Financial control and business strategy in start-up companies : an empirical analysis

This article focuses on the relationship between financial control (FC) techniques and business strategies (BSs). The context of the study is startup companies in Italy, and the main motivation to consider this context is the very limited extant literature. The authors performed a survey to collect quantitative data from startup companies, and they also complemented the survey with a series of interviews to collect qualitative data. Results show that the use of different FC techniques does not depend on BSs. As a strategic risk factor, the authors also show that reputation risk differs significantly between the two strategybased groups, differentiation strategy group and focus strategy group. The interviews conducted with expert entrepreneurs aimed at determining the importance of specific FC techniques and the benefits of adopting them in startup companies. Overall, the article provides new evidence for the debate about the role of FC techniques in the BSs of the firm. [Publisher's text].