“balance” to derive consequences for the more general
control package literature.
Kennedy and Widener (2008) find that Lean is a control
package consisting of many variables that constitute
an integrated system of multiple control forms. Their case
study shows that management accounting research needs
to understand the operations management technology, as
this implies the use of several control forms in certain ways.
Also, Chenhall (2003) stresses that management accounting
systems cannot be studied in a vacuum without taking
other control forms into consideration. This could cause the
same problems as with omitted variables, where the real
explanatory factor is left out of the model. This also implies
that management accounting should be researched as part
of packages that include other control forms. Expanding
research to encompass the many variables in a control
package, for example a Lean package, emphasizes the need
to study the phenomenon using a systems fit approach
(Drazin and Van de Ven, 1985).