Ahmed Abdel-Maksoud

Relationships between strategic performance measures, strategic decision-making, and organizational performance: empirical evidence from Canadian public organizations

ABSTRACT This study investigates the role of strategic performance measures (SPM) in strategic decision-making and their impact on organizational performance. Based on 143 online survey responses from senior administrators across Canadian public organizations, the study found that SPM of efficiency and effectiveness are positively associated with performance, as well as, the former with both strategy implementation and strategy assessment decisions. The study extends prior research by linking both SPM and their use in strategic decision-making to organizational performance.

An empirical study of the influence of intensity of competition on the deployment of contemporary management accounting practices and managerial techniques in Egyptian firms

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of managers’ perception of the importance of aspects of competition on levels of deployment of contemporary management accounting practices (CMAPs) and analyzing that impact on levels of implementation of innovative managerial practices (IMP) and advanced manufacturing technologies (AMTs) in use in Egyptian manufacturing firms. Design/methodology/approach - A survey of manufacturing firms operating in the three biggest industrial areas in Egypt was carried out in 2005. Data were collected through interviews, using structured questionnaire forms, which were carried out with managers of the surveyed firms. Findings - The research findings indicate that within the six aspects, quality came first in ranking, followed by customer service and delivery, second and third, then innovation, price and flexibility respectively. Interestingly, respondents rank highly the importance of all aspects of competition included. Findings also show high levels of implementation of CMAPs and IMPs in the surveyed firms, while levels of implementation of CMTs are found to be below average. Originality/value - The paper adds to the knowledge of contemporary management accounting practices and managerial techniques in Egyptian firms.

The use of performance information in strategic decision making in public organizations

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate how the importance of different components of strategic performance measurement systems (SPMS) and their deployment influence the use of performance information from the SPMS in making strategic decisions. Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected through a survey of 143 managers of Canadian public organizations. Findings – The findings indicate that two SPMS components, namely, the importance of non-financial performance measures and the use of operational efficiency measures, have significant positive associations with performance information use for strategy implementation and strategy assessment decisions. The extent to which SPMS models were used is found to be positively associated with performance information use for strategy implementation, but not for strategy assessment, decisions. Furthermore, the relationships between SPMS variables and strategic decision making are moderated by information systems/data limitations and management’s ...

Cost analysis of a manufacturing company encountering a failing financial situation: a pedagogical teaching case using learning activities model

The case focuses on automatic factory (AF), a small-sized manufacturing company; which produces and sells multiple construction products in the United Arab Emirates. For years, AF made operating profits, but during 2011-2013 it recorded operating losses, which the company management was anxious to have explained. AFs main concern was to acquire actionable knowledge and diffuse it throughout the companys hierarchy. To remedy the failing situation, an organisational learning activities model was adopted that would put the company on a sustainable footing and save it from dissolution. The aim of the present case study is to discuss and analyse this situation, using relevant management accounting techniques as a means of organisational learning. Participants are encouraged to discuss and analyse the AFs cost structure, breakeven analysis and sales mix, emphasising that such techniques should overlap with the learning activities undertaken by the company.

Debt Covenant Violation and Earnings Management: A Neuroscience Approach and Future Directions – A Research Note

Decision-making rationality is said to be bounded by managers’ cognitive capabilities. Recent studies indicate that accounting functions evolved to augment the cognitively bounded human brain in handling complex economic exchanges. The neuroscience discipline indicates that human brains have the ability to implement ‘automatic’ processes of positive versus negative emotional stimuli to make rational decisions. Neuroscientific evidence shows that the activations in the ventral striatum decrease with negative emotional information/motives and increase with positive emotional information/motives. We, hence, argue that our understanding of decision making rationality in financial and managerial decisions could be enhanced by using a functional neuroimaging approach. Decision making rationality has been focal in debt covenant violation and earnings management research. The contracting theory predicts a relationship between managers’ decisions and the proximity of violating debt covenants. However, no prior research has investigated brain activities associated with evaluation of debt covenant violation and earnings management. Meanwhile, in another strand of research, there is extensive prior literature concerning consequences of managers’ decisions and use of accounting information in relation to their evaluative style, i.e. supervisory style. We argue that the relationship between proximity to debt covenants violation and earnings management and earnings management incentives is contingent upon managers’ supervisory style. However, no previous research has examined the impact of supervisory style on earnings management in the context of proximity to debt covenants violation and other earnings management incentives. In this research note, we argue here that neuroaccounting could be relied on to examine the relationship between proximity to debt covenants and earnings management, contingent upon managers’ supervisory style, by capturing brain activities. The adoption of a neuroscience functional neuroimaging approach in this field shall contribute to the understanding of managers’ behaviors and provide implications for research. The goal of this research note is to provide a new avenue for future research in this field.

Developing a performance measurement model for agricultural extension agents

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to propose a performance measurement (PM) model for agricultural extension agents. Based on an interdisciplinary approach, management accounting-agricultural extension, the study has three main research objectives: highlight the main concepts to be embedded in a PM model for agricultural extension agents in an agricultural extension organization (RO1); identify main PM components of the proposed PM model for agricultural extension agents (RO2); and investigate empirically the causal relationships in the proposed PM model (RO3). Design/methodology/approach – An interdisciplinary literature review and a proposed PM model for agricultural extension agents are presented (RO1 and RO2). An empirical survey is incorporated, carried out in early 2011 (RO3), to examine three groups, totaling around 274 respondents. Data were collected through personal interviews using structured questionnaire forms. Path analysis technique was applied. Findings – The authors propose a PM mode...