Accounting and Strategising: A Case Study from New Product Development

Martin Messner and Brian Jørgensen
Additional contact information
Martin Messner: GREGH - Groupement de Recherche et d'Etudes en Gestion à HEC - HEC Paris - Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
Brian Jørgensen: Aarhus University [Aarhus], AAU - Aalborg University [Denmark]

Post-Print from HAL

Abstract: This paper explores the relationship between accounting and strategy in a context that is characterised by pluralistic demands and high uncertainty about outcomes. By way of an ethnographic field study in an R&D intensive company, we analyse new product development (NPD) projects and the way in which decisions and practices concerning these projects are accounted for. Building upon a practice theory perspective, we find that actors account for the appropriateness of NPD practices not only or primarily on the basis of accounting information, but also by "strategising", i.e. by mobilising different strategic objectives to which these practices are supposed to contribute. We argue that this has to do with the ambiguous demands on NPD and the limits of calculability inherent in NPD design decisions. At the same time, accounting information is not necessarily irrelevant in such a case; it can enter the picture as a general understanding that guides actors' strategising efforts by reminding them of the ultimate importance of financial numbers.

Keywords: strategising; accounting; strategy; new product development (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010-02
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (53)

Published in Accounting Organizations and Society, 2010, 35 (2), pp.184-204. ⟨10.1016/j.aos.2009.04.001⟩

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-00528382

DOI: 10.1016/j.aos.2009.04.001

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Post-Print from HAL
Bibliographic data for series maintained by CCSD ().