Theoretical Concepts Relevant for Supply Chain Management Accounting

The chapter outlines theoretical concepts that have proven useful for tackling SCMAC-related questions. Knowledge of these theoretical concepts helps to find and to implement the most appropriate setup for collaboration across supply chain partners and provides the conceptual basis for explaining the different institutional arrangements that can be found between firms. The chapter discusses the view of the firm in neoclassical economics, where the price mechanism guarantees that resources are allocated to their most efficient use. It further discusses the Coase theorem, which stipulates that the choice between markets and hierarchies is determined mainly by differences in transaction costs. Transaction cost economics elaborates on this idea further and examines under which conditions a transaction is more efficiently performed within a firm (vertical integration) or outside it, by autonomous market contractors. The chapter also discusses the basic tenets of resource-based theory as well as agency theory and provides a summary overview of what management accounting can learn from these concepts for managing supply chains.