IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eme/aaajpp/v23y2010i5p626-646.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Strategy, enrolment and accounting: the politics of strategic ideas

Author

Listed:
  • Andrea Whittle
  • Frank Mueller

Abstract

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to use Actor Network Theory to explore the role of management accounting systems (MAS) in the construction of business strategy. Design/methodology/approach - The paper draws on findings from an ethnographic study of a UK‐based firm. Theoretical concepts from Actor‐Network Theory are used to illuminate the findings of the study. Findings - The study found that MAS acted as an obligatory point of passage into the strategic agenda of the firm. However, the findings also reveal the political tactics used by employees in order to work within, against and around the MAS. Originality/value - The paper shows that MAS are a key player in the political contests that occur during the process of strategy formulation, as opposed to offering a neutral tool for measuring the strategic value of innovative ideas.

Suggested Citation

  • Andrea Whittle & Frank Mueller, 2010. "Strategy, enrolment and accounting: the politics of strategic ideas," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 23(5), pages 626-646, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:eme:aaajpp:v:23:y:2010:i:5:p:626-646
    DOI: 10.1108/09513571011054918
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/09513571011054918/full/html?utm_source=repec&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=repec
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers
    File URL: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/09513571011054918/full/pdf?utm_source=repec&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=repec
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1108/09513571011054918?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Martin Kornberger & Chris Carter, 2010. "Manufacturing competition: how accounting practices shape strategy making in cities," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 23(3), pages 325-349, March.
    2. Dent, Jeremy F., 1991. "Accounting and organizational cultures: A field study of the emergence of a new organizational reality," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 16(8), pages 705-732.
    3. Lounsbury, Michael, 2008. "Institutional rationality and practice variation: New directions in the institutional analysis of practice," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 33(4-5), pages 349-361.
    4. Ahrens, Thomas & Chapman, Christopher S., 2007. "Management accounting as practice," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 32(1-2), pages 1-27.
    5. Preston, Alistair M., 2006. "Enabling, enacting and maintaining action at a distance: An historical case study of the role of accounts in the reduction of the Navajo herds," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 31(6), pages 559-578, August.
    6. Stewart Clegg & David Courpasson & Nelson Phillips, 2006. "Power and organizations," Post-Print hal-02298067, HAL.
    7. Ezzamel, Mahmoud & Willmott, Hugh & Worthington, Frank, 2004. "Accounting and management-labour relations: the politics of production in the 'factory with a problem'," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 29(3-4), pages 269-302.
    8. Tony J. Watson, 2003. "Strategists and Strategy‐making: Strategic Exchange and the Shaping of Individual Lives and Organizational Futures," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(5), pages 1305-1323, July.
    9. Naranjo-Gil, David & Hartmann, Frank, 2007. "Management accounting systems, top management team heterogeneity and strategic change," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 32(7-8), pages 735-756.
    10. Quattrone, Paolo, 2004. "Accounting for God: accounting and accountability practices in the Society of Jesus (Italy, XVI-XVII centuries)," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 29(7), pages 647-683, October.
    11. David Owen, 2005. "CSR after Enron: A Role for the academic accounting profession?," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(2), pages 395-404.
    12. Gendron, Yves & Cooper, David J. & Townley, Barbara, 2007. "The construction of auditing expertise in measuring government performance," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 32(1-2), pages 101-129.
    13. Peter Miller, 1998. "The margins of accounting," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 7(4), pages 605-621.
    14. Miller, Peter & O'Leary, Ted, 2007. "Mediating instruments and making markets: Capital budgeting, science and the economy," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 32(7-8), pages 701-734.
    15. Hoskin, Keith W. & Macve, Richard H., 1988. "The genesis of accountability: The west point connections," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 37-73, January.
    16. Dent, Jeremy F., 1990. "Strategy, organization and control: Some possibilities for accounting research," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 15(1-2), pages 3-25.
    17. Stephen R. Barley & Gideon Kunda, 2001. "Bringing Work Back In," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 12(1), pages 76-95, February.
    18. Chua, Wai Fong, 1995. "Experts, networks and inscriptions in the fabrication of accounting images: A story of the representation of three public hospitals," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 20(2-3), pages 111-145.
    19. Briers, Michael & Chua, Wai Fong, 2001. "The role of actor-networks and boundary objects in management accounting change: a field study of an implementation of activity-based costing," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 26(3), pages 237-269, April.
    20. Robson, Keith, 1992. "Accounting numbers as "inscription": Action at a distance and the development of accounting," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 17(7), pages 685-708, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Chris Carter & Stewart Clegg & Martin Kornberger, 2010. "Re‐framing strategy: power, politics and accounting," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 23(5), pages 573-594, June.
    2. Llewellyn, Sue & Begkos, Christos & Ellwood, Sheila & Mellingwood, Chris, 2022. "Public value and pricing in English hospitals: Value creation or value extraction?," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    3. Whittle, Andrea & Carter, Chris & Mueller, Frank, 2014. "‘Above the fray’: Interests, discourse and legitimacy in the audit field," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 25(8), pages 783-802.
    4. Alan McKinlay & Chris Carter & Eric Pezet & Stewart Clegg, 2010. "Using Foucault to make strategy," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 23(8), pages 1012-1031, October.
    5. Abeer Hassan & Ahmed A. Elamer & Suman Lodh & Lee Roberts & Monomita Nandy, 2021. "The future of non‐financial businesses reporting: Learning from the Covid‐19 pandemic," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(4), pages 1231-1240, July.
    6. Harvey, Charles & Yang, Ruomei & Mueller, Frank & Maclean, Mairi, 2020. "Bourdieu, strategy and the field of power," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    7. Julia Balogun & Claus Jacobs & Paula Jarzabkowski & Saku Mantere & Eero Vaara, 2014. "Placing Strategy Discourse in Context: Sociomateriality, Sensemaking, and Power," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(2), pages 175-201, March.
    8. Pasi Aaltola, 2019. "Strategic thinking and accounting: potentials and pitfalls from a managerial perspective," Journal of Management Control: Zeitschrift für Planung und Unternehmenssteuerung, Springer, vol. 30(3), pages 323-351, October.
    9. Mueller, Frank, 2018. "Taking Goffman seriously: Developing Strategy-as-Practice," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 16-30.
    10. Laura Girella & Roberto Tizzano & Elisa Rita Ferrari, 2019. "Concepts travelling across disciplinary fields: the case of the business model," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 23(2), pages 373-402, June.
    11. Sander Merkus & Marcel Veenswijk, 2017. "Turning New Public Management theory into reality: Performative struggle during a large scale planning process," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 35(7), pages 1264-1284, November.
    12. Englund, Hans & Gerdin, Jonas & Burns, John, 2020. "A structuration theory perspective on the interplay between strategy and accounting: Unpacking social continuity and transformation," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Constable, Philip & Kuasirikun, Nooch, 2020. "From cosmological to commercial form: A Buddhist theory of ‘form’, ‘space’ and ‘stream of re-becoming’ in mid-19th century Thai accounting," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    2. Dambrin, Claire & Robson, Keith, 2011. "Tracing performance in the pharmaceutical industry: Ambivalence, opacity and the performativity of flawed measures," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 36(7), pages 428-455.
    3. Jérôme Méric & Christophe Godowski, 2014. "Le Changement A L'Echelle Des Pratiques De Controle : Le Cas D'Une Universite Française," Post-Print hal-01899176, HAL.
    4. Mouritsen, Jan & Hansen, Allan & Hansen, Carsten Ørts, 2009. "Short and long translations: Management accounting calculations and innovation management," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 34(6-7), pages 738-754, August.
    5. Lise Justesen & Jan Mouritsen, 2011. "Effects of actor‐network theory in accounting research," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 24(2), pages 161-193, February.
    6. Pollock, Neil & D’Adderio, Luciana, 2012. "Give me a two-by-two matrix and I will create the market: Rankings, graphic visualisations and sociomateriality," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 37(8), pages 565-586.
    7. Ahrens, Thomas & Mollona, Massimiliano, 2007. "Organisational control as cultural practice--A shop floor ethnography of a Sheffield steel mill," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 32(4-5), pages 305-331.
    8. Chenhall, Robert H. & Hall, Matthew & Smith, David, 2013. "Performance measurement, modes of evaluation and the development of compromising accounts," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 51294, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    9. Caroline Lambert & Jérémy Morales, 2009. "Les pratiques occultes des contrôleurs de gestion:une étude ethnographique du «sale boulot»," Revue Finance Contrôle Stratégie, revues.org, vol. 12(2), pages 5-34, June.
    10. Huikku, Jari & Mouritsen, Jan & Silvola, Hanna, 2017. "Relative reliability and the recognisable firm: Calculating goodwill impairment value," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 68-83.
    11. Quattrone, Paolo, 2009. "Books to be practiced: Memory, the power of the visual, and the success of accounting," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 85-118, January.
    12. Anne Pezet & Jérémy Morales, 2010. "Les contrôleurs de gestion, « médiateurs » de la financiarisation," Post-Print halshs-00498673, HAL.
    13. Bay, Charlotta, 2018. "Makeover accounting: Investigating the meaning-making practices of financial accounts," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 44-54.
    14. Crvelin, David & Becker, Albrecht, 2020. "‘The spirits that we summoned’: A study on how the ‘governed’ make accounting their own in the context of market-making programs in Nepal," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    15. Skærbæk, Peter & Tryggestad, Kjell, 2010. "The role of accounting devices in performing corporate strategy," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 108-124, January.
    16. Kornberger, Martin & Pflueger, Dane & Mouritsen, Jan, 2017. "Evaluative infrastructures: Accounting for platform organization," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 79-95.
    17. Muhammad Kaleem Zahir-ul-Hassan & Reinald A. Minnaar & Ed Vosselman, 2016. "Governance and control as mediating instruments in an inter-firm relationship: towards collaboration or transactions?," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(4), pages 365-389, June.
    18. Robson, Keith & Bottausci, Chiara, 2018. "The sociology of translation and accounting inscriptions: Reflections on Latour and Accounting Research," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 60-75.
    19. Englund, Hans & Gerdin, Jonas & Burns, John, 2011. "25 Years of Giddens in accounting research: Achievements, limitations and the future," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 36(8), pages 494-513.
    20. Yu, Lichen & Mouritsen, Jan, 2020. "Accounting, simultaneity and relative completeness: The sales and operations planning forecast and the enactment of the ‘demand chain’," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eme:aaajpp:v:23:y:2010:i:5:p:626-646. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Emerald Support (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.