Explaining the Unintended Consequences of Management Control Systems: Managerial Cognitions and Inertia in the Case of Nokia Mobile Phones*
研究了管理控制系统如何通过嵌入管理认知导致组织惯性，以诺基亚手机为例解释其未能及时应对环境变化的原因，对理解企业衰退机制有参考价值。
ABSTRACT Management control systems (MCS) have been known to produce unintended, dysfunctional consequences. However, relatively little is known about how MCS can contribute to the inertia and even decline of a firm. Our analysis in the abductive mode was triggered by a surprising case study observation that although Nokia Mobile Phones (NMP) certainly had many capabilities that could have facilitated a timely response to disruptive environmental change, this did not happen. In developing an explanation for this, we draw on the managerial cognitions literature, showing how the cognitions at NMP, developed in the era of organizational success, became embedded in its MCS. This embeddedness, in turn, intensified existing cognitions. As the cognitions became less accurate over time, the once effective MCS started to cause various inertial effects, such as suboptimal and slow decision‐making. We contribute to the literature on the dysfunctional consequences of MCS by theorizing how MCS can contribute to inertia via cognitions in two ways: first, by reinforcing prevailing cognitions and hence preventing management from realizing a need for change; and second, by moderating the impact cognitions have on actions by delaying actions based on renewed cognitions. Both ways may be fatal, especially in hyper‐competitive contexts.