Manufacturing shareholder value: The role of accounting in organizational transformation |
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| Authors: | Mahmoud Ezzamel Hugh Willmott Frank Worthington |
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| Institution: | 1. Cardiff Business School, Cardiff University, Colum Drive, Aberconway Building, Cardiff CF10 3EU, United Kingdom;2. University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom;1. EM Lyon, France;2. Copenhagen Business School, Denmark and HEC Paris, France;1. Department of Management, Universidad de Granada, Spain;2. Birmingham Business School, University of Birmingham, UK;3. Aston Business School, Aston University, UK;1. ESCP Europe, 79 Avenue de la République, 75543 Cedex 11, Paris, France;2. HEC Paris, 1 rue de la Libération, 78351 Jouy-en-Josas Cedex, France;3. HEC Montréal, 3000, Chemin de la Côte-Sainte-Catherine, Montréal (QC), Canada H3T 2A;1. Norwich Business School, University of East Anglia, United Kingdom;2. Bocconi University, SDA Bocconi School of Management, Italy;3. RSM Erasmus University, The Netherlands;1. Department of Accounting and Finance, Monash University, Australia;2. Department of Accounting, London School of Economics and Political Science, United Kingdom |
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| Abstract: | This paper explores the role of accounting calculations in constructing shareholder value within the context of organizational transformation in work organization. Using an intensive longitudinal case study (Conglom, a pseudonym), the paper relates innovation and experimentation in new forms of work organization to a drive for shareholder value creation. The priority given to shareholder value creation was articulated through a proliferation of accounting metrics and calculations that intermediated between the strategic preoccupation with securing financial profitability, as demonstrated by the share price, and the operational challenge of squeezing costs and improving margins to boost short-term performance through outsourcing, programme management and divestment. We interpret the discourse of shareholder value creation and the development of related accounting metrics as a hegemonic move which is central to the reassertion of capital – a development that, we contend, is symptomatic of a shift towards a more ‘despotic’ mode of capitalist reproduction Burawoy, M., (1985). The politics of production. London: Verso], where the whip of the market, allied to notions of possessive individualism, free choice and self-determination, progressively replaces the velvet glove of the corporatist state. |
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