Assessments of the impacts on management control in a global shared services board: a case study in the mining industry

Abstract

When in the process of internationalization, corporations can determine to their Business Units similarities to the realities of their headquarters, such as standardization of procedures, per capita operating costs, performance evaluation modeling, among others influencing the Management Control System. But adherence to such similarities can be minimized by local aspects and realities, which can translate into changes in the aforementioned management control. The case study presented seeks to qualify and analyze the possible impacts on the parent company's management control systems, based on the evaluation of the internationalization process of the activities of a shared services directorate in the mining industry, as a result of the absorption of the means of an incorporated company located abroad. Qualitative questionnaires were carried out with managers and senior employees who held leadership positions and/or were involved in the process of internationalization of the Business Unit (BU). Due to the differences found in the foreign subsidiary, the results showed that the impacts on Management Control were initially relevant and not a simple solution: there were impacts on service routines, the need for a dedicated team and operational parallelism, among others, partially contradicting the concept of shared service and influencing transaction costs and metrics practiced. There was also relevant learning for the parent company through challenges involving organizational culture, different languages and legislation, in addition to a neophyte position in the merged business. As relevance, it is expected that this work can contribute to the decision-making of internationalized firms, allowing the delimitation of trade-offs for the portfolio of shared services managed abroad.