Accounting as matters of concern and a Poincaré Disk

Inspired by Latour’s (2005a) notion of matters of concern and M.C. Escher’s Circle Limit III as a representation of the Poincaré Disk, this study follows how an S&OP process was fabricated in a large Swedish manufacturing company. The study claims that when actors are fabricating the S&OP process, local actors create emergent, ongoing and multiple matters of concern around it. The group demand chain, the actor who is responsible for guiding the implementation of the process, delegates the attempts to close these matters of concern to local actors located in separate times and spaces. As a result, constituents of the S&OP process are dispersed in diverse local times and spaces rather than being coordinated in a single time and space by the group demand chain. Accounting is a set of matters of concern. The S&OP process and its purpose of integration come from an “absolute nothingness” – its minimal configuration ‐ because actors refer to them in their absences. They need to be re‐presented. The minimal configuration of the S&OP process creates a working time/space where diverse actors are engaged to create emergent properties of the S&OP process and new possibilities of integration. Consequently, as new matters of concern are constantly created by actors, integration on the demand chain becomes uncertain because actors are always creating new possibilities to move towards integration but will never arrive at the destination of integration. The S&OP process and integration thus go back to the “absolute nothingness” because as matters of concern they have no edge. To integrate is thus to postpone integration. In‐between stands the constituents of the S&OP process and possibilities of integration dispersed in diverse times and spaces. This means from this “absolute nothingness” lays the “geometry exactitude” of the managerial technology. Accounting is a Poincaré Disk. Therefore accounting not only creates a presence what are absent but also initiates a working time/space where actors can bring heterogeneous problematisation upon itself. The impossibility of representation brings about possibility of heterogeneous representational practices. Accounting makes the transition possible by artificially blurring the distinction between absence and presence

Circulating References and Matters of Concern

The main finding of this thesis is that when actors are fabricating the S&OP process, local actors create emergent, ongoing and multiple matters of concern around the S&OP process. The group demand chain, the actor who is responsible for guiding the implementation of the process, delegates the attempts to close these matters of concern to local actors located in separate times and spaces. As a result, constituents of the S&OP process are dispersed in diverse local times and spaces rather than being coordinated in a single time and space by the group demand chain. When local actors are closing these matters of concern, they create new properties on the S&OP process and new management possibilities in relation to integration. These new management possibilities may include, for instance, generating different primary keys of forecasting in different divisions, mobilising different inscriptions in different settings, using mean error to evaluate forecasting accuracy, connecting different visualisations such as ABC analysis and items with high growth rate and value to collaborators’ intelligence, creating new potentials for more consistent decision making and more proactive customer serving, creating new actions to help the under-estimated sales forecast, and transforming the minimal configurations of the S&OP process. Consequently, integration on the demand chain becomes uncertain because actors are always creating new possibilities to move towards integration but will never arrive at the destination of integration. To integrate is, thus, to postpone integration because there are always emergent matters of concern around the technology to foster integration. Because constituents of the S&OP process are separated in diverse times and spaces, to integrate is also to separate constituents of integration

Precise and Rapid Validation of Candidate Gene by Allele Specific Knockout With CRISPR/Cas9 in Wild Mice

It is a tempting goal to identify causative genes underlying phenotypic differences among inbred strains of mice, which is a huge reservoir of genetic resources to understand mammalian pathophysiology. In particular, the wild-derived mouse strains harbor enormous genetic variations that have been acquired during evolutionary divergence over 100s of 1000s of years. However, validating the genetic variation in non-classical strains was extremely difficult, until the advent of CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing tools. In this study, we first describe a T cell phenotype in both wild-derived PWD/PhJ parental mice and F1 hybrids, from a cross to C57BL/6 (B6) mice, and we isolate a genetic locus on Chr2, using linkage mapping and chromosome substitution mice. Importantly, we validate the identification of the functional gene controlling this T cell phenotype, Cd44, by allele specific knockout of the PWD copy, leaving the B6 copy completely intact. Our experiments using F1 mice with a dominant phenotype, allowed rapid validation of candidate genes by designing sgRNA PAM sequences that only target the DNA of the PWD genome. We obtained 10 animals derived from B6 eggs fertilized with PWD sperm cells which were subjected to microinjection of CRISPR/Cas9 gene targeting machinery. In the newborns of F1 hybrids, 80% (n = 10) had allele specific knockout of the candidate gene Cd44 of PWD origin, and no mice showed mistargeting of the B6 copy. In the resultant allele-specific knockout F1 mice, we observe full recovery of T cell phenotype. Therefore, our study provided a precise and rapid approach to functionally validate genes that could facilitate gene discovery in classic mouse genetics. More importantly, as we succeeded in genetic manipulation of mice, allele specific knockout could provide the possibility to inactivate disease alleles while keeping the normal allele of the gene intact in human cells

Effectiveness of the balanced scorecard : the impact of strategy and causal links

Many of the claimed benefits of the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) rely on the linkage of its performance measures to strategy and on causal relations among its measures. Using a survey research method, this study examines the extent to which adopters of BSC consider these features and whether they result in more effective performance measurement systems. A survey of medium and large Australian manufacturing organisations reveals that varying forms of scorecards are used in practice and that managers who perceive that their scorecard measures are linked to strategy and affect each other in a causal manner also perceive a higher level of effectiveness of the BSC. The study also suggests that strategic use of BSC is not as widespread as might be expected.20 page(s

The Impact of strategy and causal links on the perceived effectiveness of the balanced scorecard

Many of the claimed benefits of the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) rely on the linkage of its measures to strategy (strategy link) and on an assumption of causal relations among the measures (causal link). However, little empirical research has examined (a) the extent to which organizations that purport to use a BSC design the BSC measures to accord with strategy, and to recognize the causal linkages among the measures; and (b) whether strategy and causal linkages result in more effective performance measurement systems. This study examines these issues using data obtained from a questionnaire survey of medium and large Australian manufacturing organizations. The findings suggest that varying forms of scorecards are used in practice and strategy and causal links are not always regarded as essential design features of the BSC. The study however found that managers who perceive that their scorecard measures are linked to strategy and affect each other in a causal manner also perceive a higher level of effectiveness of the BSC. Accordingly, managers should consider making a conscious effort to incorporate these features as they are likely to make the BSC a more effective performance measurement and management system.30 page(s