How do Managers use Management Control Systems in Response to Shareholder Activism?
研究了业绩下滑时，管理者如何交互式使用管理控制系统应对股东积极主义，发现宽范围MCS设计能解释交互使用差异，而分析师推荐影响诊断性使用的缓解效果。
We study how managers interactively use management control systems (MCS) in response to shareholder activism in a context of performance declines. We predict that broad-scope MCS design is a key factor that helps explain variation in the level of interactive use. In addition, we argue that the extent to which diagnostic use of MCS alleviates shareholder pressures depends on analysts’ recommendations. We empirically test our hypotheses with survey and archival data. Data on shareholder activism is hand-collected. The results provide support for our predictions, suggesting that managers use MCS interactively to assuage shareholder activism in the context of performance declines. This effect is less pronounced for managers equipped with broad-scope information from their MCS. Our findings indicate that in a setting of favorable analysts’ recommendations, managers use MCS diagnostically instead of interactively to cope with shareholder activism. Overall, the findings may help inform our understanding of how firms manage shareholder activism from a management control perspective.