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Management Control Systems in a Non‐Enterprise Network: The Greenhouse Gas Protocol Initiative
Author(s) -
Sundin Heidi,
Brown David,
Wakefield James,
Ranganathan Janet
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
australian accounting review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.551
H-Index - 36
eISSN - 1835-2561
pISSN - 1035-6908
DOI - 10.1111/j.1835-2561.2009.00048.x
Subject(s) - corporate governance , ideology , stakeholder , business , control (management) , greenhouse gas , set (abstract data type) , protocol (science) , management control system , work (physics) , accounting , process management , environmental resource management , knowledge management , public relations , computer science , economics , finance , management , political science , politics , engineering , law , medicine , mechanical engineering , ecology , alternative medicine , pathology , biology , programming language
This article is based on the action research project of a multi‐stakeholder collaboration formed to produce the Greenhouse Gas Protocol. This non‐enterprise cross‐sector collaboration had two sets of problems: the first being the ideological differences of the stakeholders, who had differing interests and agendas regarding the production of standards. The second set relates to the practical problems of enabling 300 people from different organisations and time zones, with different levels of resource access and no clear financial goal or endpoint, to work together. To overcome these issues three types of management control systems were developed: strong planning processes, administrative and governance structures, and socio‐ideological controls. The result of the collaboration is a set of greenhouse gas accounting standards that have widespread acceptance internationally. This study contributes to both practice and research on management control systems (MCS) by outlining how alternative forms of MCS can be designed for non‐enterprise cross‐sector collaboration.