Management control systems in digital native companies

Abstract: This paper aims to investigate how digital native companies design and use management control systems with regard to digital innovation. Existing literature on management control and digital innovation are concerned with companies that are in the midst of a digital transformation process. However, today many businesses are born as a consequence of digital innovation, which is why that research does not fully apply to these companies. We therefore developed the definition of a "digital native company", by elevating the notion of a "digital native" to an organizational level. By conducting a single-case study on a digital native telecommunications company, an in-depth understanding of the characteristics of a digital native company and what implications these have on the different elements of their management control system was derived. By using the Simons (1995) levers of control framework in combination with literature about digitalization and accounting (management control), this study highlights different aspects that should be considered carefully when designing and implementing management control for digital native companies. The findings are summarized into four central areas. This study finds that digital native companies demonstrate significantly different characteristics than companies that have previously been studied with regard to digitalization and management control.