Chair of Controlling / Performance Management Prof. Dr. Klaus Möller ANNUAL REPORT 2020 2 EDITORIAL Dear friends, supporters During the year we had quite some success in our business analytics and alumni of our chair research area: We were able to implement automated forecasts and other analytical solutions with major practice partners (like Bayer 2020 was a special year: we had a furious and Hilti) and participated at research conferences. Most notably, start followed by a lot of volatility! Most we were selected to participate in the Swiss National Research importantly we successfully managed the Program 77 about Governance of Artifical Intelligence. During the transition to intense online communica- next years, we will work intensely together with colleagues from tion due to the COVID-19 pandemic – and ETH Zurich and University of Zurich. Furthermore, we will have stayed healthy! three new PhDs from Germany, the Netherlands and the US joining us in 2021. Fortunately, we had already changed our teaching strategy and shif- ted to extensive online preparation, which paid off greatly. With the It´s a great honor and obligation that our Hilti Lab will make up help of the new team structure, integrating Assistant Prof. Dr. Maël at least 10 years of joint research, application and inspiration in Schnegg and Adjunct Prof. Dr. Matthias Mitterlechner, we reinven- the field of integrated performance management. The board of Hilti ted and redesigned all compulsory courses on bachelor and master decided to continue the sponsorship until at minimum 2023. level addressing more than 1.000 students each year. Though the publication list this year is shorter, there are two high- My dean job kept me quite busy during the whole year, not only lights on it: An A+ publication in the top journal AOS and a special with all the rearrangements in teaching due to online migration. I issue in JoMAC about digitalization in management accounting that was also able to add some impact to our school, initiating a new I edited together with colleagues from the University of Amsterdam area structure for our nearly 100 professors and raising funds for and the WHU. Not to forget that I serve for two journals (Cont- nearly 20 new positions. My engagement was rewarded with great rolling, Die Unternehmung) as editor in chief and am responsible for ranking results: 1st place for our School of Management in German the selection, quality control and publication of about 120 articles speaking Europe (Wirtschaftswoche), 1st place for the Master in each year. I am optimistic that we will increase our own publication Strategy and International Management for the 10th time in a row output, given the great datasets from the forecasting projects and (Financial Times worldwide master ranking), 7th place of the Euro- a survey on the association between meaningful work and manage- pean Business Schools (Financial Times). ment controls from nearly 300 controllers, that we generated in 2020. Furthermore, we were able to continue with our own executive education in online formats and ramped up the new website www. We are optimistically looking forward to the new normal and joint performance-management.academy. In our last Certificate of activities! Advanced Studies (CAS) program we had a cohort of very qualified graduates and more than 130 satisfied participants in our individual Please check LinkedIn for the latest information seminars and competence networks. Unfortunately, we needed to https://www.linkedin.com/school/chair-of-controlling/ postpone our ACA Symposium, but that gave us the opportunity to transfer the event to Zurich in summer 2021 – take a look at www. Kind regards aca-symposium.ch for an exciting event! Agenda Projects ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 3 - 4 Events ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 5 - 8 Research ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 9 - 11 Teaching ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 12 - 16 Miscellaneous .............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 17 - 20 Team .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 21 - 26 Facts & Figures ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 27 RESEARCH PROJECTS 3 Business Analytics in Credit and Collection Agile Performance Management Management Artificial intelligence, machine learning, and big data are recent The corporate context is increasingly characterized by trends that promise to transform the organizational landscape. unforeseeable and volatile changes, such as fluctuating customer In particular, combining machine learning and predictive or needs, rapid technologies, or new regulatory conditions. To prescriptive analytics enables automating and optimizing complex ensure up-to-date products, services, and processes, companies processes (known as cognitive automation). However, significant increasingly rely on agile method usage, derived from the field of progress in adapting these technologies in practice is hampe- software development. These methods are designed to ensure a red by high complexity, which results from the need to analyze rapid sensing and fast adaptation of changes to satisfy customer targeted processes and to understand their underlying business needs. The aim of the research project is to develop a steering logic. In context of a practical research project focusing on the model for agile project management to ensure the target- credit and collection management of an industrial company, this oriented and context-specific application of agile practices. research investigates how companies should proceed in order Therefore, a multiple case study design is applied to develop a to successfully identify and implement value-adding analytics use steering model, demonstrate effects of agile practice usage, and cases. specify contextual factors. Management Controls and Meaningful Work Management Control and Learning Work should make sense – that is the expectation of upcoming Management control systems are not just used to ensure that the generations. Working with impact and purpose leads to higher actions of organization’s members align with its goals but also to motivation, commitment, and performance growth. However, collect information in the decision-making process. This becomes it is still unclear how companies can create a meaningful work increasingly important in uncertain environments. A controller is environment and meet the expectations of their employees. asked to make the situation more transparent by improving the The research project investigates the relationship between the understanding of the cause-effect relationships and linkages ensu- management control system and the perception of meaningful ring the organization grasped the wholeness of the situation. To work. Research has already confirmed the positive effect of reduce the information gap resulting from uncertainty, the design enabling controls. In the current research project, the intensity and use of control systems should foster learning to enable cont- of the use of controls to achieve these positive behavioral effects rollers to do their job as information-providers. Therefore the is examined and encourages the investigation of non-linear project investigates which control configurations foster learning relationships in management accounting research. under environmental uncertainty. 4 RESEARCH PROJECTS Behavioral Control and Transparency Pay for Performance For effective coordination of decentralized units, information In research, the "crowding-out effect" has been widely resonating: transparency and responsibilities must be actively configured. This The (extrinsic) incentive mechanism of money displaces intrinsic research project investigates the extent to which the creation motivation. This might lead to a performance reduction through of transparency can be deceptive and how managers can effec- the variable compensation. Companies are increasingly ending tively manage transparency. The conscious interaction of corpo- individual-, incentive- and plan-performance-oriented compen- rate structure (e.g. center concept and responsibility accounting) sation. In a previous dissertation, we were able to demonstrate and control systems (e.g. zero-based budgeting, contribution the existence and effect of the crowding-out effect in sales. The margin accounting) through the configuration of transparency current