Management Accounting Practices and Discourses Change: The role and use of Management Accounting Systems

This paper aims to trace the development of management accounting systems (MAS) in a Portuguese bank, where an activity based costing system (ABC) has been trialled for implementation over the past few years, as a means to improving the economy, efficiency and effectiveness of employee activity. This initiative can be located in a wider cultural change in Portuguese banking towards global (i.e. US derived) strategies and processes, but within an organizational world where older traditions remain powerful. The research undertaken here is a longitudinal case study of organisational change in one institution based on a criticalinterpretive model. Although drawing on the interpretive tradition since it is concerned with actors’ perceptions, interpretations and beliefs, it also draws on a more historically focused Foucault-inspired critical framework of the kind developed in the work of Hoskin and Macve (e.g. 1986, 1988, 1994, 2000), and in the research into the financial sector undertaken by Morgan and Sturdy (2000). The particular model developed here is designed to enable the exploration of the effect of accounting practices on change across time from three perspectives – changing structures, changing discourses and the effect of both of these processes on power relations. The research highlights the increase in visibility and perceived importance of accounting in the banking sector, and how accounting is significant beyond its technical roles. The study provides new insights into how management accounting practices, along with other organisational systems, play an important role questioning, visualising, analysing, and measuring implemented strategies. As the language and practice of management have shifted towards strategy and marketing discourses, patterns of work, organisation and career are being restructured, in often under-appreciated ways, by accounting practices.

Collaborate and die! Exploring different understandings of organisational cooperation within Scotland's uncertain North Sea oil and gas industry.

This study ethnographically explores how collaboration is enacted within two differently structured sub-sea engineering organisations local to the oil & gas industry in Aberdeen, Scotland. Literature suggests organisational collaboration practices are largely dependent on trust, historical cooperation, establishing interpersonal relations and information sharing networks. Such notions are suggested as readily enacted in Aberdeen. However, following changes in industry landscape, we uncover a variety of additional factors pertaining to macro-level local industry climate, and meso-level organisational cultures that shape different perceptions, understandings, and enactments of collaboration. To grow current scholarly thinking, we define how such diverse understandings actively prevent organisational collaboration in the restrictively competitive climate of Aberdeen’s oil & gas industry. Implications for expanding understandings of collaboration in employment sectors facing substantial industry destabilisation and reformation are discussed

Institutionalization and de-institutionalization processes in the UK healthcare system : the role of emerging technologies

This thesis is a result of a research project that examines the Information Systems strategy of the National Health Service (NHS). The researcher followed the process of implementing a Primary Service Provision (PSP). PSP is an initiative by the NHS Information Authority (NHSIA) to develop and establish a National Programme for Information Technology (NPfIT)—a means of providing a useable electronic health record nationally to the UK. Five case studies are presented in the thesis, containing: 1. Two primary care facilities; 2. Three secondary care facilities; These cases were developed as a result of studying the internal processes, decision and support paths applied individually in the NHS. The research approach adopts qualitative and interpretative analysis that includes longitudinal case studies. This multiple case study approach has an embedded design incorporating the components of work business processes as subunits to enhance insight. Data was collected predominantly from interviews supported by archive material, documents, and direct observation. Overlapping cross case, and within case analysis was undertaken, using Activity Records, Strategic Choice Analysis, and concepts supported by various researchers in the past (Avgerou & Cornford, 1993; Davenport, 1993; Eisenhardt, 1989; Galliers, 1991). While it might be possible for similar processes to result in different solution when adopted in another research context, in these seven cases quite different approaches were taken. The Thesis concludes that while the core processes were the same across the cases, the following issues combined together to lead to quite different approaches in each case: 1. The detail of the IS strategic processes; 2. The variation in the contexts; 3. The logic of the decision process as they evolved; and 4. The view of the actors involved. The researcher is of a strong belief that as time progresses and experience is gained and the situation with NPfIT evolves, the various actors would change their views towards IS strategy. This could result in changes in the overall NHS IS business model and healthcare delivery process support. This assumption, however, could be affected by the appearance of very little transfer of knowledge—across different parts of the NHS—regarding past experience with IS implementation. The author argues that NPfIT mainly serves to diffuse information and communication technologies in the NHS. As a result the NPfIT is changing the way by which the NHS competes and meets the needs of it patients, the business model and the value-creating processes. New opportunities are also taking place introducing new healthcare delivery processes and modifying the existing processes

Market orientation and vertical de-integration: creating customer and company value

This thesis explores the relationship between a firm's supply chain and a firm's degree of market orientation and economic performance. The results suggest that certain types of supply chain design - in particular those models that make for close links with the firm's customers - lead to superior marketing and shareholder value. Two sets of environmental forces have been particularly influential in reshaping supply chains over recent years. One is the enormous growth in production capacity, especially in the Far East, which has lead to more industries operating with excess capacity. Production skills and resources were once seen as at the heart of a firm's core capabilities and the source of its competitive advantage. Today, in more and more sectors, the key skill is marketing - creating customer preference in oversupplied markets through branding and customer relationship management. Downstream activities in the supply chain have risen in prominence compared to upstream activities. The second change has been the information revolution brought about by the computer and the Internet. This has lowered the transaction costs of integrating the activities performed by the different businesses constituting a supply chain and made it increasingly attractive to achieve control without ownership. Supply chains can now become networks integrated through seamless in formation exchanges We explore these changes at the microeconomic level. The research draws upon the existing literature and on primary data including exploratory interviews, main-study in-depth interviews and survey data. Matched pair samples of 20 high performance and 20 low performance business units based in the UK provided the main body of data results. Data analysis involved four distinct phases; within case analysis and cross case analysis for the qualitative data collected; exploratory factor analysis (EFA) to identify dimensions of influence as a method of integration; discriminant analysis and Lambda to investigate the association between supply chain configuration typologies, market orientation and business performance. Two major contributions stem from this research. First, the interdisciplinary domain for supply chain configuration can be established. Whereas traditionally competitive advantage has been built through a focus on operations efficiency - streamlining processes to reduce cost, today increased communications, global markets and the speed at which Internet technologies are developing, demand and facilitate an additional perspective for supply chain management - the effectiveness perspective. The concept of effectiveness brings the subject of supply chain management from the sphere of operations management into the domain of marketing strategy. From this perspective the building, maintenance and management of customer relationships becomes central to the supply chain configuration. Highly efficient production processes, where fiercely protected technical know-how enables the delivery of superior quality products, no longer acts as a sustainable source of competitive advantage. To achieve this, firms must focus on two principle activities: building brand value and carefully fostering relationships with key customers. For firms positioned upstream in the supply chain, building a strong brand identity offers potentially a means to integrate downstream with both customers and consumers. The second contribution comes from the association of supply chain configuration with other variables. Our results show a relationship between market orientation, business performance and supply chain configuration. We conclude that companies are beginning to recognise opportunities that arise from using technology and information to blur traditional boundaries between suppliers, manufacturers and end users. We discuss how technology enables co-ordination across company boundaries to achieve new levels of efficiency and effectiveness, as well as extraordinary returns to investors. For example, a company, its suppliers, and even its customers might begin to share information and activities to speed the design of a product and raise the likelihood of its success in the marketplace. This should enable suppliers to begin developing components before the overall product design is complete, providing vital timely feedback regarding component specification, cost and time objectives. Equally, customers are able to review a product as it evolves and provide input on how it meets their needs. Managers must concern themselves with the design stages of the product and facilitate knowledge and information flows through the entire supply chain. Business seems to be on the threshold of a new era of inter-firm relationships. Supply chain customers sharing the same suppliers are able to provide leadership, encouraging shared distribution systems and payment/ordering systems. Over capacity in firms forces such considerations. Collaborative approaches can drive down costs and ultimately offer improved services for consumers, making available the goods they want, where and when they want them. But this configuration of an interconnected, interdependent supply network requires much more openness. Interfirm boundaries must become almost invisible. Trust, commitment, open communication and information sharing must permeate the culture of partnering firms. The sharing of real time customer information both within and between firms facilitates the reduction of inventory and increases speed to market, reducing risk and increasing cost savings. Customer information provides a sound basis for segmenting markets, allowing the understanding of customer needs to develop in a deeper way. This customer closeness gives access to information critical in aiding accurate forecasting which is central to the elimination of unnecessary costs and enabling firms to dramatically extend the value they deliver to customers thus creating competitive advantage. Shrinking the time and the resources it takes to meet customers' needs in a world where those needs are constantly changing is the challenge. As Wayne Gretzky, the famous hockey player explained, "the key to winning is getting first to where the puck is going next". The same could be said about succeeding in business. Listening to customers and then using and sharing this most valuable information resource throughout the supply chain will be the key

Management Accounting Practices and Discourses Change: the Role and use of Management Accounting Systems

This paper aims to trace the development of management accounting systems (MAS) in a Portuguese bank, where an activity based costing system (ABC) has been trialled for implementation over the past few years, as a means to improving the economy, efficiency and effectiveness of employee activity. This initiative can be located in a wider cultural change in Portuguese banking towards global (i.e. US derived) strategies and processes, but within an organizational world where older traditions remain powerful. The research undertaken here is a longitudinal case study of organisational change in one institution based on a critical-interpretive model. Although drawing on the interpretive tradition since it is concerned with actors’ perceptions, interpretations and beliefs, it also draws on a more historically focused Foucault-inspired critical framework of the kind developed in the work of Hoskin and Macve (e.g. 1986, 1988, 1994, 2000), and in the research into the financial sector undertaken by Morgan and Sturdy (2000). The particular model developed here is designed to enable the exploration of the effect of accounting practices on change across time from three perspectives – changing structures, changing discourses and the effect of both of these processes on power relations. The research highlights the increase in visibility and perceived importance of accounting in the banking sector, and how accounting is significant beyond its technical roles. The study provides new insights into how management accounting practices, along with other organisational systems, play an important role questioning, visualising, analysing, and measuring implemented strategies. As the language and practice of management have shifted towards strategy and marketing discourses, patterns of work, organisation and career are being restructured, in often under-appreciated ways, by accounting practices.N/

Semantic discovery and reuse of business process patterns

Patterns currently play an important role in modern information systems (IS) development and their use has mainly been restricted to the design and implementation phases of the development lifecycle. Given the increasing significance of business modelling in IS development, patterns have the potential of providing a viable solution for promoting reusability of recurrent generalized models in the very early stages of development. As a statement of research-in-progress this paper focuses on business process patterns and proposes an initial methodological framework for the discovery and reuse of business process patterns within the IS development lifecycle. The framework borrows ideas from the domain engineering literature and proposes the use of semantics to drive both the discovery of patterns as well as their reuse

Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) Applications in Payment, Clearing, and Settlement Systems:A Study of Blockchain-Based Payment Barriers and Potential Solutions, and DLT Application in Central Bank Payment System Functions

Payment, clearing, and settlement systems are essential components of the financial markets and exert considerable influence on the overall economy. While there have been considerable technological advancements in payment systems, the conventional systems still depend on centralized architecture, with inherent limitations and risks. The emergence of Distributed ledger technology (DLT) is being regarded as a potential solution to transform payment and settlement processes and address certain challenges posed by the centralized architecture of traditional payment systems (Bank for International Settlements, 2017). While proof-of-concept projects have demonstrated the technical feasibility of DLT, significant barriers still hinder its adoption and implementation. The overarching objective of this thesis is to contribute to the developing area of DLT application in payment, clearing and settlement systems, which is still in its initial stages of applications development and lacks a substantial body of scholarly literature and empirical research. This is achieved by identifying the socio-technical barriers to adoption and diffusion of blockchain-based payment systems and the solutions proposed to address them. Furthermore, the thesis examines and classifies various applications of DLT in central bank payment system functions, offering valuable insights into the motivations, DLT platforms used, and consensus algorithms for applicable use cases. To achieve these objectives, the methodology employed involved a systematic literature review (SLR) of academic literature on blockchain-based payment systems. Furthermore, we utilized a thematic analysis approach to examine data collected from various sources regarding the use of DLT applications in central bank payment system functions, such as central bank white papers, industry reports, and policy documents. The study's findings on blockchain-based payment systems barriers and proposed solutions; challenge the prevailing emphasis on technological and regulatory barriers in the literature and industry discourse regarding the adoption and implementation of blockchain-based payment systems. It highlights the importance of considering the broader socio-technical context and identifying barriers across all five dimensions of the social technical framework, including technological, infrastructural, user practices/market, regulatory, and cultural dimensions. Furthermore, the research identified seven DLT applications in central bank payment system functions. These are grouped into three overarching themes: central banks' operational responsibilities in payment and settlement systems, issuance of central bank digital money, and regulatory oversight/supervisory functions, along with other ancillary functions. Each of these applications has unique motivations or value proposition, which is the underlying reason for utilizing in that particular use case

Institutionalization and de-institutionalization processes in the UK healthcare system : the role of emerging technologies

This thesis is a result of a research project that examines the Information Systems strategy of the National Health Service (NHS). The researcher followed the process of implementing a Primary Service Provision (PSP). PSP is an initiative by the NHS Information Authority (NHSIA) to develop and establish a National Programme for Information Technology (NPfIT)—a means of providing a useable electronic health record nationally to the UK. Five case studies are presented in the thesis, containing: 1. Two primary care facilities; 2. Three secondary care facilities; These cases were developed as a result of studying the internal processes, decision and support paths applied individually in the NHS. The research approach adopts qualitative and interpretative analysis that includes longitudinal case studies. This multiple case study approach has an embedded design incorporating the components of work business processes as subunits to enhance insight. Data was collected predominantly from interviews supported by archive material, documents, and direct observation. Overlapping cross case, and within case analysis was undertaken, using Activity Records, Strategic Choice Analysis, and concepts supported by various researchers in the past (Avgerou & Cornford, 1993; Davenport, 1993; Eisenhardt, 1989; Galliers, 1991). While it might be possible for similar processes to result in different solution when adopted in another research context, in these seven cases quite different approaches were taken. The Thesis concludes that while the core processes were the same across the cases, the following issues combined together to lead to quite different approaches in each case: 1. The detail of the IS strategic processes; 2. The variation in the contexts; 3. The logic of the decision process as they evolved; and 4. The view of the actors involved. The researcher is of a strong belief that as time progresses and experience is gained and the situation with NPfIT evolves, the various actors would change their views towards IS strategy. This could result in changes in the overall NHS IS business model and healthcare delivery process support. This assumption, however, could be affected by the appearance of very little transfer of knowledge—across different parts of the NHS—regarding past experience with IS implementation. The author argues that NPfIT mainly serves to diffuse information and communication technologies in the NHS. As a result the NPfIT is changing the way by which the NHS competes and meets the needs of it patients, the business model and the value-creating processes. New opportunities are also taking place introducing new healthcare delivery processes and modifying the existing processes.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGreat BritainGBUnited Kingdo