Jan Mouritsen

Copenhagen Business School · Department of Operations Management

This paper investigates how financial analysts use goodwill information in their firm valuation. Analysts are disappointed with goodwill information because it does not seem to fit their valuation purposes. Interestingly, however, although the goodwill asset initially disappoints, it can become a catalytic asset, which helps mediate relations among...

This paper analyses the relations between intellectual capital (IC) and innovation. It links interest in the macro-effects of intellectual capital, typically found in cross-sectional studies on the effects of intellectual capital, to micro-studies of the performativity of intellectual capital. The former literature suffers from a lack of attention...

Across industry and academia, there is currently much discussion about the implications of blockchain for accounting. We contribute to these ongoing discussions by critically investigating the claim that blockchain exists as a novel and foundational accounting technology. We do so by examining the central imaginaries associated with blockchain and...

Current research relates multiple control practices as packages, systems, or accumulations. This relationship signifies that management control practices exist as multiplicities and interact in various ways. These interactions strengthen management control practices. However, this generalisation misses the when of relations, which is a problem, as...

This paper analyses the development of pseudo micro-profit centres (MPCs) at Kitanihon, a Japanese manufacturer. MPCs aim to relate financial and operational concerns by sensitising operators to the financial consequences of their actions and by triggering financial improvements. MPCs, however, also create many small interdependent responsibility c...

Extant literature on target-setting indicates that responding to achievability-related criticisms towards ex ante targets through repair actions are of significance in restoring fairness and maintaining the legitimacy of performance systems. By drawing on empirical materials on responses to unfairness criticisms raised against target-setting practi...

Knowledge is supposedly a good ally of the future. Post project reviews aim to create knowledge and improvements based on the past, but what happens when those observations are ambiguous? Based on intriguing observations on developing structured post-project reviews, implications of the ambiguities of the past are analyzed and discussed. The presen...

Purpose The purpose of this study is to characterise types of practices – or “routings” as they are denoted in this paper – that have been developed to incorporate non-financial inscriptions, representing value-in-kind (VIK) sponsorship resources, into accounting systems. Design/methodology/approach This study adopts field-based research, utilisin...

This study adds to the literature on accounting incompleteness and instability an understanding of how accounting acts upon an object that is practised as a multiple. It explores how accounting, in the form of a sales and operations planning (S&OP) forecast, helps discover the objections attached to the various enactments of an object multiple, nam...

This article investigates accounting as a counter-performative practice. For two years and nine months, we followed State Corporation, which participated in a ranking exercise using the Intellectual Asset Health Check launched by the Australian Federal Government in 2010. We find that sceptical employees seized the opportunity made possible by the...

Supply chain performance measurement systems are important because they are the central managerial mechanisms for achieving efficient and effective supply chain management. Therefore, it is relevant to add to the many conceptual contributions on the subject to explore how such systems unfold and develop in practice. The objective of the present stu...

Ét vigtigt princip for New Public Management (NPM) er, at mål er en god måde at konkretisere udviklingsønsker på. Udgangspunktet er, at formål skal oversættes til et nuanceret målhierarki. Dette målhierarki antages at fylde formålet ud med mål. Dilemmaet er her, at mål sjældent er det samme som de formål, man ønsker at fremme, men er kvantificering...

Sage, Justesen, Dainty, Tryggestad and Mouritsen’s chapter examines the role that animals play within human organizational boundary work. They thus challenge the latent anthropocentricism in many, if not most, theories of organization that locate animal agencies outside the boundary work that is said to constitute organizing. Inspired by actor–netw...

This chapter considers accounting as an engine for the development of innovative capabilities in inter-organisational relations. This requires that accounting rather than being a mechanism that stabilises matters by fencing inter-organisational spaces into durable and possibly disciplinary relations becomes more of a ‘performable space’ (Busco and...

This article analyses the dominant ideological mode of rationality of financialization, its operationalization via accounting devices and deployments in political intra- and inter-organizational processes, and its dynamisms in global production networks. It asks how are political processes informed and conditioned by calculative devices that mediat...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explain the role of the performativity theory for understanding how the calculative instruments of accounting provoke innovation and participate in the generation of values by activating processes that pervade everything rather than being limited to categorical spaces. Design/methodology/approach The paper d...

This research investigates the effects of learning-oriented benchmarking in public healthcare settings. Benchmarking is a widely adopted yet little explored accounting practice that is part of the paradigm of New Public Management. Extant studies are directed towards mandated coercive benchmarking applications. The present study analyses voluntary...

Platform organizations such as Uber, eBay and Airbnb represent a growing disruptive phenomenon in contemporary capitalism, transforming economic organization, the nature of work, and the distribution of wealth. This paper investigates the accounting practices that underpin this new form of organizing, and in doing so confronts a significant challen...

The recent wave of savings in public service expenditure comes at the risk of creating starved workplaces, depleted of intellectual assets. This paper examines the perils of starved workplaces and how to avoid them. Organizations that nurture their intellectual assets were found to outperform their peers with 13.3% higher productivity. These organi...

This paper examines the dilemmas encountered by manufacturers of advanced analytical equipment in developing service-led growth strategies to expand their business in pursuit of more attractive revenue models. It does so by adopting a case-based research approach. The findings detail the challenges faced in providing advanced services to customers’...

Research on megaprojects points out the crucial role of politics in managing major infrastructure projects. Politics is often here presented as misrepresentation by the project maker who manipulates everyone else. This is where power is concentrated in the hands of the few. However, this approach may overlook another lateral version of politics by...

Research has studied Word-Of-Mouth (WOM) and the 4P marketing activities separately with no attention to how these two processes simultaneously influence consumer responses. This is unfortunate as a firm’s marketing activities may also mobilise WOM, which then can leverage the activities’ effect on consumer responses. The present study fills this r...

Future orientation is important in IFRS reporting. Impairment testing is critical because it relies on value in use calculations with explicit future references. Based on empirical data from 46 interviews with Finnish business managers, auditors, analysts, investors, financial supervisory authority, academics and media, the paper extends prior rese...

Marketing functions (MFs) differ in how they practise marketing roles. The purpose of this article is to differentiate between MFs that practice marketing roles in a particular manner and then study how these different types of MFs differ with regard to the marketing roles’ effect on business performance (BP) and top management's respect. An empiri...

In this article, we examine the role that animals play within human organizational boundary work. In so doing, we challenge the latent anthropocentricism in many, if not most, theories of organization that locate animal agencies outside the boundary work that is said to constitute organizing. In developing this argument, we draw together diverse st...

What if value is neither an intrinsic quality of an object, nor a reflection of a subjects preferencesbut rather something that is organized and brought into existence through mechanisms, technologies and practices of valuation? This edited book addresses the question of valuation theoretically and through empirical analyses of diverse objects of v...

This paper explores the relationships between calculative practices and innovative activities. It investigates how calculative practices such as accounting develop knowledge that functions as an engine (MacKenzie, 2006) for innovation. This is an attempt at exploring the role of accounting through its performative effects so that, rather than only...

Intellectual capital (IC) consists of human capital, organizational capital, and relational capital, and their relationships. It has been said to be important to explain the difference between market value and book value of a firm, but measurement of IC is more likely to be important because it forms a starting point for understanding and managing...

Across many construction projects, and especially infrastructure projects, efforts to mitigate potential loss of biodiversity and habitat are significant concerns, and at times politically controversial. And yet, thus far, very little research has addressed the interplay of humans and animals within construction projects. Instead those interested i...

The purpose of this study is to prioritise investments in marketing activities based on their effect on business performance (BP). On the basis of the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) model adapted to a marketing context, four generic marketing activities are structured in two dimensions: (1) Small m: marketing strategy and marketi...

Across many construction projects, and especially infrastructure projects, efforts to mitigate the potential loss of biodiversity and habitat are significant, and at times controversial. In our paper we do not propose to gauge the success or failure of this effort; rather we are interested in fleshing out some conceptual approaches via Actor-Networ...

Purpose This research aims to explore the enabling and constraining effects of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems and speculate on how these can be linked to the four generic roles of operations management (OM) proposed by Slack et al. Design/methodology/approach This research understands ERP as boundary objects characterised by modularity...

This article presents the results of a poll made among the members of the editorial and advisory boards of Valuation Studies. The purpose is to overview the topic that is the remit of the new journal. The poll focused on three questions: 1. Why is the study of valuation topical? 2. What specific issues related to valuation are the most pressing one...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore how animals can become stakeholders in interaction with project management technologies and what happens with project temporalities when new and surprising stakeholders become part of a project and a recognized matter of concern to be taken into account. Design/methodology/approach The paper is based...

Previous studies of the socialization of trainee accountants put emphasis on how disciplinary power mechanisms shape their professional identities. Literature on the ongoing growth and commercialization of the Big 4 Accounting Firms suggests that senior employees, and especially partners, have to be understood as entrepreneurially minded agents. Th...

Purpose This paper aims to analyse the relationship between intellectual capital and financial capital using a case study. This makes it possible to discuss how intellectual capital is related to value creation with a degree of nuance that is absent from most statistical studies of relationships between human, organisational, relational and financi...

Purpose This paper aims to discuss how Bruno Latour's version of actor‐network theory has influenced accounting research. It also seeks to show that Latour's writings contain unexplored potential that may inspire future accounting research. Design/methodology/approach The paper takes the form of a critical literature review and discussion. Findin...

Dr. Norman Macintosh spans more theoretical horizon than most accounting researchers. There is a line of interest in his oeuvre concerned with the expansion of social theory to accounting issues. He is particularly fond of post-structuralist perspectives and has generated an enjoyable account of the bullshitter – the preparer of financial annual st...

Management accounting calculations relate innovation to the firm through translations where both can change. Based on examples of the management of innovation from three firms the study shows how management accounting calculations rather than describe the properties of innovation add perspective to them mediating between innovation concerns and fir...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze relations among different kinds of visualization in annual reports and to trace their interaction with activities in marketing and sales, in design and planning, and in operations. For this purpose it is intended to produce insight into the referents that make up a particular image found in the annual...

Purpose The paper discusses the role of measurement and classification in intellectual capital research. Its purpose is to develop an alternative role for measure. The aim is to explore how measurement may be important even if it does not pretend to accurately represent and underlying reality. Design/methodology/approach The paper is an essay on t...

This paper contributes to our understanding of relations between control and innovation by adding a process perspective where innovation and the use of management controls co-develop. As innovation grows, it has to pass various trials each of which links the innovation to obstacles which are mediated by unique sets of technologies of control. In th...

[..] Numbers count. It’s taken some years to understand that but…It is about visualising what we are doing, learning from each other and eventually changing how we work2. (Supervisor Nurse) Performance management requires techniques of management – such as accounting systems – that draw disparate elements together, make them comparable, relate them...

In many firms and in many industrialised countries, innovation is regarded as fundamental to growth and wealth creation. However, it is not easy to define a measure of innovation that is a leading indicator for value creation. This would imply a linear model of knowledge as a simple input to value-creating processes. Instead, intellectual capital i...

Purpose This paper seeks to examine contemporary trends in enhanced business reporting (EBR) and the development of a policy agenda for EBR. The paper aims to build on a submission to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (US SEC) advisory committee on improvements to financial statements (Pozen Committee). Design/methodology/approach The pape...

This chapter examines how management accounting responds to the challenges that operations management poses in research and practice today. It asks how management accounting practices are made sense of in operations management research and management accounting research in relation to the central proposition made in operations management literature...

Innovations in operations management, like just-in-time, total quality management, automation, have produced a new manufacturing paradigm that challenges management accounting design and practices. The new manufacturing paradigm, which we conceptualise as integrated manufacturing, focuses upon the lateral flow of products and services, and thereby...

In this chapter we discuss the relations between information technology, information systems and management control. We argue that important issues can be learned about management accounting and control as we study its relations to information technology. Such relations are many times not only complex but also problematic: information technology is...

Purpose This paper develops a problematisation of research about intellectual capital (IC) with a view to extending the types of questions that can be posed and explanations that can be given about the roles and effects of IC. The aim is to contribute to the debate on how it is possible and fruitful to study IC. Design/methodology/approach The pap...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to propose and illustrate the use of a set of rules to make an analytical reading of the indicators of an intellectual capital statement possible. Design/methodology/approach – The paper proposes a model to analyze intellectual capital statements and applies this model to an intellectual capital statement and...

Networks of formally independent firms are interesting because they claim to be able to build competencies, exploit complementary resources and redesign strategies faster than firms can change. By networking, firms are said to get access to resources in a flexible way and typically by interacting with other firms non-hierarchically, directly and ba...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine whether information on intellectual capital (non-financial information on knowledge based resources) is disclosed in Danish IPO prospectuses. Further, to analyse whether this voluntary disclosure has changed in the period from 1999 to 2001 and to analyse what factors can explain the amount of disclo...

This paper analyses how two companies pursued integration of management and control through enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. We illustrate how the quest for integration is an unending process and it is produced concurrently and episodically. Integration is not only about ‘mere’ visibility and control at a distance. ERP systems do not def...

Through the 1990s, knowledge has become a phenomenon to be managed and intellectual capital information has been suggested to be medium for this ambition. In this paper, we propose a method to analyse (and design) intellectual capital information so that it can be an input to the management of knowledge resources. We use a distinction between 1st a...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyse how a patent is an intangible asset and how it creates value. Design/methodology/approach Through analysis of a set of cases, the paper analyses how a patent becomes related to a series of other elements. This approach investigates the details of how a patent becomes useful. Theoretically, the paper...

The Odense regionof the Danish Tax Authorities developed an aspiration to ‘prevent unfair competition’ rather than to control taxpayers and firms. It signals a changed ambition both in relation of a conventional conception of what the public sector may be and also a possible departure from the streamlined New Public Sector where atten- tion to stra...

Ideas about the role of management accounting systems in a firm’s strategy have changed in recent years, and this book explores the ways in which this has happened. Management control systems have frequently been seen as irrelevant to strategy, or even damaging. Controlling Strategy draws out the various ways in which management control systems can...

Purpose This paper compares balanced scorecard and intellectual capital and finds important differences between their theoretical underpinnings, which suggest that the breath of indicators will work differently in organisations. Design/methodology/approach Analysing texts about balanced scorecard and intellectual capital, the paper discusses not t...

This paper discusses how organisational transformation is situated between design and mobilisation of management control systems. Change occurs even after implementation and design can transform organisational action to the point where organisations may run wild. The procedures developed by the design are actors that over time can transform organis...

The paper reports on public sector organisations'/institutions' work to develop knowledge management and intellectual capital statements. Building on experiences collected during 2001-2002 where 26 public sector institutions in Denmark sought to develop intellectual capital statements, this paper discusses their experiences and in particular, it ad...

Measurement of intellectual capital is important, but not only for descriptive purposes. It is important because it enables intervention. If intervention and measurement are coupled, then measurement is an input rather than an output, and then measurement is not to be evaluated on its reflection of reality but rather on its ability to help actors t...

Intellectual capital is an important value driver in today’s organizations. Traditional financial statements do not provide the relevant information for managers or investors to understand how their resources – many of which are intangible – create value in the future. Intellectual capital statements are designed to bridge this gap by providing inf...

This paper considers some relationships between organisational learning and intellectual capital. In particular, it is suggested that intellectual capital – and the managerial technology found in intellectual capital statements – may help develop an organisational appreciation of organisational learning. It is suggested that theories of organisatio...

This paper argues and illustrates that organisational capital is much more active than normally assumed. Often, it is suggested the human capital acts and organisational capital is a ''dead matter'' waiting to be mobilised. In this paper, we investigate how organisational capital is an actor and illustrate through small cases of two kinds of organi...

On the basis of three examples of intellectual capital statements that make the individual its central figure, this article discusses the role of individuals in knowledge creation. After all, it is often claimed that the individual is the “container” of knowledge and therefore, what it means to account for the individual is an issue. However, analy...

Supply chain management (SCM) is becoming a popular concept both in research and in practice. At the EurOMA Conference in Copenhagen in 2002 many papers focused on SCM as a research topic. Similarly, an increasing number of companies are establishing positions as supply chain managers. SCM is also a popular theme for trade journals and management c...

This paper argues that intellectual capital and intangible assets are difficult resources for two different reasons. First, intellectual capital and intangibles assets are not (yet) disentangled by the institutions of the capital markets, and therefore they are not (yet) translatable with any degree of confidence into predictions about stock price...

Knowledge and technology are celebrated as the twin sources of competitive advantage in modern economies. To make knowledge and technology available to deliberate organizational action (to turn such sources into resources, as it were) is a current task for every manager – from the corporate top to the project level. But what are these resources tha...

The development of accounting technology in the Danish state sector is characterised by episodes of disruption and the longevity of certain principles that define accounting's accountability as involved in producing the state as a unit, as providing a continuous concern for productivity, and as providing the means by which a parliamentary democracy...