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This paper aims to propose an interventionist research model for cost measurement in small manufacturing companies.

The study was based on an interventionist model that consisted of two phases – training and intervention. The innovative model used in the study combined Labro and Tuomela’s (2003) framework with the socialization, externalization, combination and internalization model developed by Nonaka et al. (2001), and it was subsequently applied to two Brazilian manufacturing companies.

The main findings were as follows: the training phase is the one that generated the greatest impact on the cost calculation; competitors should not be invited to participate in the same program; it is necessary for the researchers to have professional experience of the subject being investigated and to have experience of micro and small enterprises; the training phase must be presented using appropriate language; and a better understanding of the costs can increase entrepreneurs’ confidence when negotiating prices with clients.

The main limitation was the small number of companies that were included in the study. Future research could involve longitudinal studies to evaluate the long-term results of interventionist studies.

The study showed that even small business owners can implement costing techniques, but that this requires the development of an environment of knowledge creation, followed by an implementation phase. The model can be replicated on a large scale, with affordable costs.

Improving the performance of small and medium-sized enterprises, which are high employers, with low implementation cost is a demand of society.

The model proved to be valid, and it could easily be replicated on a larger scale; the study therefore helps to demonstrate the benefits of interventionist research.

This study aims to explore how management accounting practices act as drivers of organizational change in situations of institutional complexity.

A case study was carried out in a small company with a strongly rooted social culture, which was acquired by a large conglomerate and underwent a process of strategic change as part of a new control logic. Based on this, the study analyzes the evolution of this change, with a particular focus on the efforts to construct the meaning of the performance through the inscription of objects from the cultural system to which it is attached and the “situated rationality” of the managers who are involved in its production.

The authors show how managers link their own concepts of performance to accounting practices. At the same time, the authors show how accounting practices unfold through representational gaps that their production generates.

This study acknowledges that bias may arise from reliance on retrospective views of past processes and events, gathered primarily through interviews, documentation and observations.

This study highlights that the way in which the performance concept is presented by accounting practices can have a constructive effect on the organization through the aspirations that its representations entail, thus having the potential to stimulate change in organizations.

This study contributes to the organizational literature by clarifying that accounting practices drive change by providing spaces for debates and questions that affect the way organizations understand and report their performance.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how the use of flexible budgets may influence different institutional logics (organizational inertia and flexibility).

A qualitative research based on a single case study in a multinational subsidiary company was carried out. The data were mainly collected using the dialog technique through open-ended and semi-structured interviews and complemented with direct observation in informal and formal meetings and the analysis of internal documents. Content analysis was used for the analysis of the findings.

The use of flexible budgets, which isolates the negative variations due to the decrease in sales volume, may contribute to organizational inertia. However, this can be counterbalanced if the managers try to minimize the decline in performance through initiatives that promote organizational flexibility. In this case study, it was found that the alignment between the production director and the controller, who frequently work under different institutional logics, was important to stimulate organizational flexibility particularly in continuous improvement projects.

The findings of this paper are based on only one in-depth case study. Hence, the results cannot be generalized, but a theoretical contribution can be made. Furthermore, the findings are constrained by the constructs used and the specific managerial and theoretical perspectives that have supported the analysis.

These results can be useful particularly for companies that are dealing with the abrupt drop in the sales volume and use the flexible budget as a performance assessment technique. These firms must pay attention because this combination can stimulate organizational inertia. To counteract this problem, it is necessary that controllers and the managers work by understanding the initiatives that promote organizational flexibility, mainly by Kaizen projects, which can minimize performance decline.

The main contribution may be how to deal with the different managers’ behaviors, given the decrease in sales volume, and it can help an organization survives in times of economic recession and fierce competition environments.

This paper contributes to both practical and academic dimensions. Indeed, despite being widely used, flexible budgeting is not a widely researched topic.

This paper seeks to understand kaizen in practice as it travels through time and space in the organisational setting.

A qualitative case study was carried out at a multinational company using mainly interviews for the data collection that were analysed from an actor-network theory (ANT) perspective.

This paper finds that the company deals with a series of paradoxes while managing the kaizen process. Efficiency and quality paradoxes are the basis for starting kaizen projects. Furthermore, intrinsic, and extrinsic motivation, emerge in these processes, and paradoxes relate to how spontaneous ideas emerge in a deliberated context of cost-saving objectives. The supply chain finance team coordinates kaizen projects with the collaboration of plant managers, promoting the paradox of autonomy and control. In addition, as kaizen mobilises and enrols the actors, some trials of strength emerge, showing actors who oppose the kaizen network and create competing networks that mutually exist in the firm.

This study presents valuable insights for professionals to successfully implement kaizen methodologies that take advantage of developing a network for problem-solving in organizations.

This study highlights the supply chain finance team's role in enrolling the actors within a network built by practitioners engaged in kaizen projects. Usually, engineers, quality, or manufacturing teams lead kaizen projects, and only occasionally, accounting and financial teams participate, including multidisciplinary teams.

This research aimed to verify how the performance measurement system (PMS) and the quality management system (QMS) work in small and medium Brazilian enterprises in the light of the typology proposed by Garengo (2009).

Using a qualitative approach PMS’s and QMS’s managers were interviewed. The data from the first interview were analyzed using the technique of content analysis and have been subsequently triangulated with other data collected. The study was conducted by means of two questionnaires, two semi-structured interviews, and the analysis of the performance measures used by five small/medium manufactures based in the State of São Paulo.

It was found that in four out of five companies, PMS does not function singly, but along with QMS, mainly with respect to performance indicators. In spite of that intrinsic operation, the systems are in different stages of evolution. It was also found that in three out of five companies, quality management area is responsible for coordinating the process of PMS use, without effective participation from the controlling and/or accounting areas in this process.

The typology of Garengo (2009), used to check the stage of the PMS, was validated and can be used by practitioners to diagnose and improve the PMS in their enterprises; companies with QMS certified by ISO, particularly with higher degree of quality management maturity, can be encouraged to implement or improve the PMS in their organizations.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate if the organization competitive orientation can really make firms emphasize different internal capability. This paper aims to revisit and extend the study proposed by Fleury and Fleury (2003).

The survey instrument was employed to collect the sample composed by 163 companies from different sectors of Brazilian market. Additionally, several statistic techniques were applied such as cluster analysis, ANOVA test and hierarchical regression analysis to investigate the phenomenon.

It was observed that three possible clusters can be built based on cumulative capabilities perspective and the Operation oriented group has no emphasis on production, logistic nether R & D capability, while other two clusters have a distinctive attentions on their internal capabilities.

The limitation of this research lies in using perceptual scale for performance and few constructs with one item for measuring. On the other hand, this research has revisited the taxonomy topic based on cumulative capability perspective and discussed the trade-off concepts assumed in past studies.

This study has demonstrated the absence of systematic strategy implementation of those that are considered Operational oriented. Additionally, the authors have demonstrated that market share and customer satisfaction performance are impacted by different competitive priority as well as internal capability.

The authors reviewed the work proposed by Fleury and Fleury (2003), and went further in proposing a taxonomy complementation suggested by them. Additionally the authors discussed the assumptions of the taxonomies that have been adopted up today and explored this issue using cumulative capabilities concept. This work is based on competitive orientations, internal capability and cumulative capabilities suggested by seminar papers.