment to the organization's strategy. It also prepares for executing strategy through a creative use of metrics, decision tools, and clarified responsibilities. The book underlines the need to understand management control as part of the organization's control mix (control package). It provides numerous examples of how systems and people interact in shaping a strategic focus in private as well as publicly-owned organizations. In addition to the authors' research experiences, the book is based on recent interviews with 16 leading complex organizations in the private and public sector.

This book focuses on the key naval strategic objectives of obtaining and maintaining sea control. During times of war, sea control, or the ability of combatants to enjoy naval dominance, plays a crucial role in that side’s ability to attain overall victory. This book explains and analyzes in much greater detail sea control in all its complexities, and describes the main methods of obtaining and maintaining it. Building on the views of naval classical thinkers, this book utilizes historical examples to illustrate the main methods of sea control. Each chapter focuses on a particular method, including destroying the enemy forces by a decisive action, destroying enemy forces over time-attrition, containing enemy fleet, choke point control, and capturing important enemy's positions/basing area, The aim is to provide a comprehensive theory and practice of the struggle for sea control at the operational level. It should therefore provide a guide to practitioners on how to plan and conduct operational warfare at sea. The book will be of much interest to students of naval strategy, defence studies and security studies.