The following paragraphs present a synthesis of the development of the management control concept in the literature. We have pointed out the existence of different trends of thought, which have gradually evolved as organisations and markets have transformed, introducing new variables for building efficient control systems adapted to social changes, to the process of internationalisation and to increased market competition (Jaeger and Balinga, 1985; Neimark and Tinker, 1986). Nonetheless, the contributions by the different authors are clearly heterogeneous and there does not appear to be a single predominant paradigm (Flamholtz et al., 1985; Merchant and Simons, 1986; Amat,.
