What makes organizations so similar? We contend that the engine of rationalization and bureaucratization has moved from the competitive marketplace to the state and the professions. Once a set of organizations emerges as a field, a paradox arises: rational actors make their organizations increasingly similar as they try to change them. We describe three isomorphic processes-coercive, mimetic, and normative—leading to this outcome. We then specify hypotheses about the impact of resource centralization and dependency, goal ambiguity and technical uncertainty, and professionalization and structuration on isomorphic change. Finally, we suggest implications for theories of organizations and social change.

The iron cage revisited: Institutional isomorphism and collective rationality in organizational fields (Chinese Translation)

Home PURPOSE OF THE CENTER: To develop the center to address state-of-the-art research, create innovating educational programs, and support technology transfers using commercially viable results to assist the Army Research Laboratory to develop the next generation Future Combat System in the telecommunications sector that assures prevention of perceived threats, and Non Line of Sight/Beyond Line of Sight lethal support.

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The Market for Virtue: The Potential and Limits of Corporate Social Responsibility. By David Vogel. Washington, DC: The Brookings Institute, 2005. 222p. $28.95.Is there a “market for virtue”? If so, what can it do, and what can it not do to improve our world? In his incisive new book, David Vogel takes aim at these questions and the now-fashionable claim that there is a business case for corporate social responsibility (CSR). He concludes that there is no business case that can be generalized to all firms per se, but there is a political case for broadening what we mean by that much-used term.

The Market for Virtue: The Potential and Limits of Corporate Social Responsibility

Abstract Rooted in contingency theory, this study puts forth propositions stating (1) that superiors of business units which face higher environmental uncertainty will use a more subjective performance appraisal approach whereas superiors of business units which face lower environmental uncertainty will use a more formula-based performance evaluation approach, and (2) that a stronger fit between environmental uncertainty and performance evaluation style would be associated with higher business unit performance. Findings from 58 business units in eight Fortune 500 firms provide strong support to both sets of these propositions.

Appropriateness of accounting data in performance evaluation: an empirical examination of...

Winner of the Management Accounting section of the American Accounting Association notable contribution to Management Accounting Literature Award Volume One of the Handbook of Management Accounting Research series sets the context for the Handbooks, with three chapters outlining the historical development of management accounting as a discipline and as a practice in three broad geographic settings. Volume Two provides insights into research on different management accounting practices. Volume Three features contributions from some of the most influential researchers in various areas of management accounting research, consolidates the content of volumes one and two, and concludes with examples of management accounting research from around the world. Volumes 1, 2 and 3 are also available as individual product. * ISBN Volume 1: 978-0-08-044564-9 * ISBN Volume 2: 978-0-08-044754-4 * ISBN Volume 3: 978-0-08-055450-1 * Three volumes of the popular Handbooks of Management Accounting Research series now available in one complete set * Examines particular management accounting practices and specific organizational contexts * Adopts a global perspective of management accounting practices Award: "Winner of the Management Accounting section of the American Accounting Association notable contribution to Management Accounting Literature Award."

Handbook of management accounting research

There has been sustained interest in explaining why firms adopt different management accounting practices. This paper applies contingency theory to respond empirically to calls by Gerdin (2005), Tillema (2005) and Chenhall (2007) to increase understanding of factors that explain management accounting sophistication. We examine the impact of a range of potentially contingent variables on a broad set of management accounting practices in a sample of companies selected from the UK's largest industry sector. The variables relate to external characteristics, organisational characteristics, and manufacturing or processing characteristics. The method differs from prior studies in not testing association between contingency factors and a single, or a limited number of, accounting practice(s) but in looking for relationships with aggregate levels of sophistication based on the emphasis that respondents place on 38 practices and techniques. Furthermore, the 10 contingency factors considered in this study include two constructs (product perishability and customer power) not previously explored.The results, derived from a large scale questionnaire survey, indicate that differences in management accounting sophistication are significantly explained by environmental uncertainty, customer power, decentralisation, size, AMT, TQM and JIT. The data confirms that customer power should be considered as an added external variable in the contingency theory paradigm. Expectations of relationships between competitive strategy, processing system complexity and product perishability, and management accounting sophistication were not, however, supported by the data.The improved understanding of the relationships between 10 contingency factors and management accounting techniques employed contributes to the further development of an integrated contingency framework explaining variations in the investment in management accounting.

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Delivery.cfm?abstractid=1358302

The Impact of Firm Characteristics on Management Accounting Practices: A UK-Based Empirical Analysis

There has been sustained interest in explaining why firms adopt different management accounting practices (MAPs). This paper applies contingency theory to respond empirically to calls by Gerdin [2005. Management accounting system design in manufacturing departments: an empirical investigation using a multiple contingencies approach. Accounting, Organizations and Society 30, 99–126], Tillema [2005. Towards an integrated contingency framework for MAS sophistication: case studies on the scope of accounting instruments in Dutch power and gas companies. Management Accounting Research 16, 101–129] and Chenhall [2007. Theorizing contingencies in management control systems research. In: Chapman, C., Hopwood, A., Shields, M. (Eds.), Handbook of Management Accounting Research. Elsevier, Amsterdam.] to increase understanding of factors that explain management accounting (MA) sophistication. We examine the impact of a range of potentially contingent variables on a broad set of MAPs in a sample of companies selected from the UK's largest industry sector. The variables relate to external characteristics, organisational characteristics, and manufacturing or processing characteristics. The method differs from prior studies in not testing association between contingency factors and a single, or a limited number of, accounting practice(s) but in looking for relationships with aggregate levels of sophistication based on the emphasis that respondents place on 38 practices and techniques. Furthermore, the 10 contingency factors considered in this study include two constructs (product perishability and customer power) not previously explored. The results, derived from a large scale questionnaire survey, indicate that differences in MA sophistication are significantly explained by environmental uncertainty, customer power, decentralisation, size, AMT, TQM and JIT. The data confirm that customer power should be considered as an added external variable in the contingency theory paradigm. Expectations of relationships between competitive strategy, processing system complexity and product perishability, and MA sophistication were not, however, supported by the data. The improved understanding of the relationships between 10 contingency factors and MA techniques employed contributes to the further development of an integrated contingency framework explaining variations in the investment in MA.

/pdf/the-impact-of-firm-characteristics-on-management-accounting-53qdjgwyqq.pdf

The impact of firm characteristics on management accounting practices: A UK-based empirical analysis

Purpose - This paper investigates and reports on the management accounting practices in the British food and drinks industry. Design/methodology/approach - The data is generated by a large-scale postal questionnaire which was informed by preliminary interviews. Further interviews were carried out to aid interpretation of the responses. Descriptive statistics on the importance and frequency of use of individual practices provide the basis for discussion.Findings - Direct costing is widely practiced and important, by contrast with activity-based costing and full absorption costing. Despite the limitations of conventional budgets, they remain a central management accounting 'pillar' and are frequently used in 'what if?' analyzes. The balanced scorecard and other non-financial performance measures are perceived to be important but never or rarely used by 40% of companies. Product profitability analyzes are frequently applied, and, surprisingly, the profitability of supplying individual customers is frequently calculated by over 50% of the population. Respondents were skeptical about sophisticated DCF investment appraisals.Practical implications - Traditional management accounting is 'alive and well' but there are indications of likely increased use of: information concerning the cost of quality; non-financial measures relating to employees and analyzes of competitors' strengths and weaknesses. There is evidence of a gap between current textbooks and actual practices.Originality/value - The survey provides a unique detailed examination of actual management accounting practices and an indication of future trends.

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Delivery.cfm/SSRN_ID1358339_code846917.pdf?abstractid=1358339&rulid=136906&mirid=3

Management Accounting Practices in the British Food and Drinks Industry

Purpose – This paper seeks to investigate and report on the management accounting practices in the British food and drinks industry.Design/methodology/approach – The data are generated by a large‐scale postal questionnaire which was informed by preliminary interviews. Further interviews were carried out to aid interpretation of the responses. Descriptive statistics on the importance and frequency of use of individual practices provide the basis for discussion.Findings – Direct costing is widely practised and important, by contrast with activity‐based costing and full absorption costing. Despite the limitations of conventional budgets, they remain a central management accounting “pillar” and are frequently used in “what if?” analyses. The balanced scorecard and other non‐financial performance measures are perceived to be important but never or rarely used by 40 per cent of companies. Product profitability analyses are frequently applied and, surprisingly, the profitability of supplying individual customers...

https://bura.brunel.ac.uk/bitstream/2438/1375/1/BF%202006.pdf

Management accounting practices in the British food and drinks industry

In this paper, a model for the evaluation of investments in advanced manufacturing technology is developed. Many authors have called for an integration of financial and non-financial factors in such evaluations and this paper demonstrates that it is conceptually possible to do this using the mathematics of the analytic hierarchy process and fuzzy set theory. The development of the model has certain distinguishing features. First, it is based on a conceptual framework that combines the three dimensions of risk, financial return and non-financial factors. The empirical basis for this has been investigated and previously reported by the authors. Second, models previously developed and reported in the literature are shown to suffer from certain flaws relating to the use of linguistic scales, the ranking of fuzzy performance indicators and partiality in the treatment of investment decision variables. These issues are addressed through the development of simpler linguistic scales based on the analytic hierarchy, a revised procedure for ranking fuzzy numbers and an attempt to build a comprehensive model through the three dimensions described above. Triangular fuzzy numbers are used throughout in order to make the mathematics tractable and relatively easy to understand and to facilitate presentation of a worked example. However, so that the reader is not misled, attention is drawn to some of the complexities in fuzzy arithmetic, especially the important distinction between subtraction/division and deconvolution of fuzzy numbers.

Magdy Abdel-Kader

Papers

The Impact of Firm Characteristics on Management Accounting Practices: A UK-Based Empirical Analysis

The impact of firm characteristics on management accounting practices: A UK-based empirical analysis

Management Accounting Practices in the British Food and Drinks Industry

Management accounting practices in the British food and drinks industry

Evaluating Investments in Advanced Manufacturing Technology: A Fuzzy Set Theory Approach