外文：供应链的战略成本管理.doc

Strategic Cost Management in Supply ChainsPart 1: Structural Cost ManagementShannon W. Anderson and Henri C. DekkerAbstract: Strategic cost management is the deliberate alignment of a firms resources and associated cost structure with long-term strategy and short-term tactics. Although managers continue to pursue efficiency and effectiveness within the firm increasingly, Improvements are obtained across the value chain: through reconfiguring firm boundaries, relocating resources, reengineering processes, and re-evaluating product and service offerings in relation to customer requirements. In this article, we review strategic cost management, especially structural cost management. Structural cost management employs tools of organizational design, product design, and process design to create a supply chain cost structure that is coherent with firm strategy. Key wards: structural cost management; supply chain; competitive Advantage1 INTRODUCTIONThe prevalence in the current business press about acquisitions, restructuring, outsourcing, and off shoring indicates the vigor with which firms are engaged in the modern cost management. Theres a shift from prior internal processes for efficiency and effectiveness, firms are attempt to manage costs throughout the value chain. As the value of purchased materials and services as a share of selling price has increased ,firms find themselves managing complex supply chains, that include global suppliers, contract manufacturers, service centers and so on. Firms should pay attention to the value chain, so that they can obtain the room of development.2 STRATEGIC COST MANAGEMENT Cost management research has tended to fall into two related streams. The first research stream examine whether and how firms configure accounting data to support value chain analysis ; The second research stream attempt to derive the relationship between a rms strategy and cost structure. The focus is on the causal relation between activity levels and the resources that are required. These research streams take as given the rms strategy and structure and focus on whether accounting records are capable of reecting or detecting the economics of the chosen strategy. In this review we take Shanks broader perspective that much of what constitutes strategic cost management is found in choices about organizational strategy and structure. Following Anderson, we define “strategic cost management” as deliberate decision making aimed at aligning the rms cost structure with its strategy and with managing the enactment of the strategy.We focus on interactions across firm boundaries; Specially, the buyer/supplier interface, as a source of competitive advantage that can deliver low cost, as well as high productivity, quality, customer responsiveness, and innovation. Shank posited that two types of cost drivers are the basis for strategic cost management: structural cost drivers that reflect organizational structure, investment decisions, and the operating leverage of the firm and executive cost drivers that reect the efciency of executing the strategy. Stated differently, structural cost management may be conceived of as a choice among alternative production functions that use different inputs or combinations there of to meet a particular market demand. Executive cost management is concerned instead with whether, for a given production function, the firm is on the efficient frontier. Structural and executive cost management is connected through improvement activities. For example, cost driver analysis is a catalyst for efciency improvements of existing processes and for reengineering processes to create a different cost structure. Clearly ,cost management is only a part of long term profit maximization. This paper series will not discuss strategic revenue management; however, we acknowledge interdependencies between costs and revenues associated structural cost management and the executive cost management activities of the sustainability of the strategy. Often the greatest opportunities for strategic cost management cross rm boundaries. Shank advocated cost management across the value chain, and other accounting scholars have called for research on how accounting facilitates modern inter-organizational relationships. 3 STRUCTURAL COST MANAGEMENT IN SUPPLY CHAINSShank argued that structural cost drivers associated with organizational structure, investment decisions, and the operating leverage of the rm. In supply chain management, structural cost management includes the decision to seek an external supplier, selecting one or more external suppliers, and designing the buyer/supplier relationship. These elements of supply chain management are important determinants of cost structure and are central to managing risk in supply relations. Supplier selection processes are akin to personnel controls within the rm that ensure the tness between employee skills and job requirements. Designing the buyer/supplier relationship encompasses formal contractual management controls such as specifying authority for supply decisions, performance requirements, and rewards or sanctions for nonperformance, as well as formal and informal controls that reinforce desired cultural norms. Although we focus on structural cost management, many of the cost management decisions discussed in this section relate to balancing the “cost of control” against risks of inter-rm transactions. We review research and contemporary practices associated with sourcing decisions, supplier selection in the sections that follow. 4 SOURCING: MAKE; BUY OR ALLYA core component of structural cost management is the decision to execute activities within the rm or to outsource them to another party. The so-called “make-buy-or-ally” decision considers how and where in the value chain firms draw their organizational boundaries and which activities are conducted inside versus outside the rm. Although the buyer and supplier are separate rms, the supply relationship often includes collaboration in the uncertain realm of product and process design.Transaction cost economics is the most widely used framework for explaining firm boundary and organizational design choices. Production costs are dened by production technology and efficiency. A buyer and suppliers production costs may differ if they use different technology, operate at different scales, or operate with different efficiency A buyers cost accounting records may be one basis for comparing the “make” option with prices of external suppliers. Transaction costs concerns about opportunism associated with rms transactions. Examples of transaction costs include costs of activities such as searching for partners, negotiating and writing contracts, monitoring and enforcing contract compliance. Transaction costs are not typically accessible and, in the case of opportunity costs, may not even be included in cost accounting records. Consequently, texts typically warn students to consider strategic factors before making a sourcing decision based only on production costs. This is one area where cost management practices, both measurement and analysis, can be improved to better support structural cost management decisions associated with sourcing. 5 INTERDEPENDENCE IN SUPPLY CHAINSAlthough we discuss the sourcing decision as a logical “starting point” in supply chain management, in reality this element of structural cost management is intertwined with other elements of strategic cost management. For example, in TCE theory, sourcing decisions are posited to reect the minimization of anticipated exchange hazards. The potential transaction partners are important predictors of exchange hazards. However, in complex supply chains in which many suppliers contribute to the completed product, product architecture is also a key determinant of sourcing decisions. The “partnership” strategies in supply chains depend critically on using criteria other than price in supplier selection. Thus, structural cost management decisions associated with sourcing are intertwined with structural cost management practices in supplier selection .6 THE SUPPLY CHAINS AS A SOURCE OF COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGETCE, with its underlying performance risk and relational risk, focuses on potential downsidesof cooperation. Another school of thought, the resource-based view RBV of the rm, focuses on the upside of cooperation. The RBV implicates inter-rm cooperation in the realization of strategic advantage, with rm boundaries resulting from managers dynamic search for opportunities to deploy valuable, scarce, inimitable resources to obtain abnormal returns. The basis for exchange in alliances can be nancial, technological, physical, or managerial resources. Studies applying the RBV to explain rm boundaries emphasize the inimitable value of collaborative partnerships.While the perspectives of TCE and risk management differ from the RBV, both assume that rm choices are motivated by the goal of maximizing long-run performance. Whereas TCE focuses on minimizing transaction costs at a given time, the RBV emphasizes the illiquidity and immobility of valuable resources. This approach admits the possibility that transacting with external parties dynamically changes the resources and capabilities that will be available in future periods. Together these frameworks point to important areas for growth in management accounting, Specically, TCE and risk management indicate the importance of measuring risk in supply relationships and formally integrating risk assessments into the make, buy, or ally decision. The RBV indicates the importance of the emerging area of accounting for human capital and other rm capabilities and intangible assets whose value changes through exchange with strategic supply partners.7 TRENDS IN SUPPLY CHAIN GROWTHRecent years have shown tremendous growth in the use of the ally mode across different industries. In manufacturing, over the past 50 years the value of purchased materials and services has grown from 20 percent to 56 percent of the selling price of nished goods. AMR Research nd that the typical U.S. manufacturer manages over 30 contract relationships. In 2006, the worldwide market for supply chain management software, growing at an annual rate of 8.6 percent, topped $6 billion. The global IT outsourcing market was expected to grow to almost triple that size. Growth in use of collaboration is found in rms of different sizes and from different industries. for instance, report that almost 80percent of small to large Dutch rms are involved in enduring forms of interrm cooperation, typically managing multiple partners at the same time. The largest proportion constituted outsourcing relations, a frequency that appears to follow from its potential to generate cost reductions and increased exibility, including the opportunity to convert xed costs into variable costs and to benet from economies of scale and scope. In sum, sourcing decisions are critical to structural cost management in supply chains; how-ever, there is little evidence that cost accountants have extended their expertise to include all relevant costs. Moreover, although risk management is becoming more common and supply chain risk is foremost among the risks that rms seek to control, accountants are primarily involved with controlling and mitigating risk.8 SUPPLIER SELECTIONThe search process of nding a supply partner is itself costly, entailing as it does identifying alternatives, evaluating supplier capabilities, and managing the nal selection process. Although TCE suggests that supplier selection is a cost-minimizing choice, the RBV identies a broader set of decision criteria. In particular, selecting suppliers with capabilities and resources that match the buyers needs is critical to supply chain performance and coordination. Key capabilities that have been shown to directly impact performance include inventory management, production planning and control, cash ow requirements, and product/service quality. Das and Teng defined nancial resources, technological, physical, and managerial resources as the basis for alliance activity. Prior studies nd that the criteria used for supplier selection typically reect the specic resources and competencies that are desired in potential partners. Examples include competitive pricing, supplier reliability, service support, and capabilities that may have a long-term contribution to buyers competitive advantage. The selection criteria can include “hard,” quantitative measures of performance; however, frequently they are complemented with “soft” measures that capture qualitative aspects of the desired relationship with the supplier.The success of buyer/supplier relation-ships characterized as “partnerships” is related to the buyers use of criteria other than price in selecting suppliers. As in the decision to outsource, the recognition of risks can be essential in supplier selection processes. Relational risks, performance risks, and their associated costs are avoided when suppliers are selected based on evidence of trustworthiness and competence. Accordingly, the selection process and selection criteria should reect both the type of supplier resources and competencies needed, and the anticipated risks of the relationship. These factors also link the sourcing decision and supplier.CONCLUSIONIncreasingly, business strategy focuses on reexamining the boundaries of the rmon establishing appropriate boundaries, identifying supply chain partners with whom to co-design efcient, effective products and processes, and managing transactions with these partners to deliver prots to all value chain participants.Article source：2009 Accounting Horizons Vol.23. 摘要战略成本管理是对一个公司的资源的深入的整合，它通常把企业的成本结构和企业的长期战略和短期策略联系起来，尽管管理人员不断在企业内部追求效率和效益，然而，企业效益的日益提升最终是通过价值链获得的，即通过重组企业边界（如上游供应商、下游客户），重新定位资源，再造过程和重估与顾客需求相联系的产品和服务获得的。在这篇文章中，我们论述了供应链中的战略成本管理，重点是结构性成本管理。结构性成本管理运用组织设计、产品设计和程序设计等一系列工具来创造一个与企业战略相吻合的供应链成本结构。关键词：结构成本管理；价值链；竞争优势一 引言目前在商业报上对于采购、重组、外包以及境外生产的流行表明了企业致力于现代成本管理的热情。与前些年企业在成本管理上只关注再造内部程序以获得效益不同的是，当今企业试图通过价值链来进行成本管理。由于采购材料的价值以及服务已经日益成为构成产品销售价格的一部分，企业感觉到他们正在管理的是一种复杂的价值链，这种价值链包括全球供应商、合同制造商、服务中心等各个方面。企业应该更多得关注价值链，这样才能获得生存与发展的空间。二 战略成本管理成本管理研究倾向于两种相互联系的分支，第一个研究分支检验企业是否和如何配置会计数据以便于支持价值链分析；另一个研究分支试图获得企业战略和成本结构中的关系，关注的重点是经营活动的水平和所需资源之间的因果关系。这些研究分支是考虑到企业的战略和结构所进行的，关注于会计记录是否有能力反应和检查企业所选策略的经济行为。在这篇文章中，我们采用桑克更为宽广的视野进行研究，他认为战略成本管理的构成要素已经在组织战略和结构选择中被发现了。按照安德森所说，我们把战略成本管理定义为有意识地做出决策，旨在使公司的成本结构与公司战略和战略管理相适应。我们关注企业边界之间的互动，尤其是顾客/供应商这一界面，它们作为企业竞争优势的来源，能够在带来高生产力，高产品质量及高顾客反应度和高创新理念的同时也降低企业的成本。桑克定位了两种成本动因的类型作为战略成本管理的基础，一种是结构性成本动因，它用来反应企业的组织结构，投资决策和营运杠杆；另一种是执行性成本动因，他用来反应企业执行战略的效率及效益，在不同的陈述下，战略成本管理可能被归结为在具有选择性的产品功能下所做的一种选择，即用不同的投入和连接来满足特定的市场需求。执行性成本管理并不考虑产品的功能，而是看企业是否处于高效率的前沿阵地；结构性和执行性成本管理通过经营活动的提升联系在一起。例如，成本动因分析是为所存在的程序中效率提升以及为再造程序创造不同的成本结构的催化剂。诚然，成本管理只是企业长