Factors influencing the adoption of SMA techniques
| Study | Country (sample size) | Theory applied | SMA techniques considered | Factors considered | Findings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Developed economies | |||||
| Guilding (1999) | New Zealand (112 largest public and private companies) | Contingency theory | Competitor cost assessment Competitive position monitoring Competitor performance appraisal Strategic costing Strategic pricing | Strategic mission Competitive strategy Company size Industry | Companies pursuing “build” strategic mission adopts strategic pricing and strategic costing techniques The usage rates of competitor cost assessment, competitive position monitoring and competitor performance appraisal are higher in “prospector” companies The usage rates of all the SMA techniques, except strategic pricing, are higher in larger companies Industry variations do not affect the usage rates except for competitor cost assessment in Oil, gas, mineral and electricity industry |
| Cravens and Guilding (2001) | USA (120) | Contingency theory | 15 SMA techniques (ABC, attribute costing, brand valuation, competitor cost assessment, competitive position monitoring, competitor performance appraisal, life cycle costing, quality costing, strategic costing, strategic pricing, target costing and value chain costing, benchmarking and IPM) | Eight subdimensions of competitive strategy (R&D, product quality, product technology, product range, service quality, price level, adverting expenditure level and market coverage) | SMA usage rate is higher in companies pursuing “Research and Development” and “Broad market coverage” strategy |
| Guilding and McManus (2002) | Australia (124 top listed companies, measured in terms of market capitalization) | Contingency theory | Customer accounting Customer segment profitability analysis Customer profitability analysis Lifetime customer profitability analysis Valuation of customers as asset | Intensity of competition Market orientation Company size | Customer accounting, lifetime customer profitability analysis and valuation of customers as asset are positively associated with market orientation Intensity of competition is positively associated only with customer segment profitability analysis Company size is positively associated only with customer accounting |
| Cinquini and Tenucci (2007) | Italy (92 largest manufacturing companies) | Contingency theory | 14 SMA techniques (ABC/M, attribute costing, competitor cost assessment, competitive position monitoring, competitor performance appraisal, customer accounting, life cycle costing, quality costing, target costing, value chain costing, strategic costing, strategic pricing,benchmarking and IPM/BSC) | Strategic pattern Strategic mission Strategic positioning Company size Industry | The usage of target costing is positively associated with strategic mission (build) The usage of life cycle costing, strategic costing, ABC/M and value chain costing is greater in companies pursuing “cost leaders” strategy The usage of competitor cost assessment and strategic pricing is negatively associated with company size The association between SMA usage and types of industry is diversified |
| Cadez and Guilding (2008) | Slovenia (193 largest companies, in terms of total revenue) | Contingency theory | 16 SMA techniques (attribute costing, brand valuation, competitor cost assessment, competitive position monitoring, competitor performance appraisal, life cycle costing, quality costing, strategic costing, strategic pricing, target costing and value chain costing, benchmarking and IPM, customer profitability analysis, lifetime customer profitability analysis and valuation of customers as assets) | Business strategy (prospector/defender) Deliberate strategy formulation Market orientation Company size | SMA usage is positively associated with adopting a prospector strategy, deliberate strategy formulation, company size and accountants' participation in strategic decision-making |
| Cinquini and Tenucci (2010) | Italy (92 largest manufacturing companies) | Contingency theory | 11 SMA techniques (ABC/M, competitor cost assessment, competitive position monitoring, competitor performance appraisal, customer accounting, life cycle costing, quality costing, target costing and value chain costing, benchmarking and IPM/BSC) | Strategic pattern Strategic mission Strategic positioning Company size | Costing-oriented SMA usage rates are higher in “defenders” than in “prospectors” Customer-oriented SMA usage rate is higher in companies pursuing “build” strategic mission Costing-oriented SMA usage rates are higher in “cost leaders” than in “differentiators” Weak association between company size and SMA usage |
| Lachmann et al. (2013) | Germany (116 hospitals) | Strategic management | 11 SMA techniques based on Guilding et al. (2000) | Structural characteristics (size, ownership and legal form) | The use of SMA techniques varies among hospitals based on their structural characteristics |
| Nuhu et al. (2017) | Australia (127 public sector organizations) | Contingency theory | 8 (of which 5 are SMA techniques as per the scope of this study) (ABC, benchmarking, BSC, value chain analysis, strategic cost management) | Interactive use and diagnostic use of MCS | SMA usage is positively associated with interactive and diagnostic use of MCS |
| Pavlatos and Kostakis (2018) | Greece (94 manufacturing companies) | Upper echelons theory and role theory | 8 SMA techniques (Attribute costing, competitor cost assessment, competitor performance appraisal, customer profitability analysis, strategic pricing, brand valuation, value analysis and benchmarking) | Historical financial performance Top management team (TMT) age TMT tenure TMT educational background TMT creativity Economic crisis' perception Perceived environmental uncertainty | Firms with low profitability in the past (arising due to economic crisis) use SMA techniques more extensively SMA usage is positively associated with TMT educational background and creativity SMA usage is negatively associated with TMT tenure of service |
| Pasch (2019) | Austria (72) Germany (283) Switzerland (22) Total (377) | Contingency theory | 10 SMA techniques (ABC, brand valuation, CPM, target costing, LCC, value chain costing, benchmarking, IPM, CPA, LTCPA) | Stages of firm life cycle, firm size, interdependence, degree of centralization and product quality | Firms in the maturity, revival and growth stages are more likely to use SMA techniques. Firm size, product quality and interdependence are also positively associated with SMA usage |
| Cescon et al. (2019) | Italy (55 large manufacturing companies) | Contingency theory | 11 SMA techniques (attribute costing, brand valuation, CCA, CPM, CPAFS, target costing, LCC, value chain costing, benchmarking, BSC, strategic pricing) | Strategy type, geographic orientation, and environmental uncertainty and competitive forces | National firms adopting differentiation strategy make greater use of brand valuation. SMA usage is also positively associated with environmental uncertainty and competitive forces |
| Developing economies | |||||
| Amanollah Nejad Kalkhouran et al. (2017) | Malaysia (121 SMEs) | Contingency theory and upper echelons theory | 16 SMA techniques of Cadez and Guilding (2008) plus value stream costing and customer segment profitability analysis | CEO education CEO experience Involvement in networks | SMA usage is positively associated with CEO education and involvement in network |
| Arunruangsirilert and Chonglerttham (2017) | Thailand (103) | Agency, resource dependency, and stewardship theory | 16 SMA techniques based on Cadez and Guilding (2008) | CEO duality, board independence, board size, board meeting, audit committee independence and meeting, size, leverage, strategy type | Separation of CEO role from chairman, board independence, and frequency of audit committee meetings are positively associated with SMA usage, whereas independent chairmen and board size negatively associated with SMA usage |
| Study | Country (sample size) | Theory applied | SMA techniques considered | Factors considered | Findings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Zealand (112 largest public and private companies) | Contingency theory | Competitor cost assessment | Strategic mission | Companies pursuing “build” strategic mission adopts strategic pricing and strategic costing techniques | |
| USA (120) | Contingency theory | 15 SMA techniques (ABC, attribute costing, brand valuation, competitor cost assessment, competitive position monitoring, competitor performance appraisal, life cycle costing, quality costing, strategic costing, strategic pricing, target costing and value chain costing, benchmarking and IPM) | Eight subdimensions of competitive strategy (R&D, product quality, product technology, product range, service quality, price level, adverting expenditure level and market coverage) | SMA usage rate is higher in companies pursuing “Research and Development” and “Broad market coverage” strategy | |
| Australia (124 top listed companies, measured in terms of market capitalization) | Contingency theory | Customer accounting | Intensity of competition | Customer accounting, lifetime customer profitability analysis and valuation of customers as asset are positively associated with market orientation | |
| Italy (92 largest manufacturing companies) | Contingency theory | 14 SMA techniques (ABC/M, attribute costing, competitor cost assessment, competitive position monitoring, competitor performance appraisal, customer accounting, life cycle costing, quality costing, target costing, value chain costing, strategic costing, strategic pricing,benchmarking and IPM/BSC) | Strategic pattern | The usage of target costing is positively associated with strategic mission (build) | |
| Slovenia (193 largest companies, in terms of total revenue) | Contingency theory | 16 SMA techniques (attribute costing, brand valuation, competitor cost assessment, competitive position monitoring, competitor performance appraisal, life cycle costing, quality costing, strategic costing, strategic pricing, target costing and value chain costing, benchmarking and IPM, customer profitability analysis, lifetime customer profitability analysis and valuation of customers as assets) | Business strategy (prospector/defender) | SMA usage is positively associated with adopting a prospector strategy, deliberate strategy formulation, company size and accountants' participation in strategic decision-making | |
| Italy (92 largest manufacturing companies) | Contingency theory | 11 SMA techniques (ABC/M, competitor cost assessment, competitive position monitoring, competitor performance appraisal, customer accounting, life cycle costing, quality costing, target costing and value chain costing, benchmarking and IPM/BSC) | Strategic pattern | Costing-oriented SMA usage rates are higher in “defenders” than in “prospectors” | |
| Germany (116 hospitals) | Strategic management | 11 SMA techniques based on | Structural characteristics (size, ownership and legal form) | The use of SMA techniques varies among hospitals based on their structural characteristics | |
| Australia (127 public sector organizations) | Contingency theory | 8 (of which 5 are SMA techniques as per the scope of this study) (ABC, benchmarking, BSC, value chain analysis, strategic cost management) | Interactive use and diagnostic use of MCS | SMA usage is positively associated with interactive and diagnostic use of MCS | |
| Greece (94 manufacturing companies) | Upper echelons theory and role theory | 8 SMA techniques (Attribute costing, competitor cost assessment, competitor performance appraisal, customer profitability analysis, strategic pricing, brand valuation, value analysis and benchmarking) | Historical financial performance | Firms with low profitability in the past (arising due to economic crisis) use SMA techniques more extensively | |
| Austria (72) Germany (283) Switzerland (22) | Contingency theory | 10 SMA techniques (ABC, brand valuation, CPM, target costing, LCC, value chain costing, benchmarking, IPM, CPA, LTCPA) | Stages of firm life cycle, firm size, interdependence, degree of centralization and product quality | Firms in the maturity, revival and growth stages are more likely to use SMA techniques. Firm size, product quality and interdependence are also positively associated with SMA usage | |
| Italy (55 large manufacturing companies) | Contingency theory | 11 SMA techniques (attribute costing, brand valuation, CCA, CPM, CPAFS, target costing, LCC, value chain costing, benchmarking, BSC, strategic pricing) | Strategy type, geographic orientation, and environmental uncertainty and competitive forces | National firms adopting differentiation strategy make greater use of brand valuation. SMA usage is also positively associated with environmental uncertainty and competitive forces | |
| Malaysia (121 SMEs) | Contingency theory and upper echelons theory | 16 SMA techniques of | CEO education | SMA usage is positively associated with CEO education and involvement in network | |
| Thailand (103) | Agency, resource dependency, and stewardship theory | 16 SMA techniques based on | CEO duality, board independence, board size, board meeting, audit committee independence and meeting, size, leverage, strategy type | Separation of CEO role from chairman, board independence, and frequency of audit committee meetings are positively associated with SMA usage, whereas independent chairmen and board size negatively associated with SMA usage | |
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