Matti Skoog

Measuring to understand intangible performance drivers

The present qualitative study explores what eleven Swedish organizations have systematically worked at to increase the understanding of the importance of intangibles as performance drivers. The present analysis is accomplished using a combination of evolutionary theory, knowledge-based theory and organizational learning. The results indicate that assets in an accounting sense seem to be of less interest than perceptions of activities that enable future performance. These “enablers” are often customer and employee perceptions of individual, organizational and relational competence. The way for the firms to ascertain a continuous organizational learning process with respect to the value creation chain is to measure intangibles as well as to maintain organizational routines that ensure the transformation of measurement results into action.

Mobilizing change through the management control of intangibles

This qualitative study explores the management control of intangibles in three Swedish companies. The present analysis is discussed in terms of four theoretical perspectives, namely, evolutionary, ...

Balancing dilemmas of the balanced scorecard

Purpose - The aim of this paper is to debate various critical issues in the implementation and use of the balanced scorecard (BSC) as a management control tool. Because there is no self-evident solution to these critical issues, they are termed dilemmas. Design/methodology/approach - The paper contributes to the BSC debate by collecting insights from empirical findings, as well as exploring various theoretical aspects. Findings - After presenting four perceived dilemmas and how they affect the implementation and use of the BSC in various settings, the paper concludes that there is a need for further debate and research on these dilemmas. Research limitations/implications - The paper is primarily a contribution to the debate concerning the balanced scorecard and its range of application as a management control model. Practical implications - The paper is motivated by an overall high rate of implementation failure in various practical settings. Originality/value - Some of the problems described have been debated before, whereas others are new. However, there has been hardly any discussion of the dilemmas in conjunction with one another. The paper is an attempt to generate important new questions about the future implementation and use of the BSC.

Visualizing value creation through the management control of intangibles

Management control systems may differ markedly from organization to organization. However, the trend within many of todays organizations is to include new perspectives in their formal management control and accounting systems. This ongoing transformation of management control systems is partly driven by the notion that intangibles play an increasingly important role in an organizations value creation process and thereby has to be visualized to a greater extent than hitherto. Nowadays, customers, suppliers and other stakeholders are frequently incorporated into the value creation process of organizations. Together with the growing importance of other intangible resources, such as leadership, employee competence and internal business processes, this approach promotes a highly complex picture of the organizational value creation process. The aim of this paper is to analyze organizational value creation from a management control perspective and, based on a longitudinal case study of a Swedish bank, discuss possible key features of a management control system that enables organizations to understand and allocate attention to the value creation of the firm.

The Japanese Government's intellectual capital reporting guideline: What are the challenges for firms and capital market agents?

Purpose – The purpose of the present paper is to discuss the Guideline for Intellectual Property Information Disclosure (GIPID) in relation to the ambitious aspirations behind the guideline and in ...

The Japanese Government's intellectual capital reporting guideline

Purpose – The purpose of the present paper is to discuss the Guideline for Intellectual Property Information Disclosure (GIPID) in relation to the ambitious aspirations behind the guideline and in that way develop a future research agenda aiming at addressing the main challenges regarding the construction of guidelines for future IC reporting.Design/methodology/approach – The purpose will be achieved by comparing the GIPID with two other IC guideline proposals, namely MERITUM and the Danish Guideline for Intellectual Capital Statements, respectively, from a capital market communication perspective and from a management control perspective. References are made to 12 Japanese companies that have published IP reports. The sample companies operate in a wide range of nine industries covering, for example, security, manufacturing, transportation, and chemistry, and comprise large as well as small firms.Findings – The study identifies four major challenges for intellectual capital guidelines and reporting. These...

“Breaking taboos”: Implementing intellectual assets‐based management guidelines

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to highlight how, and why, some small and medium-sized high-tech Japanese firms apply and assess the “intellectual asset-based management” (IAbM) guidelines i ...

Towards the next generation of public management: A study of management control and communication in the Swedish Armed Forces

Purpose – This paper aims to present an empirical case where fundamental changes in the environment have forced an organization to re‐evaluate its management control systems and possibly search for destabilizing supporting routines in order to unlearn the established ways of measuring and controlling within the organization. The problem, however, is that organizational technologies often work in the other direction, i.e. they promote stability in organizational routines. The paper seeks to increase understanding regarding the importance of destabilizing, or, as the authors like to call them, sensebreaking activities within organizations that are present in rapidly changing environments.Design/methodology/approach – The authors used multiple sources and multiple techniques to collect data; interviews with managers, participation in meetings, and document analysis such as annual reports, pamphlets, speeches and Swedish Armed Forcess (SAFs) web site.Findings – The study is clearly presented in a design‐ori...

The communication of human accounts: examining models of sensegiving

Abstract:Purpose – The purpose of the paper is to reflect on how sensegiving cues are encapsulated in models of reporting for human resources. This has been by investigating elements, arguments and ...

Management control transformations : a study in change mechanisms and their continuous effect on management control systems

Purpose – The purpose of the paper is to clarify ongoing transformations in an organisations management control systems (MCSs) by investigating the nature and emergence of internal change mechanisms.Design/methodology/approach – This study uses an inductive methodological approach. Data were obtained from focused interviews with managers at different levels in one public and one private Swedish organisation. Various internal and external documents were also analysed.Findings – The findings indicate that one starting point for achieving continuous MCS transformation in organisations is to select specific transformation mechanisms. These mechanisms appear capable of linking various aspects of organisational time and place, and turning general expectations of continuous change into coordinated action through accountability and organisational learning.Research limitations/implications – The study focuses on enablers rather than barriers in MCS transformation processes. Selection of the specific organisations...