Strategic Management Process and the Importance of Structured Formality, Financial and Non-Financial Information

Abstract

The strategic management literature points out that there is a high multiplicity in the form and structure of the strategic management processes within organizations. By contrast, writers on management accounting tend to focus on the structure and formality of strategic activities and call for a balance of financial and non-financial information to support the two strategic processes of strategy development and strategy implementation. The purpose of this paper is to examine whether such assumptions hold in practice. The empirical part of the study draws on questionnaire responses by Greek firms. The results indicate that: 1) Greek firms are equally structured and formal for both strategic decision making processes of strategy development and implementation, 2) there is no significant difference in the use of financial and non-financial information for strategy development and 3) there is significant difference in the evaluation of financial information and non-financial information for strategy implementation.