Will Seal

Pricing in a Service Sector Context: Accounting and Marketing Logics in the Hotel Industry

The paper analyses hotel room pricing via an application of institutional economic theory. The institutional framework considers the impact of accounting and marketing templates that help hotel managers make sense of complex pricing decisions. From an institutional perspective, the spread and implementation of these templates is influenced by specific historical factors and may be subject to path dependency. The institutional theory is applied to a case study using a pragmatic constructivist methodology. The case site revealed that whilst long run cost structures are important in locating the market niche of the business and that hotels use conventional cost control techniques, costs play relatively little role in price determination with a dominant role for marketing templates that concentrate on revenue management. The study suggests how the synthesis between institutional economics and pragmatic constructivism offers a research framework that could be replicated in further studies.

Some proposals for impactful management control research

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to show how management control researchers can improve their practical impact through research designs that recognise the many dimensions of organizational reality. Design/methodology/approach - Managerial knowledge in the academy and managerial practice may become detached from one another as practitioners and academic discourses are influenced by different sources of texts and modes of legitimisation. Although this can be a problem in accounting research, management accounting researchers have developed the necessary elements for critical engagement with practice. Identifying a common ontological basis for researchers and practitioners, it is argued that pragmatic constructivism explains how managers construct their reality through integrating logic, facts, values and communication. It is also argued that management consultants have implicitly understood this view of reality in the way that they package their solutions. Academic researchers can replicate the pragmatic constructivist ontology whilst adopting more explicitly theoretical and critical approaches. Findings - The paper proposes the academy can productively imitate some of the knowledge creation of the consultant yet still retain both theoretical rigour and academic values. Originality/value - The paper presents a research design that can improve the impact of business school research whilst maintaining academic integrity.

Shared service centres and the role of the finance function: Advancing the Iron Cage?

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is: to explore the concept of finance shared service centres (SSCs) through an interpretive case study based on a structuration in organizational fields framework; to explore the implications for the finance function, in terms of how finance both drives change within the multi‐divisional organisation and also is affected by change; and to interpret the SSC phenomenon in the light of the Iron Cage analogy.Design/methodology/approach – A structuration in organization fields approach is used to interpret influences and actions in a longitudinal case study of a finance SSC.Findings – The SSC can be seen as an emergent strategic project. The paper argues that the new organisational form of the SSC, together with the finance functions reflexive and recursive position of driving change are influenced by changes in the economic and institutional influences in the organisational field but in a manner that is both evolutionary and nuanced. A further observation is that managemen...

The balanced scorecard and the construction of a management control discourse

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to synthesise a pragmatic constructivist view of management control and a critical discourse perspective on organizational action. These theories are deployed to build a conceptual framework that can be used to interpret the construction of a management control discourse in specific empirical situations. The framework is deployed to show how, in a particular instance, the balanced scorecard (BSC) can be seen as impacting on organizational action and success/failure. Design/methodology/approach – The paper develops a theoretical framework for management control which is used to interpret a case study of a BSC implementation in a major bank. Findings – The paper reports on a case study of a major bank where the BSC changed actors’ perceptions and actions. Although the bank avoided some of the worst excesses of pre-Credit Crunch delinquency, other problems such as misselling suggest that the BSC’s impact on organizational success/failure was ambiguous. The BSC may have ...

Organizational Change and the Transformation of the Management Accounting Function

The role of the management accounting function has changed with the impact of new technology (especially ERP systems) and organizational change. The latter has seen new variants of the divisionalized corporation with shared service centres as well as the outsourcing of a range of business support services. Organizations are under pressure to manage complexity, reduce cost and utilise their finance professionals in areas where they can add most value. The management accounting function is expected to complete its transformation from a transaction-processing focus to a fully fledged ‘business partner’ with a high decision support capability (CIMA 2009a, 2009b). The chapter critically reviews the research that has focused on these developments and the way that the management accounting function has responded to the challenges. There are two main inter-related themes.

Management Accounting Research in the Hospitality Sector

In this chapter, we review management accounting research in the hospitality sector, focusing on hotels and the ancillary activities, especially restaurants and bars. Unlike other service sectors, the hospitality industry has its own specialist management courses, often taught in hospitality departments within universities and colleges. This sector’s educational and training specialization has spawned a rich literature in dedicated hospitality journals. These journals are very eclectic, often reflecting the ‘guest experience’ tradition of hospitality schools/departments, with an emphasis on general management and customer-facing activities. It is perhaps not surprising that in the hospitality culture, finance and accounting issues are always of the highest priority.