Senior Management Use of Management Control Systems in Large Companies

The use of management control systems in large companies remains relatively unexplored. Indeed, only a few studies of senior managers’ use of management control systems consider multiple controls in companies. This paper explores data from a comprehensive survey of the use of management control systems in 120 strategic business units at some of the largest companies in Denmark. The paper identifies how senior management guides and controls their subordinates to meet their companies’ objectives. The presentation and discussion of the results, including citations from executive managers, use Ferreira and Otley’s (2009) conceptual and holistic framework for performance management systems, supplemented by elements of contextual factors and organisational culture. Further, selected researchers’ perceptions of the purpose of using management control systems are related to practitioners’ ideas of the purpose of using such systems. Finally, the paper discusses the usability of the 12 questions in Ferreira and Otley’s framework for exploring empirical survey data.</jats:p

A Computer Model of the Quantity and Chemical Quality of Return Flow

A hybrid computer program is developed to predict the water and salt outflow from a river basin in which irrigation is the major water user. A chemical model which predicts the quality of water percolated through a soil profile is combined with a general hydrologic model into form the system simulation model. The chemical model considers the reactions that occur in the soil, including the exchange of calcium, magnesium, and sodium cations on the soil complex, and the dissolution and precipitation of gypsum and lime. The chemical composition of the outflow is a function of these chemical processes within the soil, plus bending of undiverted inflows, evaporations, transpirations, and the mixing of subsurface return flows with groundwater. The six common ions of western waters, namely calcium (Ca++), magnesium Mg ++), sodium (Na +), sulfate (SO 4=), chloride (Cl-), and bicarbonate (HCO3-), are considered in the study. Total dissolved solids (TDS) outflow is obtained by adding the individual ions. The overall model operates on monthly time increments. The model is tested on a portion of the Little Bear River Basin in northern Utah. The model successfully simulates measured outflows of water and each of the six ions for a 24-month period. Only sodium ions, which occurred in small concentrations comprising approximately 2 percent of the total salt outflow, exhibit significant discrepancies between predicted and observed values. All other ions agree within 10 percent on a weight basis for the two-year model period, with correlation coefficients ranging from .87 to .97. The usefulness of the model is demonstrated by a management study of the prototype system. For example, preliminary results indicated that the available water supply could be used to irrigate additional land without unduly increasing the salt outflow from the basin. With minor adjustments the model can be applied to other areas

Irrigated Alfalfa Variety Performance, 2011-2014; North Logan, Utah

Alfalfa is the most important crop in Utah, both in terms of acreage and revenue. Although often overlooked, one of the most critical decisions made in alfalfa production is determining which variety to plant. This fact sheet summarizes dry matter (DM) yields of alfalfa varieties during 4 years at the Utah Agricultural Experiment Station Greenville Farm in North Logan (Cache Co.)

Håndtering af trafikmodelnet i GIS; konflikter-, løsninger og anvendelser

Trafikmodeller nødvendiggør en kompliceret trafiknettopologi, der ikke fuldt ud kan beskrives af de fleste kommercielle Geografiske Informationssystemer (GIS). Som en konsekvens heraf har GIS mest været benyttet til at visualisere resultater fra trafikmodeller - snarere end som et aktivt værktøj til at opbygge det nødvendige datagrundlag. Artiklen introducerer de mest grundlæggende topologiske elementer i trafiknet, og diskuterer derudfra problemer med at udveksle disse elementer mellem trafikmodeller og GIS. Derefter præsenteres en mere kompliceret topologi af fysiske net bestående af strækninger, knuder og svingbevægelser samt organisatoriske net af ruter, terminaler og skift. En sådan topologi indgår i et GIS-baseret udvekslingsformat, der udvikles i BRIDGES-projektet under EU's fjerde rammeprogram. Idéen med dette projekt er - som navnet antyder - at danne bro mellem forskellige typer GIS og trafikmodeller. Imidlertid kan eksisterende GIS ikke fuldt ud beskrive organisatoriske trafiknet, hvorfor det er nødvendigt at udvikle forskellige 'lappeløsninger'. En række bud herpå præsenteres. Herved kan GIS gemme og håndtere nettene, men ikke vedligeholde dem. Ikke desto mindre lettes trafikmodelarbejdet betragteligt sammenlignet med eksisterende trafikmodelpakker, GIS og databaser. Dette er primært på grund af GIS' bedre faciliteter til geografiske analyser, kvalitetssikring og visualiseringer. &nbsp