Success of activity management practices: the influence of organizational and cultural factors

This study examines the success of activity management practices and the organizational and cultural factors affecting success at each of Gosselin's (1997) three levels of activity analysis (AA), activity cost analysis (ACA) and activity‐based costing (ABC). Data were collected by survey questionnaire from a random sample of managers of Australian business units. The results indicate that activity management is moderately successful in Australian organizations, with greater use associated with higher levels of success. Two organizational factors (top management support and link to quality) were associated with success at each of Gosselin's three levels, whereas training was associated at the AA and ACA levels. The cultural factor of outcome orientation was associated with success at each level, with attention to detail important at the ABC level. Organizational factors were more strongly associated with activity management success than cultural factors.     

Adoption of activity management practices: a note on the extent of adoption and the influence of organizational and cultural factors

We examine the extent to which activity management practices are adopted by Australian business units at each of Gosselin's [Gosselin, M., 1997. The effect of strategy and organizational structure on the adoption and implementation of activity-based costing. Acc. Organ. Society 22 (2), 105–122] levels of Activity Analysis, Activity Cost Analysis and Activity-based Costing. We also examine the association between extent of adoption and the organizational factors of size and decision usefulness of cost information, and the business unit culture dimensions of innovation, outcome orientation, and tight versus loose control.Data were collected by mail survey questionnaire of a random sample of business units, with questionnaire design and distribution based on Dillman's [Dillman, D.A., 2000. Mail and Internet Surveys: The Tailored Design Method. John Wiley & Sons Inc., New York] Tailored Design Method. Adoption rates are found to be higher than in prior studies, suggesting the continuing relevance of activity management practices and the advantage of using Gosselin's (1997) levels. All factors were found to be associated with all activity management practices. In particular, business unit size and all three business unit culture dimensions were found to be associated with extent of adoption of Activity Analysis (AA) and Activity Cost Analysis (ACA), while decision usefulness and the cultural dimensions of outcome orientation and tight versus loose control were associated with Activity-based Costing.     

The effects of activity and geographic diversification on performance: Evidence from French financial institutions

Our paper studies the impact of activity and geographic diversification on financial institution's performance. These diversification strategies are complementary in generating performance and may provide important implications. Moreover, we investigate the interaction between these two strategies. Our dataset comprises 4532 years observations over the period of 2002 to 2012 and covers 412 French financial institutions. We find a negative relationship between diversification and performance. However, this relationship is significantly positive when institutions implement a dual diversification strategy. In this paper, we propose a classification of French financial institutions. For generalists’ banks and cooperative banks, we find similar results to those of the entire sample. Furthermore, for specialized financial institutions, the relationship is positive and significant. Our findings are robust to the potential endogeneity problem and to measures of diversification and performance.     

试论商业银行成本核算及其管理系统变革

现代商业银行经营竞争日趋激烈,产品品种层出不穷,盈利模式日新月异,迫切需要精确的成本信息来确定产品的真实盈利情况.然而,我国商业银行大都还采用传统的成本核算方法,核算出的银行产品成本是不完全的.为给银行管理决策提供更完全的相关信息,我国商业银行应使用作业成本法.就我国商业银行作业成本法的应用及须注意的问题作初浅探讨,希望对商业银行应用作业成本法有一定的参考.     

高校科研经费间接成本核算模型构建--基于政府会计制度背景

科研经费间接成本是对高校开展科研活动的成本补偿,随着《政府会计制度》的实施,高校在会计核算模式、财务报告编制方面都发生了重大的变化,新制度为高校成本核算提供了制度保障。本文阐述了科研经费间接成本的构成及研究现状,梳理了从资源归集、作业中心成本计算及科研项目成本分摊的整个核算流程。根据资源消耗的不同特点,运用作业成本法和权重比例法的理论和方法,科学地对科研经费间接成本进行分类和分摊,构建了比较完整地高校科研经费间接成本核算模型。同时提出了与模型运用相配套的建议:制定具体行业的间接成本核算规定,规范间接成本的核算;构建并完善高校成本管理系统并加强财务人员的培养;根据高校自身特点,制定科研经费间接成本核算体系。     

Participation index: a measure to identify rural transport disadvantage?

This paper develops a composite participation index (PI) to identify patterns of transport disadvantage in space and time. It is operationalised using 157 weekly activity-travel diaries data collected from three case study areas in rural Northern Ireland. A review of activity space and travel behaviour research found that six dimensional indicators of activity spaces were typically used including the number of unique locations visited, distance travelled, area of activity spaces, frequency of activity participation, types of activity participated in, and duration of participation in order to identify transport disadvantage. A combined measure using six individual indices were developed based on the six dimensional indicators of activity spaces, by taking into account the relativity of the measures for weekdays, weekends, and for a week. Factor analyses were conducted to derive weights of these indices to form the PI measure. Multivariate analysis using general linear models of the different indicators/indices identified new patterns of transport disadvantage. The research found that: indicator based measures and index based measures are complement each other; interactions between different factors generated new patterns of transport disadvantage; and that these patterns vary in space and time. The analysis also indicates that the transport needs of different disadvantaged groups are varied.     

零售企业扩张实践质疑威廉姆森命题

"复制和选择性干预不可能",是威廉姆森关于企业规模边界的一个颇具权威性的命题,但是本文认为,这个命题已遭到零售企业扩张实践的质疑,沃尔玛、家乐福等零售企业的扩张恰恰是由"复制和选择性干预"所支撑的.本文从零售企业"类似性活动"业务属性和"订购性生产"经营特征分析切入,对零售企业扩张中"复制和选择性干预"成为可能的深层原因进行了探讨.最后,文章认为,威廉姆森命题的遭遇与经济学的某种局限有关,这种局限的直接表现是经济学一直都将企业默认为生产企业,忽略流通企业的特殊属性,"工商合一"、"以工代商".文章对这种表象背后的原因也作了一定的分析.     

基于作业成本法的北京市公交车运营成本测算研究

北京公交的运营成本过高是北京市公交发展中的一个比较突出的问题,而且目前北京公交缺乏科学、精确的运营成本测算方法与体系。为解决相关问题,应该结合国内外相关研究与调研资料对北京市公交运营成本的构成体系进行确定与分析,并运用作业成本法对北京市公交运营成本展开测算研究。     

Adoption of activity management practices in public sector organizations

This paper examines the extent to which activity management practices are adopted by Australian public sector organizations at each of Gosselin's (1997) levels of Activity Analysis, Activity Cost Analysis, and Activity‐based Costing. The present paper replicates Baird et al. (2004), thereby enabling a comparison of the extent of adoption of activity management in the public sector with that reported in the private sector in Baird et al. (2004). The results reveal that the adoption of higher level activity management practices (Activity Cost Analysis and Activity‐based Costing) is less prevalent in public sector organizations, whereas they adopt Activity Analysis to the same extent as the private sector.     

Conceptual underpinnings for transformative research in a service ecosystems context to resolve social issues – framework foundations and extensions

ABSTRACT

A number of services within society are designed to improve the well-being of its members and transform lives. Some services focus on the protection and support of vulnerable members of society, for example, those suffering the effects of drug use, mental health conditions, violence or poverty. Clients of such social services may also come from minority or marginalised cultural backgrounds. Typically, social services aim to reduce disparities and enhance individual and population well-being. A major challenge for social policy-makers and social service providers is to establish and maintain constructive engagement between the social services and those they are intended to serve. Some of these vulnerable clients are deemed ‘hard-to-reach’ (HTR) by policy-makers and service providers. Yet, the transformation of lives requires the involvement of the focal actor (client) and their service or activity system, as well as the engagement of other actors, such as the social worker embedded in their service or activity system. This paper aims to further unpack a novel approach, called integrative transformative service framework. This contribution extends its conceptualisation which fuses mainly three different approaches, namely Transformative Service Research (TSR), (Cultural-Historical) Activity Theory (CHAT) and (Regulatory) Engagement Theory (RET).