Management control systems: universal practices or national practices?

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the neutrality of a management control approach and verify if it incorporates North‐American values.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper applies a discourse analysis methodology to make evident the North‐American values involved in legitimating the rationality embedded in the practices of a management control approach.

Findings

The approach imposes North‐American values as the best choice, pretending to be neutral and context‐independent.

Practical implications

The paper calls attention to the need to contextualise imported management knowledge supposed to be technical, neutral and universal.

Originality/value

The paper contributes to the process of revealing the reproduction of Anglo‐Saxon ideologies in organisational knowledge transferred to Latin America.

Citation

Carolina Pimentel Duarte da Fonseca, A. (2010), "Management control systems: universal practices or national practices?", Critical Perspectives on International Business, Vol. 6 No. 2/3, pp. 190-207. https://doi.org/10.1108/17422041011049996