Linking Corporate Values to Management Control Italian Cases Analysis

To be effective, strategy has to be consistent not only with firm objectives, but also with principles and values. Organizational culture refers to the values and patterns of belief and behavior that are accepted and practiced by the members of a particular organization (Pringle, et al. 1988). Moreover, it can improve the firms strategic action, in particular when it is developed emphasizing three key groups of stakeholders: customers, shareholders and employees. When corporate values are strong and widely shared across the workforce, the company often benefits. In fact, studies have shown that relative to their peers, firms with the strongest corporate cultures often experience higher stock prices, income growth and return on investment. Basically, shared values improve the alignment between employee behavior and corporate objectives (Mcfarlin, 2002). Our study considers a sample group of multinational firms present in the territory of Piedmont (North Italy). The research purpose is to analyse the link between the application of corporate culture principles, firm performances indicators and the managerial control system. Literature, in fact, suggests that values are defined as enduring goals that serve as guiding principles in people's lives (Rokeach, 1973; Schwartz, 1992). Because each organization develops its own unique culture, even organization within the same industry and city will exhibit distinctly different ways of operating (Wright et al., 1999). Moreover, we want answer to the following question: does performances control, united with a strong corporate culture action, affect firms capacity of attracting capitals and creating value over the years? With which results? Therefore our paper aims to understand which performance measures are used at the various levers of management control in relation to its own corporate culture and values.