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Managing systemic uncertainty: The role of industry-level management controls and hybrids

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  • Thambar, Paul J.
  • Brown, David A.
  • Sivabalan, Prabhu

Abstract

We study how multiple firms voluntarily design inter-firm mechanisms to manage industry-level systemic uncertainty. Facing a threat of systemic uncertainty that cannot be addressed by any one firm, we explain how the Australian cotton industry mobilised hybrids and boundary spanners to develop an industry-level solution at the inter-firm level. We apply resource dependence theory to extend Miller, Kurunmäki and O'Leary (2008), and identify a broader range of hybrid characteristics (novel, inter-firm, public/private and open source) than currently acknowledged in accounting studies. We use these characteristics to explain how hybrid organisational forms and hybrid control processes operate at the inter-firm level to develop and share a solution to systemic uncertainty, which are subsequently applied at the firm-level. Our findings also show how boundary spanners can operate with less tension in larger industry-level collaborations, explained using our resource dependence conceptualisation. This responds to Dekker's (2016) calls for more inter-firm research clarifying how controls operate beyond the firm.

Suggested Citation

  • Thambar, Paul J. & Brown, David A. & Sivabalan, Prabhu, 2019. "Managing systemic uncertainty: The role of industry-level management controls and hybrids," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 1-1.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:aosoci:v:77:y:2019:i:c:2
    DOI: 10.1016/j.aos.2019.03.002
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