BUS472 Management Control and Public Value Creation in Digital Era

• Topics

  The course focuses on management control and public value creation in the digital era. While the government is the primary advocate of public value creation, the actual value creation occurs in interactions between the public, private, and voluntary sectors. One evident manifestation of public value creation is the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and their indicators. SDGs attempt to solve the global grand challenges, such as social inequality, climate change, energy crisis, infectious diseases, and decent economic growth. These grand challenges can only be solved by generating collaboration between the government, corporations, and voluntary sector. To enhance collaboration, there is a pressing need to understand how management control practices of the government, corporations, and voluntary sectors work and influence each other when grand challenges are addressed. In this course, we will discuss which management controls are relevant for public, private, and third-sector entities and how these controls are related to each other in the context of digitalization projects that deal with grand challenges. 

   

  The course consists of an introduction and three parts, each demonstrating how management control is tailored to a specific context. In addition, we have a summary part highlighting the course's main takeaways.

   

  Introduction

  The introduction describes the main analytical concepts used in the course, including public value creation, management control, digitalization, and grand challenges. The students will use these concepts throughout the course to understand how management control changes depending on the following factors: 1) digital environment, 2) addressed grand challenge, 3) adopted collaboration format, and 4) targeted public value. 

   

  Part 1: Digitalization of State-Owned Enterprises and Municipal Corporations

  State-owned enterprises and municipal corporations differ from private corporations that private shareholders own. In this first part, we examine how these differences affect management control. We also reflect on how digitalization changes management control in state-owned enterprises dealing with energy crises (i.e., SDG 7) and municipal corporations that have responsibilities relating to clean water and sanitation (i.e., SDG 6). 

   

  Part 2: Public-Private partnerships and digitalization

  Public-private partnerships are partnerships between private and public sector entities, and they can have unique management control applications and digital solutions. In part two, the course focuses on smart cities and healthcare alliances: both cases represent public-private partnerships and their management control solutions. Smart cities contribute to various SDGs, whereas healthcare alliances concentrate on SDG 3. Part two illustrates how management control is established in public-private partnerships with the help of digital solutions.

   

  Part 3: Digital platforms and management control

  Digitization and platforms like Uber, Airbnb, and hotel.com have penetrated the economy and disrupted various sectors. In part three, we focus on how this changes the management control. We will also discuss how governance and control duties in digital platforms can be distributed to different operators. The distribution of duties represents hybrid governance and control. Hybrid governance and control demonstrates how government, companies, and households together govern and control the operations of digital platforms. As a result of hybrid governance and control, societies are reorganizing accountability relationships in digital transactions.

   

  Summary part

  In the concluding lecture, we recap how management control changes depending on the following factors: 1) digital environment, 2) addressed grand challenge, 3) adopted collaboration format, and 4) targeted public value.

• Learning outcome

  Upon successful completion of the course the student

  Knowledge

  • Will have developed an understanding of the concepts and theories which management control is based on and how it relates to 1) digital environment, 2) addressed grand challenge, 3) adopted collaboration format between public and private sector, and 4) targeted public value. 
  • Will have developed an understanding of the concepts and theories which management control is based on and how it relates to the new digitalization literature.
  • Can demonstrate knowledge of the most recent research in the field of management control and digitalization.
  • Will be able to understand change of control systems when new technologies are being introduced and how that change influences management control practices, controller work and managerial decision making.
  • Will have a frame of reference that is useful for writing the master thesis in management accounting and control.

  Skills

  • Can develop and implement KPIs for public and private entities
  • Can critically analyze the links between data collection and knowledge production in a digitalization setting.
  • Can understand and reflect on how global digital platforms function from an accounting perspective.
  • Can reflect on the issues related to management control in different institutional circumstances
  • Can understand how accounting information is produced and consumed in a big data context.

  General competence

  • Can critically evaluate research in management control.
  • Can communicate with specialists in both academia and practice about complex issues related to accounting, control and digitalization.

• Teaching

  The teaching will be a combination of regular lectures, pre-recorded videos on specific topics, and seminars where the students will discuss and present their assignments.

• Compulsory Activity

  Written group assignments and oral presentations.

  The assessment and requirements for course approval in this course have changed. Previous course approval is no longer valid and in order to retake the course students need to complete the compulsory activities this semester.

• Assessment

  Four hours written digital school exam.

  The assessment and requirements for course approval in this course have changed. Previous course approval is no longer valid and in order to retake the course students need to complete the compulsory activities this semester.

• Grading Scale

  A - F

• Literature

  The literature is mainly based on research articles.

• Permitted Support Material

  All literature and own notes (Category III). 

  One bilingual dictionary (Category I)

  Calculator

  All in accordance with Supplementary provisions to the Regulations for Full-time Study Programmes at the Norwegian School of Economics Ch.4 Permitted support materialhttps://www.nhh.no/en/for-students/regulations/https://www.nhh.no/en/for-students/regulations/ and https://www.nhh.no/en/for-students/examinations/examination-support-materials/https://www.nhh.no/en/for-students/examinations/examination-support-materials/