Digitalization and Management Control Maturity : What Happens in Italian Smes

This paper aims to study the effects (benefits) of digitalization on management control and explore the factors affecting the relation between digitalization and management control in SMEs. The study is based on a survey submitted to a sample of Italian companies, mainly composed by small and medium enterprises. 132 questionnaires were collected and analysed. The findings provide evidence on the main benefits of digitalization as related to improvements both in performance and internal and external communication. Furthermore, findings reveal that top management, human recources and financial resources represent the main drivers that led digitalization. Finally, medium sized companies are found to be more active in the process of digital transformation. The paper addresses the point that training people on digitalization, especially in SMEs, is key to get a more mature MCS and then reaching a better performance. Secondly, the widespread of digitalization in many company processes, despite the production one, is recalled to be a key success factor. The originality of the research is represented by the focus on the under investigated relation between digitalization and management control. The research sheds light on some drivers and obstacles which can lead to improve the maturity level of management control systems