Langfield-Smith [1997] reviewed early MCS-strategy research and found consistent evidence of a relationship between objective (subjective) performance evaluation/reward systems and 'defender-like' ('prospector-like) strategies. She also found some evidence of an association between cost controls and 'defender-like' strategies. In addition, she identified the importance of managers' perceptions in mediating the MCS-strategy relationship, the interaction of formal and informal controls, and the dynamic nature of the relationship between MCS and strategic change. However. Langfield-Smith was concerned that in survey-based studies, controls were measured in a wide variety of ways; the distinction between the existence and use of controls was often overlooked; and little attention was paid to broader controls, such as informal controls. Also the survey-based studies tended to rely on strategic typologies that failed to acknowledge the complexity of strategy, the implications of differences between intended and emergent strategy, or the importance of measuring strategy relative to competitors. She concluded that conflicting findings were in part due to "the way that control, effectiveness and strategy were operationalized and measured" and called for future researchers "to develop consistent classifications for controls and other contingent variables, and use established classifications of strategy" [Langfield-Smith, 1997, p.228].