Riccardo Giannetti

Models of performance and value measurement in service systems

The emergence of service science offers new and renewed research interest to management accounting and to performance management. In terms of management accounting, the prospects of cocreation of value and servitisation lead towards analysis objectives that consider the customer to a greater extent. Secondly, the trend of dissociation between investments (costs) and sources of revenues questions the validity of the traditional logic of costing for pricing in the context of service science. In short, problems of cost and revenue allocation emerge between coproducing partners in a service system. In terms of performance management, the development of business models in which the relevance of the service component increases requires reflection on which innovative techniques should be used to measure value, also with a view to establishing incentive systems oriented towards value creation.

The making of uniform costing in a war economy: The case of the Uniconti Commission in Fascist Italy

This article analyses the experience of the Uniconti Commission in setting rules of uniform costing in Italy during World War II (WWII). This initiative was promoted by the Italian Fascist government and the Confederazione dell’Industria (Industry Confederation) in 1941. The purpose of the study is to investigate the process of setting the uniform costing rules and “why” and “how” they were designed. This is done according to a Foucauldian perspective that allows the problematization of accounting as a complex phenomenon, the emergence and functioning of which is linked to context and dependent on the interplay of different influences. Starting from the aims inspired by the totalitarian ideology of the government that promoted the Commission, the analysis is grounded on archival primary sources and provides perspectives on the making of new accounting rules by examining the interplay among participants in the process. The article provides evidence of the complex interplay between knowledge, techniques, institutions and ideology in setting accounting rules in a totalitarian context, marked by a prevailing role of ideology and state in the regulation of the economy.

Modelli di misurazione della performance e del valore nel sistema dei servizi

L’emergere della scienza dei servizi offre nuovi e rinnovati interessi di ricerca al management accounting ed al performance management. Sul versante del management accounting, le prospettive della co-creazione di valore e della servitization spingono verso oggetti di analisi che considerano maggiormente il cliente. Secondariamente la tendenziale dissociazione tra investimenti (costi) e fonti dei ricavi mette in dubbio la validita della tradizionale logica del costing for pricing nel contesta della service science. Infine si assiste ad una crescente problematicita nella ripartizione dei costi e dei ricavi tra partner co-produttori in un sistema di servizi. Sul versante del performance management lo sviluppo di modelli di business nei quali cresce l’importanza della componente di servizi impone una riflessione su quali tecniche innovative di misurazione del valore possano essere appropriate, anche nella prospettiva di definire sistemi di incentivazione orientati alla creazione del valore.

Managing costs by business model: issues emerging from the case of E-Car

The aim of this paper is to explore the managing of cost drivers using a business model (BM) design. Particularly, the paper explores the link between a BM and cost driver analysis adopting a service-dominant logic (SDL) perspective. The empirical domain addresses the dynamic and complex scenarios of electric cars, where many actors are involved, several marketing and technological aspects are still unclear and where the high cost of batteries delays the wide diffusion of electric vehicles. The paper explores how SDL could support the BM design and how the cost driver analysis and BM design are linked when the SDL perspective is adopted.,This paper analyses secondary data and findings collected by interviews performed with managers belonging to the automotive sector.,The results show that the BM design could be a solution to address cost problems and the cost driver analysis may play a role in formulating an economically sustainable BM. Splitting a product into a “package of services” can provide direction for research of an alternative BM design in an attempt to manage the impact of cost drivers and pursue economic sustainability.,This paper explores a topic that has not yet focused on cost management research, i.e. the link between BM and cost driver analysis adopting an SDL perspective.

Editoriale. Strumenti di gestione dei costi e misure di performance negli attuali contesti competitivi

The topic of cost management tools and performance measurement systems has been addressed in the field of management studies with the aim of identifying the factors that have caused and that determine the success of companies in global competition. It is believed that, today and in the next future, the key dimensions of competitive advantage of companies are the following: sustainability, intellectual capital and intercompany integration. These dimensions, having a common matrix represented by the complexity, must be integrated in the formulation of the business strategies. This requires the development of suitable cost management tools and performance measures to verify the achievement of the strategies. But what are the links that are created between strategy, in its various manifestations, and cost management tools and performance measurement? This special issue of the Journal is intended to analyze such links.