Authors: Erik Alenius; Johnny Lind; Torkel Strömsten
Purpose of the paper and literature addressed. This paper contributes to the increasing field within the IMP literature that is concerned with the role of accounting and control in business relationships and networks (Håkansson et al 2010, Dubois 2003: Lind and Strömsten 2006). The purpose of this paper is to extend our knowledge about the use of open book accounting (OBA) in industrial networks.Research method. We build our argument on an in-depth single and embedded case study of procurement in a large food retailer. Data is collected mainly by interviews but also by observations. Further, access to the company’s internal documents as explicit open book calculations has increased our understanding of the role accounting plays in inter-organizational relationships.Research findings. From the case study we can observe that in the context of interdependency and relatedness, effects of open book accounting are not limited to coordination of activities in focal supplier relationships. By introducing open book practice with a meat supplier, the activities both in the focal supplier relation and in connected relationships were affected.Main contribution. Our analysis shows that the use of accounting information in a supplier relationship has direct effects on other relations in the network. The accounting information is translated into changes in activity links and resource combinations. These findings stress the important acknowledgement of interdependency and resource heterogeneity and the impact accounting has on it as a visualizer. From an IMP perspective, this study illustrates the importance to acknowledge the role that accounting and control play in embedded industrial relationships. Thereby this study adds to the existing understanding of interaction processes in embedded relationships.
Journal: n.a. (n.a. – n.a.)
Web Address: n.a.
Publish Year: 2012
Conference: Rome, Italy (2012)