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Kaplan and Norton proposed the strategy map as a way to overcome the weaknesses of the balanced scorecard (BSC), but this approach may not be enough. The purpose of this paper is to present a strategic management control package composed of three systems from strategic management and management control. This conceptual approach operationalizes strategic alignment, which is the core interest of the BSC.

The rationale for this research is derived from the literatures on business models (BMs), the BSC and management control packages. The authors first identified gaps in the BSC literature, which has underlined the BSC’s insufficient connection to strategy, and the strategic literature, which has criticized the BM as being too conceptual. The authors propose to fill these gaps through contributions from the management control package literature.

The findings are in line with the current literature on the interdependencies of management control systems. In response to the criticism of the BSC because of its weak strategic foundations, the authors provide a framework comprising three management systems: the BM, the strategy map and the BSC. This framework ultimately promotes two feedback loops that provide a dynamic view of the reciprocal influences of the BSC and strategy.

Several authors note that the BSC suffers from a lack of conceptualization. The underlying assumptions and the conceptual and empirical validity of the cause-and-effect relationships are particularly questioned. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to overcome the criticism linked to the “low” strategic alignment of the strategy map, and then of the BSC, by proposing a conceptual framework based on a package including three management systems: the BSC, the strategy map and the BM. A major limit lies in the purely conceptual dimension of this research, and it will be interesting to empirically investigate the conceptual package through longitudinal case studies.

The authors propose guidelines to develop a strategically aligned BSC through a three-step operationalization process to achieve a non-linear strategic management control. Moreover, the authors suggest empirical research avenues to address the weaknesses of Kaplan and Norton’s BSC and to enhance its connection to strategy through an integrated strategic management control package that includes a BM.

This paper adds value by proposing a package of management systems that includes both strategic management and management control perspectives. The authors, therefore, offer a way to bridge the gap between these research streams and highlight the interest of recent developments in the literature regarding the management control package.

This paper aims to focus on the role of management control function in the strategies of corporate social responsibility adopted by companies. Since the years 1980/1990, multidimensional models appeared that give an integrated or balanced representation of performance. In parallel, facing the challenges of sustainable development (SD) and taking them into account in the management of companies, the concept of overall performance has developed. But, at the same time, research based on neo-institutional sociology suggests on the contrary the existence of a loose coupling between a management control oriented towards the search for legitimacy and the internal practices of management control.

The study took place between 2010 and 2015. In 2010, the authors conducted a primary exploratory survey of a sample of 40 management controllers. The study was continued in 2015 by a survey of 60 management accountants. The questionnaires were administered electronically. Sorting and cross-sorting, along with tests of independence based on the χ² test, were carried out.

The results of the surveys have allowed us to observe the absence of significant links between proactive strategies displayed by companies in SD and the missions and instruments of management control. These latter would focus solely on measurement, monitoring and reporting of an exclusively economic and financial performance.

This is an exploratory study among French controllers. This study could be deepened by an international survey of a larger sample and by case studies with different managers involved in SD steering.

The study highlights the need to involve management controllers in steering SD.

While the literature in management control highlights the role of management accountants in the strategic alignment of SD, this study has shown the weakness of this role.

The article shows the weak involvement of management controllers in the implementation of SD, while the latter would want to become more involved in the steering of SD.

The aim of this paper is to confront the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) with Simons’ levers of control model and to discuss its role in the various phases of the strategic process. The authors examine the role of the BSC as a tool of interactive and diagnostic control by making a distinction between its design phase and its phase of use.

An action research approach, based on two cases, was used to investigate the role of the balanced scorecard in strategic processes.

The results show that the BSC generates a process of collective elucidation favouring the forming of emergent strategies and a process of control of the change favouring the collective representations on the strategy. The BSC thus seems to be a relevant tool for interactive control during its implementation stage. On the other hand, the authors’ observations also show the failure of the BSC as a system of diagnostic control and of interactive control during its using stage. Ultimately, it is shown that the model of Simons provides the BSC with a relevant theoretical framework to clarify the practice of strategic control.

The study highlights the interest of field studies, and more particularly, processuals and longitudinal approaches, in management accounting research.

The study of two cases underlines the strategic contribution of the BSC by highlighting its role in building a strategy.

The field study allows us to observe how the design of a management control tool such as the BSC occurs during the strategy‐forming phase.