This study contributes to understanding how firms pursuing differentiation strategy enhance exploratory innovation outcomes through business partner management accountants and their use of management accounting systems. Separate streams of literature analyzed the relationship between strategy and the role of management accountants in firms; and the relationship between the role of management accountants and new product innovation. Drawing on this evidence, I hypothesize that the relationship between differentiation strategy and exploratory innovation is mediated by two factors: a greater business partner orientation of management accountants and their subsequent use of the management accounting systems for attention focusing and decision making purposes. I find empirical support for the proposed three-path mediated effect using a structural equation model with survey data from 244 firms from German-speaking countries. In total, these findings reveal that management accounting department can be part of the strategy implementation mechanism in firms that emphasize exploratory innovation.

Purpose This study aims to examine the relationship between organizational lifecycle stages, the adoption of strategic management accounting (SMA) practices and the performance consequences of SMA adoption. Design/methodology/approach The analysis is based on survey data from 377 firms operating in German speaking countries. Findings The author finds that the firms’ adoption rates of SMA increase from the birth to the revival lifecycle stages and drop at the decline stage. Firms that deviate from the optimal SMA profile have lower performance compared to the firms that do not deviate. The negative performance effect, however, is only significant for firms that have too little SMA practices and is not significant for firms that adopt too much SMA practices. Research limitations/implications These results suggest that firms that fail to implement a sufficient level of SMA suitable for their development stage will not develop as fast as their competitors. This study is subject to general limitations of survey research, particularly with respect to the operationalization of the variables, the number of contextual variables in the empirical model and sample coverage. Practical implications The implication for managerial practice is that greater efforts should be directed toward eliminating underfit than overfit regarding the implementation of management control systems. Originality/value This is the first analysis of the adoption of SMA at different life cycle stages and the consequences of misfitted adoption.