This article follows the innovative process in a company within the manufacturing industry as itreached a highly competitive market position. Through an adaptive system of management control,management has succeeded in engaging teams to develop new products. At the same time the companyhas been competitive in terms of prices and level of service. The key to this success has been acombination of continuous knowledge integration and flexible production in the company, whichthemselves were enabled by successive improvements and by a general control philosophy that makesfor strategic congruence in the long run.A multi-level case study describes innovative processes, work with product development and howinformal contacts between different functions may occur and facilitate the development of successfulproducts. At the corporate level, the critical task is to prioritize and weigh the ideas in view of existingproducts and the need for strategic development.This study illustrates a generic model that discusses strategic development and management control inthe context of an unforeseen environment. This dynamic life-cycle perspective adds to previousresearch in management control, which has mainly focused on static models. The model in this articleis conceptual and is based on previous research; however, it can also be used by management inpractice. As former studies have emphasized, there is a lack of research that analyses the way inwhich innovations emerge and the control processes that may be part of the success or failure.