This study reports and discusses the case of a private company of the financial sector, located in Brazil, which, a few years ago, was decentralized in business units. The authors tried to understand the motivations for the decision, the challenges that followed its implementation, and the structure of the management control system adopted to monitor the performance of each division. The results indicate that the decision to decentralize helped the company to implement its strategies of increasing market share. Top management is aware that many challenges still persist but believes that the company has adopted the appropriate organizational structure to deal with the competitive and complex market of the early nineties in Brazil.
decentralization; management control; business units
