The Importance of National Culture in the Design of Management Control Systems: Evidence from Morocco and Italy

The parent company, with the intention of promoting a similar philosophy within the group, tends to transfer its Management Control Systems (MCSs) to the foreign subsidiary (Schneider, 2006). Having a shared management philosophy could increase efficiency, reduce communication time and contribute to the success of corporate strategy (Roth et al., 1991). However, management theories developed in one culture cannot be easily exported to other cultures, because national culture is important for management style. This study seeks to investigate to understand the behavior of the parent companies and how the national culture is important in the design of MCSs. The approach adopted is qualitative involving two case studies of Italian companies that have a subsidiary in Morocco. The results confirm the importance of national culture in the design of MCSs and also show that culture is underestimated by the parent company. The results also show the emergence of hybrid MCSs that combine two different cultural values.