Analyzing Management Control Systems between Principal Owners of Facilities and Subsidiaries in the Chemical Industry

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to analyze how managers of sections that belong to the chemical industry make use of management control systems (MCS) in order to facilitate relationships between the labor force of the owner enterprise and employees of outsourced companies, through collaboration and daily bases of coworking. It intends to consider how they allocate their available resources to the contractor characteristics and how, together, they confront external factors. The research strategy is based on a case study in which the uses of MCS by the most relevant Spanish chemical contractor influence the relationship with subcontractors in terms of strategic goals, trust, risk management or performance evaluation. Findings derived from four semi-structured interviews conducted with the central contractor and three subcontractors belonging to each of the three separate activities’ categories suggest that using MCS as controlling or enabling, in this setting, can have lasting and deep effects in the alignment of subcontractors’ strategic orientation to match the contractor’s, in the unification of risk management mechanisms, in the enhanced trust and collaboration in the coworking space, as well as in the performance evaluation criteria applied.